In what would be seen by many as meddlesomeness in an off-season election, Nigeria’s anti-graft agency. the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen an Osun State Government account domiciled with First Bank, ten days to governorship election.
Vanguard reported that the account, reportedly used for the payment of workers’ salaries, was placed on “Post No Debit” status by the anti-graft agency.
Recall that a prelate of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, Cardinal John Onaiyekan had recently accused the President Bola Tinubu APC government of being desperate to win the 2027 presidential election.
Osun is governed by the Accord Party of Governor Ademola Adeleke, and this move by the EFCC, controlled by the presidency, would be seen as an attempt by the APC to wrestle power from the Accord Party in Osun.
President Tinubu had also rcently said that “all is fair in politics” and declared that he and his rivals will “wrestle each other to the finishing point”.
Osun is in the country’s Southwest, the zone of the president, and carrying the state in 2027 would be crucial for his reelection, with Peter Obi of the NDC and Atiku Abubakar of the ADC firmly in control of the Southeast and Northeast zones respectively.
Meanwhile, the freezing of the account comes barely hours after Governor Adeleke alarmed that the EFCC was planning to freeze the state’s accounts and those of top government officials.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, the governor described the reported move as an attempt to cripple government activities ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
According to Adeleke, there was no legal basis for freezing the accounts of the state government, arguing that the EFCC lacked the statutory powers to take such action.
The EFCC had not issued an official statement on the unwaranted freezing of the Osun Government bank account.
The justification, if any, remains unclear.
The Tinubu federal government had withheld local government financial allocations to Osun State since March 2025 because acording to critices, Governor Adeleke refused to defect to the ruling APC like five of his PDP contemporaries. Instead he joined Accord party in defiance.
The withheld funds grew to over ₦131 billion by early 2026.
President Tinubu had been accused by the opposition of weaponising state institutions against the opposition, including the legislature and the judiciary that has lost the trust of the majority of the people.