EFCC unfreezes Osun Government’s Accounts
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has unfrozen the Osun State Government’s accounts, which were earlier placed under a Post No Debit restriction over alleged diversion of public funds.
Saturday PUNCH reports that the accounts, domiciled with First Bank of Nigeria and Zenith Bank, were functioning as of Friday.
The EFCC had on August 5 placed the accounts under a Post No Debit order, stating that it had been investigating the state government since March 2026 over the alleged handling of about N11bn in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee.
The development generated reactions in some quarters, with concerns that the action could affect the operations of the state government and weaken Governor Ademola Adeleke ahead of the recently concluded governorship election.
President Bola Tinubu subsequently described the EFCC action as embarrassing and directed the commission to unfreeze the accounts.
Following his declaration as the winner of the election, Adeleke directed the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, SAN, to withdraw the suit instituted against the EFCC over the freezing of the accounts.
However, neither the EFCC nor the Osun State Government had officially commented on the development as of the time of filing this report.
Calls and messages sent to the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, were not responded to, while efforts to reach the state Commissioner for Finance, Sola Ogungbile, were also unsuccessful as calls to his line did not go through.
Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, when contacted, requested time to consult relevant officials before commenting on the matter but had yet to respond as of the time of filing this report.
However, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, confirmed on Friday that the accounts had been unfrozen, stressing that the EFCC could not disregard the President’s directive.
“The lien has been lifted. EFCC cannot ignore the presidential order. I can confirm to you that it was done immediately.
“If it was not lifted, the Osun State Government would have made it a campaign issue. The fact that they are not talking about it shows it has been done,” Ajayi said.
An aide to Governor Adeleke, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also confirmed that the Post No Debit order had been vacated.
“The accounts are now functional. That was why Mr Governor directed the Attorney-General to withdraw the suit against EFCC,” the aide said on Friday in Abuja.