By Ademola Ade
The Osun State Government has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to vacate an ex-parte order freezing its accounts over a $13.9 million and N157.5 million arbitration award in favour of Gamji Nigeria Company Limited, a contractor handling a water project in the state.
The state government said the order was obtained by the contractor through alleged concealment of material facts, insisting that the arbitration award it sought to enforce was itself being challenged in court.
The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, disclosed this in a statement yesterday, saying the state filed its application to set aside the order on October 2, 2026.
According to him, the government’s legal team moved to challenge the order after discovering what it described as irregularities surrounding the arbitration proceedings and the award.
Alimi said: “In fact, it was reported that the purported Award which the ex-parte order of 9th September, 2026 referenced does not exist as there was no Arbitral Award made against the State Government in July 2024.
“The only Arbitral Award against the State Government was in July, 2026 and the said Award is presently being challenged before the Lagos State High Court by the State Government’s legal team.”
Gamji had secured the Federal High Court order directing the freezing of the state government’s accounts with several commercial banks over the monetary award.
But the Osun government said it had already commenced legal proceedings to challenge the arbitration award before the contractor approached the Federal High Court for the ex-parte order.
Giving the background to the dispute, Alimi said the matter dated back to a 2017 contract dispute that started during the administration of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
He said the dispute followed the former administration’s rejection of a variation request by Gamji, particularly over the contractor’s claim that the state was indebted to it to the tune of $15,982,638.22.
“The matter proceeded for arbitration which was deliberately mismanaged and handled to favour Gamji Nig. Co. Ltd., 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 alleged.
He added that the alleged irregularities surrounding the arbitration proceedings and the final award had already been submitted for judicial determination.
“The irregularities that characterized the arbitration proceedings and the Final Arbitral Award are matters which have been submitted by the State Government to the High Court sitting in Lagos State,” Alimi said.
The commissioner further disclosed that counsel to the state government filed a suit seeking to set aside the arbitral award at the Lagos State High Court on September 1, 2026.
He said the filing preceded Gamji’s approach to the Federal High Court, alleging that the contractor “surreptitiously” sought and obtained the ex-parte order.
The state government maintained that its legal challenge to the arbitration award was already before the Lagos State High Court when the account-freezing order was obtained.
The government is now asking the Federal High Court to set aside the ex-parte order and allow the substantive legal challenge over the arbitration award to proceed
