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President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately return to court and vacate the order freezing the bank accounts of the Osun State Government. The President said although he respected the anti-graft agency’s constitutional mandate to investigate financial crimes, he was deeply concerned by the timing of the action, which came just days before the state’s governorship election. Tinubu noted that while he was yet to receive full details of the investigation, the move risked creating the impression that federal institutions were being used to influence the electoral process.
The EFCC had secured the court order on August 5 as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged financial infractions involving the Osun State Government. However, the state government denied the allegations, insisting it had done nothing wrong and accusing the commission of acting unfairly. In response, the EFCC maintained that its investigation was purely based on its statutory responsibility to probe suspected financial crimes and was not politically motivated.
In his directive, Tinubu said preserving public confidence in the integrity, credibility and fairness of Nigeria’s democratic process was of overriding national importance. He therefore instructed the EFCC to discontinue the legal action and immediately seek the court’s approval to lift the freezing order on the state’s accounts. The intervention comes as political activities intensify ahead of the Osun governorship election, with observers closely monitoring developments to ensure a peaceful and transparent electoral process.
