Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, the state Attorney-General and the Accountant-General have filed a ₦2 billion suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and First Bank Nigeria Limited over the restriction placed on the state’s Federal Statutory Allocation Account.
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The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1762/2026, was instituted before the Federal High Court in Abuja by a team of lawyers led by Professor M. T. Adekilekun, SAN.
Listed as defendants are the EFCC, its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, and First Bank Nigeria Limited, where the affected statutory account is maintained.
The plaintiffs are challenging the legality of the post-no-debit restriction placed on Osun State Government Federal Statutory Allocation Account No. 2017170947 through an EFCC letter dated August 5, 2026.
The letter, with reference number CR:3000/EFCC/ABJ/HQ/PFS/TA/OSUN/VOL.17/666, was signed by ACE I Adenike S. Babalola on behalf of the Director of Investigation.
The plaintiffs contend that the EFCC lacked the authority to freeze, restrict or otherwise interfere with the account without complying with the procedure prescribed by the Constitution, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
They asked the court to determine whether the EFCC and its chairman could lawfully place a post-no-debit restriction on a state government’s statutory allocation account without first obtaining and serving a valid and specific order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
They are relying on Sections 1, 6, 36, 44 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution, Section 34 of the EFCC Establishment Act and Section 7(6) of the Money Laundering Act.
The plaintiffs argued that the restriction amounted to unlawful self-help, an abuse of statutory power and interference with the constitutional and financial autonomy of Osun State.
They further claimed that denying the state access to its statutory allocation was capable of crippling its ability to pay salaries, execute projects and discharge its constitutional obligations to residents.
The court was also asked to determine whether First Bank could lawfully continue restricting the account solely on the strength of an administrative letter from the EFCC without a valid and subsisting court order.
According to the plaintiffs, the bank owed the Osun State Government a duty of care and should not have denied it access to public funds without satisfying itself that the directive was supported by lawful judicial authority.
They urged the court to declare the restriction unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires, null and void.
The plaintiffs are seeking an order setting aside and nullifying the post-no-debit instruction contained in the EFCC’s August 5 letter.
They also asked the court to direct First Bank to immediately unfreeze the account, remove every restriction placed on it and allow the Osun State Government unrestricted access to its funds.
The suit further seeks a perpetual injunction restraining the EFCC, its chairman, officers and agents from freezing or interfering with the statutory account or any other Osun State Government account without following due process.
The plaintiffs similarly asked the court to restrain First Bank from acting on any future administrative directive from the EFCC to restrict Osun government accounts except in the manner permitted by law.
They are demanding ₦2 billion in exemplary and aggravated damages for what they described as unlawful interference with public funds, in addition to the costs of prosecuting the suit.
The action was filed amid controversy over the EFCC’s investigation into the alleged handling of Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federation Account Allocation Committee receipts totalling approximately ₦11 billion.
The commission had said the restriction became necessary after investigators detected what it described as sudden and suspicious transfers from government accounts into several corporate entities beginning on August 2.
The allegations remain under investigation and have not been determined by any court.
President Bola Tinubu has since directed the EFCC to approach the court and seek the vacation of the freezing order, saying he was embarrassed by the timing of the action so close to the Osun governorship election.
The Presidency’s reference to a court order may indicate that judicial authorisation was subsequently obtained, while the Osun government’s suit specifically challenges the EFCC’s initial August 5 administrative directive and the circumstances under which the account was restricted.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit, and the defendants have yet to file or publicly disclose their responses to the claims.
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