*Orders Accounts Unblocked
The rollercoaster kick-started by anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and involving Osun State government in which the former froze the accounts of the state government, barely few days to the crucial 15 August gubernatorial poll, appears set to stop as President Bola Tinubu has reprimanded the agency.
He has directed EFCC to immediately approach the court to vacate the order freezing the state government’s bank accounts, saying the timing of the action, coming just days before the election, could create the wrong impression of federal interference in the poll.
Recall that Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, had, while appearing on local radio station Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, this week, raised serious concerns over the election-time activities of some critical federal agencies such as security bodies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying their actions that tended to discourage opposition parties’ supporters, do not give confidence for free and fair 2027 general elections.
The President also instructed the anti-graft agency to discontinue all related actions connected to the freezing of the state’s accounts.
In a statement today (Thursday), the President said he was “deeply embarrassed” by the timing of the EFCC’s action, stressing that though the Commission acted pursuant to a court order and within its statutory mandate, Nigerians and others would inevitably link his government to the actions.
Tinubu stated: “I feel deeply embarrassed not by the EFCC’s exercise of its mandate under a court order, but by the timing of the action.
“Every action taken by an institution of State, especially at the Federal level, is always credited to me, as the President, even when I may not have had any prior knowledge of the action.”
The President emphasized that he has consistently maintained that anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies must operate independently, professionally and without political interference.
He insisted that he has deliberately refrained from interfering in the operational activities of EFCC and other investigative agencies since assuming office.
Stressing that the decision to freeze Osun State’s accounts at a time the state is preparing for governorship election was ill-timed, Tinubu hastened to distance himself or his administration from the EFCC action.
His words: “Nothing ought to be done to give an impression that the EFCC or indeed any other agency of the federal government is being used to interfere with the election.”
“The timing is inauspicious because Osun State is only a few days away from its gubernatorial election,” he pointed out.
Tinubu’s position on the imbroglio, which has drawn public attention, comes less than a day after the EFCC publicly defended its decision to obtain a court order freezing the accounts of the State Government.
The Commission had traced its investigation of the state government to March 2026 over what it described as alleged fraudulent handling of Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) amounting to about N11 billion.
According to the EFCC, several officials of the state government, including the Accountant General, had been questioned as part of the investigation.
It added that although the investigation had been ongoing for months, it only sought a Post No Debit order after discovering what it described as “precipitate and unwarranted” movement of public funds from government accounts into several corporate entities beginning 2 August, 2026.
“The Commission noticed huge transfers of funds into different corporate entities and had to swiftly halt the trend by freezing the accounts from which such heavy funds are being moved,” the EFCC stated.
The Commission defended the action, saying it was taken to prevent the alleged looting of public funds.
It dismissed concerns that the finance clampdown was politically motivated coming very close to the governorship election.
Declaring that Osun was not alone, EFCC disclosed that several other states were under similar financial scrutiny, maintaining that the agency remained “non-partisan and non-sectarian” in carrying out its investigative responsibilities.
“The Osun State government account was frozen to save public funds from being looted,” the Commission said.
Maintaining that his concern was largely with preserving public confidence in the credibility of the electoral process, it is noteworthy that Tinubu’s intervention is a rare one in EFCC’s decisions.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Tinubu shakes hands with Osun State governor Ademola Adeleke (right) at a state function. File photo.
