Senior lawyers have faulted the reported restriction placed on the Osun State Government’s bank accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), insisting that the anti-graft agency has no constitutional or legal authority to freeze a state’s accounts without first obtaining an order of court.
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The legal practitioners, among them Senior Advocates of Nigeria, warned that such a step, taken without judicial approval, offends due process, weakens Nigeria’s federal structure and is capable of crippling governance by disrupting essential public services.
Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. Konyinsola Ajayi, SAN, said the position of the law admits of no doubt: a bank account may only be frozen pursuant to a valid order of court.
He described the action in strong terms. “It is beyond cavil that this is a bull in the china shop set to break our fragile ware by way of a true federal government being nurtured by the Federal Government,” Ajayi said.
He noted that Nigerian courts have consistently marked out the limits of the Commission’s powers, stressing that the agency can freeze accounts only with judicial authorisation. “The courts have made two things plain: freeze accounts only on court orders. Second, the EFCC has limited powers,” he said.
Ajayi further argued that freezing an entire state’s accounts on the strength of allegations touching a handful of officials would visit hardship on millions of innocent residents who depend on government services.
Human rights lawyer and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, maintained that the Commission cannot lawfully freeze any account by administrative directive.
“EFCC needs a court order to do that, sir. It cannot be done lawfully as an administrative act,” Odinkalu stated.
A Lagos-based legal practitioner, Isiaka Olagunju, said anti-corruption investigations must be conducted within the confines of the Constitution, adding that the Commission ought to train its attention on individuals suspected of financial misconduct rather than impose restrictions capable of paralysing the finances of a state government.
According to him, any action that disrupts the financial operations of a state will ultimately be borne by innocent citizens who depend on government-funded services. “The primary objective of government is to seek the welfare and protection of its citizens,” he said.
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) condemned the action, describing it as one that raises serious constitutional, legal and democratic concerns.
The group said the timing of the reported restriction, coming in the middle of an election campaign and reportedly affecting an account used to pay workers’ salaries, could feed public suspicion that federal institutions were being deployed in a manner capable of disrupting governance and influencing the electoral process.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA warned that democracy is undermined where institutions clothed with coercive powers are perceived to act in a politically selective manner.
“It is unacceptable that any action by a federal agency should create the impression that governance in a federating state can be crippled on the eve of an election without the highest standards of transparency, legality and accountability,” the statement read.
The group added that anti-corruption agencies derive their legitimacy from strict adherence to the Constitution and to due process, cautioning that the Commission must remain impartial and avoid conduct capable of creating the perception of political bias.
The reactions follow the EFCC’s own defence of the measure. Its Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, had said on Arise Television that the Commission “took that step to preserve the account of the Osun State government” after observing suspicious transfers within one week, and insisted that “it is just a targeted restriction on one account of Osun State government” rather than a blanket freeze.
On the legal basis, Uwujaren said: “Section 34 of the EFCC Act and Section 7, Subsection 6 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2002, give us that authority to take that step,” adding that “the restriction order can last within 72 hours before we can come with a court order.”
President Bola Tinubu has since directed the Commission to approach the court to vacate the order, saying he was “deeply embarrassed not by the EFCC’s exercise of its mandate backed by a court order, but by the timing of the agency’s action.”
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