From Kayemo News
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to immediately approach the court to vacate the order freezing the accounts of the Osun State Government.
In a statement issued from the State House on Thursday, August 6, 2026, the President said the directive became necessary to protect the integrity of the electoral process, with Osun State just days away from its governorship election slated for August 15.
“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,” the President stated.
The EFCC had on August 5, 2026, obtained a court order freezing the state government’s accounts.
President Tinubu said while he was not embarrassed by the Commission exercising its statutory mandate, he was concerned about the timing of the action.
“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. 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.
The President reaffirmed his administration’s policy of non-interference in the operations of anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies.
“ Since assuming office, I have consistently maintained that anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies must be allowed to discharge their statutory responsibilities independently, professionally, without fear or favour, or political interference_” Tinubu noted.
He added that he has “deliberately refrained from directing or interfering in the operational activities of the EFCC or any other investigative or prosecutorial agency” because strong institutions operating within the law are “indispensable to democratic good governance and the rule of law.”
The President, however, said the proximity of the Osun election compelled him to intervene in the public interest.
“While I am yet to be fully apprised of the facts which informed the action of EFCC in approaching the court to obtain the said order freezing the Osun State Government account, I am not in the slightest doubt that the timing of the action of EFCC is inauspicious, and therefore I feel compelled to intervene” he said.
“ 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,” the statement added.
Accordingly, President Tinubu 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.”
The EFCC is yet to issue a formal response to the President’s directive as at press time.