Osun State Government has filed a suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over what it described as the unlawful freezing of its statutory allocation account, asking the Federal High Court in Abuja to nullify the action and award it N2 billion in exemplary damages.
Gatekeepers News reports that the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1762/2026 and filed on August 5, lists Governor Ademola Adeleke, the state’s Attorney-General and the Accountant-General as plaintiffs, while the EFCC, its Executive Chairman and First Bank of Nigeria are named as defendants. The state is challenging the anti-graft agency’s directive that led to the freezing of its statutory allocation account.
In the originating summons, Osun Government asked the court to determine whether the EFCC has the legal authority to freeze or place a post-no-debit restriction on a state’s statutory allocation account without first obtaining a valid court order. It argued that the commission’s directive amounted to executive lawlessness, abuse of statutory powers, a violation of due process and an infringement on the state’s constitutional financial autonomy.
The plaintiffs also want the court to declare the freeze unconstitutional, set aside the restriction on the account, permanently restrain EFCC and First Bank from taking similar actions without judicial authorisation, and compel the anti-graft agency to pay N2 billion in aggravated and exemplary damages for what they described as unlawful interference with public funds.
The legal action comes a day after EFCC said it froze the account over alleged fraudulent handling of N11 billion in ecological and intervention funds, insisting it had been investigating the state since March and had observed suspicious transfers from the account. However, Osun Government rejected the allegations, claiming the action was politically motivated and intended to disrupt governance ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
The development also follows President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive ordering the EFCC to return to court and vacate the freeze order, saying although the commission acted within its statutory powers, the timing of the action, so close to the governorship election, was inappropriate.
