The Osun State Government has moved to overturn an order freezing its accounts, arguing that the arbitration award on which the order was based was already being challenged in court before Gamji Nigeria Company Limited obtained the account-freezing directive.
The state government, in an application filed before the Federal High Court in Lagos on October 2, 2026, is seeking to set aside the ex-parte order over a $13.9 million and N157.5 million arbitration award in favour of Gamji, a contractor handling a water project in the state.
The development has opened a fresh legal front in the dispute, with Osun alleging that material facts were concealed from the court when the September 9, 2026 order directing commercial banks to freeze its accounts was obtained.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, the state said it had already taken steps to challenge the arbitration proceedings and the award before the Lagos State High Court.
Alimi said the state government’s legal team filed a suit on September 1, 2026, seeking to set aside the arbitral award, before Gamji approached the Federal High Court for the freezing order.
He further disputed the reference in the ex-parte order to an arbitral award allegedly made against the state in July 2024, insisting that no such award existed.
“In fact, it was reported that the purported award which the ex-parte order of September 9, 2026 referenced does not exist, as there was no arbitral award made against the state government in July 2024,” Alimi said.
According to him, the only arbitral award against the state was made in July 2026 and is currently being challenged before the Lagos State High Court.
The dispute, he explained, dates back to 2017, during the administration of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, when the state rejected a variation request submitted by Gamji in connection with its water project contract.
At the centre of the disagreement is Gamji’s claim that the state owes it $15,982,638.22, a claim that subsequently proceeded to arbitration.
But the Adeleke administration alleged that the arbitration process was flawed, accusing those involved of handling the proceedings in a manner that favoured Gamji while denying the state fair hearing and full participation.
“The matter proceeded for arbitration which was deliberately mismanaged and handled to favour Gamji Nigeria Company Limited, while denying the state government fair hearing and full participation in the arbitration process as mandated by best practice in the arbitration process,” the commissioner said.
The state government said its challenge to the arbitration process and award remains pending before the Lagos State High Court, making the subsequent freezing of its accounts a matter requiring judicial review.
Alimi said the latest application before the Federal High Court was therefore intended to have the ex-parte order vacated and prevent enforcement of an award whose validity the state is contesting.
The move comes as the dispute shifts from an arbitration disagreement into a wider legal contest involving two court proceedings and the state government’s access to its bank accounts.
