EFCC Investigating 18 States Over Alleged Mismanagement of Public Funds
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has disclosed that no fewer than 18 states are currently under investigation over alleged mismanagement of public funds.
The Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, made the disclosure during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday while responding to questions on the EFCC’s decision to place a temporary restriction on one of the Osun State Government’s statutory accounts. Although he confirmed the ongoing investigations, Uwujaren declined to identify the affected states, saying doing so could jeopardise the integrity of the probes.
“Like we said in the statement, there are about 18 other states that we have ongoing investigations,” Uwujaren said.
When pressed to disclose the identities of the states, he maintained that the commission would not reveal them at this stage.
“I don’t want to start mentioning those states by name now,” he said, adding, “Not running away per se, but not to jeopardise the investigation that is currently ongoing.”
Uwujaren explained that the EFCC’s action against Osun State was not unprecedented, recalling that the commission had similarly restricted an Edo State Government account before the inauguration of Governor Monday Okpebholo after detecting suspicious movement of funds.
According to him, the intervention helped preserve substantial public funds for the incoming administration.
“Before the coming of Governor Okpebholo, EFCC also took actions to restrict the account of that state government when we saw that funds were being moved to suspicious accounts. We were able to preserve $12 billion for them. That is why the current government was able to come on board and have resources to work,” he stated.
He stressed that the commission’s actions were not targeted at any particular administration but were carried out in line with its statutory mandate.
“This is not targeted at any particular government. We are simply doing our work under the law,” Uwujaren said.
Addressing concerns over why a similar action was not taken during the Ekiti State governorship election, the EFCC spokesman said the circumstances were different and based on intelligence available to the commission.
He also clarified that only one statutory account belonging to the Osun State Government had been temporarily restricted, noting that the state remained free to operate its other accounts.
Uwujaren explained that the EFCC has a 72-hour window to obtain a court order to sustain the restriction or lift it, in accordance with the provisions of the EFCC Act and the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2022.
“Those provisions give us the power to place temporary restrictions on any account where we suspect suspicious activities. We have 72 hours within which to obtain a court order to continue the restriction or lift it,” he said.
He further revealed that the investigation involving Osun State did not begin recently, noting that it commenced in March and that several state officials had already been questioned as part of the ongoing probe.
The disclosure comes amid growing public interest in the management of state finances, following the EFCC’s recent restriction of an Osun State Government account, a move that has sparked criticism from the state government and the Nigerian Bar Association.