Account freeze: Gov Adeleke orders withdrawal of suit against EFCC

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has directed the state Attorney-General to withdraw the lawsuit filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the freezing of the state government’s bank account.

Adeleke disclosed this during an interview with Channels Television, shortly after he was declared winner of the August 15 governorship election.

The governor said his decision followed President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the matter.

“I’m putting them behind. What else do I want? I have instructed my attorney general to drop it. Mr President has done well. He called me. What more do I want?” Adeleke said.

On reports that some of his aides and government officials had been invited by the EFCC for questioning, Adeleke said he had directed his legal team to provide assistance.

“Well, we have been talking. I have been calling all my lawyers to go there,” he said.

Adeleke alleged that the EFCC invitations were politically motivated, although he acknowledged that some officials who honoured the invitations were released after questioning.

The governor also said he did not believe President Tinubu was aware of some of the actions allegedly taken by federal agencies.

“Most of these things, the president doesn’t know. The president has a lot of foreign work and jobs to do,” he said.

Adeleke further alleged that former Osun State Governor and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, was behind the EFCC action because of his relationship with the President.

“All these things is Oyetola because he is the cousin to the president. He is dropping the president’s name,” Adeleke said.

“I know that the president didn’t know about the EFCC one. That is why he had to call me and stop it.”

Background

The Osun State Government had instituted a legal action against the EFCC over the freezing of its statutory allocation account.

The suit, numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/1762/2026, was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 5. It sought to invalidate the EFCC’s directive and demanded N2 billion in exemplary damages against the commission.

The EFCC had explained that the account was frozen as part of an investigation into alleged fraudulent handling of funds by the state government.

Following the development, President Tinubu directed the EFCC to immediately lift the freeze on the account.

The President said he was embarrassed by the incident, noting that actions taken by federal institutions were often attributed to the presidency even when he had no prior knowledge of them.