NewzBy Henry Umoru Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, ahead of the 2027 election, Prince Adewole Adebayo has taken a swipe at calls for the removal of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, over the freezing of Osun State Government’s accounts. Adebayo declared that President Bola Tinubu, not the Chairman of the EFCC, should resign over the president’s directive reversing the freezing of the Osun State Government’s accounts. He argued that while political pressure has mounted on EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede to step aside, the anti-graft agency merely exercised powers granted to it by law by obtaining a court order freezing the accounts under investigation.
According to him, the real constitutional breach occurred when President Tinubu publicly directed the EFCC to vacate the court-backed action, describing such intervention as an assault on the rule of law and the independence of law enforcement institutions. Adebayo said that rather than point accusing fingers at the EFCC over the Osun State Government account crisis, the responsibility for the controversy surrounding the EFCC action rested with President Bola Tinubu, alleging that the President had interfered with the independence of a law enforcement agency. Speaking with journalists on Thursday in Abuja at the SDP National Secretariat, the SDP candidate, who noted that he supported law enforcement institutions, said that agencies such as the EFCC, police and other security services should be allowed to operate within the law.
He said that if Osun State believed its accounts were wrongly frozen, it had legal options, including challenging the action in court, adding that the EFCC chairman should not be blamed for exercising powers granted by law and supervised by the judiciary. Adebayo, who argued that the major constitutional concern was any attempt by political office holders to direct investigations or influence the operations of law enforcement agencies, said: “If EFCC wrongly froze the account of Osun State Government, there are legal remedies that could be taken to unfreeze it, including getting damages against EFCC.” The SDP Presidential candidate also criticised what he described as poor leadership under the Tinubu administration, and called on Nigerians to focus on accountability rather than targeting officials heading government i… President Bola Tinubu has said he finds the timing of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC’s action on Osun state bank account embarrassing.
According to President Tinubu, he was yet to be fully apprised of the facts that informed EFCC’s action, but “I feel compelled to intervene”. In a statement on X (Twitter), the Tinubu said: “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. “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.
“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. “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. “I have therefore deliberately refrained from directing or interfering in the operational activities of the EFCC or any other investigative or prosecutorial agency because I firmly believe that strong democratic institutions, operating within the confines of the law, are indispensable to democratic good governance and the rule of law.
“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.” Osun account Recall that EFCC froze state government acciount domiciled with a first generation bank. However, the development elicited angry reactions as Governor Ademola Adeleke, the Accord Party, African Democratic Congress, ADC, and legal practitioners faulted the move.
Summary from source