Fuller details of the account freeze imposed on the Osun State Government by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have emerged, showing that the Commission targeted three accounts rather than the single account previously known to the public.
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The disclosure, reported by Sahara Reporters on the strength of newly obtained court documents, widens the scope of an action that has already drawn heavy criticism of the Commission and its chairman, Ola Olukoyede, in the days before the 15 August governorship election in the state.
The accounts affected are a federal allocation account with First Bank, which had been the only one publicly known to be frozen, and two joint allocation accounts with Zenith Bank.
According to the schedule attached to the application, the three accounts are the Osun State Government Federal Allocation Account, domiciled with First Bank Plc, Account No. 2017170947; the Osun State Joint Allocation Account, domiciled with Zenith Bank Plc, Account No. 1013374191; and a second Osun State Joint Allocation Account, also with Zenith Bank Plc, Account No. 1014374909.
The documents show that the Commission obtained the freeze order from the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, 5 August, through an ex parte application in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1750/2026.
Because the application was made ex parte, the party to be affected by the order was not present at its hearing and did not participate.
The Commission’s counsel, M. A. Babatunde, moved the motion, informing the court that the affected accounts were “currently being investigated in a case of Diversion of public funds and Money Laundering pending conclusion of investigation and prosecution.”
The application was supported by an affidavit sworn by the Commission’s investigator, Ikenna Chukwueze, and an exhibit marked “EFCC 1.”
After hearing counsel, Justice Mohammed Umar issued an ex parte order authorising the Commission’s chairman, Ola Olukoyede, “or any officer authorised by him,” to direct the managing directors of the affected banks to freeze the accounts listed in the schedule to the application.
The judge ordered that the freeze remain in place until the conclusion of the Commission’s investigations.
The disclosure raises questions about the Commission’s own communications on the matter. Its letter to First Bank imposing a Post No Debit restriction cited no court order and referenced only one account of the state government. A statement issued by the Commission the same day likewise gave the impression that a single account was affected.
The Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, appeared on Arise Television on Thursday morning to defend the action, and did so on the footing that no court order had yet been obtained. He told the programme that the Commission would follow up with an order of court within 72 hours of the restriction, citing the Commission’s establishment law.
The first public indication that a court had in fact been involved came later that day, from the President’s own statement.
It is not clear why the full picture was not disclosed in the Commission’s communications from Wednesday, when the letter to First Bank was issued, nor is it yet clear whether the Commission has applied to the court to lift the freeze.
President Bola Tinubu directed the Commission on Thursday to return to court and vacate the order, describing the timing of the action, coming about 10 days before the governorship election, as inauspicious.
“I must state that I feel 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,” the President wrote.
He explained the basis of his intervention. “This is so because 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.”
He said that although he has deliberately refrained from directing or interfering in the operational activities of the Commission or any other investigative or prosecutorial agency, the circumstances compelled him to act.
“Osun State is only a few days away from its gubernatorial election. Therefore, 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,” he said.
He added: “Based on the foregoing premise, I am duty-bound to issue a directive on this issue in consonance with the overriding public interest in preserving public confidence and the integrity, credibility, and fairness of our democratic process. Accordingly, I have directed the EFCC to immediately proceed to the court to vacate the order and discontinue whatever action it has instituted against the Osun State Government in this regard.”
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, subsequently announced that the President spoke with Governor Ademola Adeleke by telephone, informing him that he had given the directive to lift the restriction.
The Commission has said the restriction followed suspicious movement of public funds from the account in the course of an ongoing investigation into alleged financial misconduct involving about N11 billion in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federation Account Allocation Committee allocations.
The action came just over a week before the 15 August governorship election, in which the incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, faces Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, the President’s party. It has fed a wider perception that federal agencies, including the police, have been selective in their enforcement actions in the state.
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