Osun accuses Oyetola of using EFCC to derail Adeleke ahead of poll

The Osun State Government has accused former governor and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, of orchestrating the freezing of the state’s bank accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a bid to undermine Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

The allegation followed the EFCC’s confirmation that it placed a Post No Debit restriction on Osun government accounts as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged diversion of about N11bn in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations.

In a statement on Thursday, the Osun Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, dismissed the EFCC’s explanation as an attempt to justify what he described as an unlawful action, alleging that the anti-graft agency acted at Oyetola’s behest.

According to the state government, the account restriction was designed to frustrate the payment of palliatives and other welfare packages to workers barely days before the governorship election.

Alimi said the allegation that the Adeleke administration looted N11bn was baseless, insisting that the state government had consistently deployed public funds to infrastructure projects, workers’ welfare and other development programmes.

He also accused the EFCC of subjecting top government officials to months of investigations and repeated invitations without producing evidence linking them to financial misconduct.

The commissioner further alleged that the commission’s actions amounted to political persecution intended to benefit the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the poll.

“If there is evidence of wrongdoing, the law provides clear procedures for prosecution. Freezing the state’s accounts without due process is unacceptable,” he said, adding that Osun’s record on budget transparency and public financial management contradicted the allegations.

The accusations came a day after Governor Adeleke directed the state’s Attorney-General to challenge the EFCC’s action before the Federal High Court.

The EFCC, however, insisted that its intervention was purely investigative and not politically motivated.

The commission said it had been probing the Osun State Government since March 2026 over the alleged handling of N11bn in public funds and initially found no basis to freeze the accounts.

According to the anti-graft agency, the decision changed after investigators detected what it described as suspicious transfers from the state’s accounts into several corporate entities beginning August 2.

The commission said it imposed the restriction to prevent further movement of public funds while investigations continued.

Defending its action, the EFCC maintained that safeguarding public resources remains part of its statutory mandate and rejected claims that the approaching governorship election influenced its decision.

The agency also urged the public to disregard what it described as attempts to politicise its operations, insisting that similar financial investigations were ongoing in other states across the country.