Osun Poll: Tinubu Directs EFCC To Lift Freeze On State Accounts

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately take steps to vacate a court order freezing the bank accounts of the Osun State Government, saying the timing of the action, coming days before the state’s governorship election, could create the impression of federal interference in the electoral process.

In a personally signed statement issued on Thursday, the President said he was “deeply embarrassed” by the timing of the anti-graft agency’s action, stressing that while the EFCC acted pursuant to a court order, actions taken by federal institutions are often attributed to the President.

“It has come to my notice that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) obtained a court order on August 5, 2026, freezing the accounts of the Osun State Government. I must state that 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,” Tinubu said.

The President reiterated that since assuming office, he has consistently maintained that anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies must be allowed to discharge their statutory responsibilities independently, professionally, and without fear, favour or political interference.

He said he had deliberately refrained from directing or interfering in the operational activities of the EFCC and other investigative or prosecutorial agencies because he believes strong democratic institutions operating within the law are indispensable to democratic governance and the rule of law.

Tinubu said that although he had yet to be fully briefed on the facts that informed the EFCC’s decision to obtain the court order, he considered the timing of the action “inauspicious.”

He noted that Osun State is only a few days away from its governorship election and said nothing should be done to create the impression that the EFCC or any other federal agency is being used to interfere with the poll.

“Based on the foregoing premise, 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 President said.

Tinubu therefore directed the EFCC to immediately return to court to vacate the order freezing the Osun State Government’s accounts and discontinue whatever action it had instituted against the state in that regard.

He said the directive was issued in the overriding public interest and to preserve public confidence in the integrity, credibility and fairness of the democratic process.