Ismaeel Uthman, Solomon Odeniyi and Bola Bamigbola

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has released the Osun State Government accounts which were earlier frozen “to prevent the alleged diversion of public funds”.

Saturday PUNCH confirmed on Friday that the accounts, domiciled with First Bank of Nigeria and Zenith Bank, are now functioning.

EFCC had on August 5 placed a Post No Debit on the state government accounts, claiming that it had been investigating the government since March 2026 over the alleged fraudulent handling of about N11bn in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee.

The development triggered backlash as many people considered it a political move to weaken Governor Ademola Adeleke before the just-concluded election.

President Bola Tinubu also described the EFCC action as embarrassing and directed the commission to unfreeze the account.

Adeleke had, after his declaration as the winner of the election, directed the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, (SAN), to withdraw the suit filed against the EFCC.

However, both the EFCC and the state government have remained silent on the matter.

Calls and messages sent to the EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, were not responded to as of the time of filing this report.

Efforts to reach the state Commissioner for Finance, Sola Ogungbile, also failed, as calls did not go through to his line.

Also, Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, when contacted, asked for time to consult relevant officials before commenting on the matter.

But as of the time of filing this report, he had not responded to the enquiry on the matter.

However, a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, confirmed to Saturday PUNCH on Friday that the accounts had been unfrozen.

He stated that the EFCC couldn’t disobey Tinubu’s order on the matter.

“The lien has been lifted. EFCC cannot ignore the presidential order. I can confirm to you that it was done immediately.

“If it was not lifted, the Osun State Government would have made it a campaign issue. The fact that they are not talking about it shows it has been done,” he said.

This was as an aide to Adeleke, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, also confirmed that the Post No Debit order on the accounts had been vacated.

“The accounts are now functional. That was why Mr Governor directed the Attorney-General to withdraw the suit against EFCC,” he said on Friday in Abuja. (Punch)

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