Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has directed the state’s Attorney-General to withdraw the suit filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the freezing of the state government’s statutory allocation account.

Adeleke disclosed this in an interview with Channels Television, hours after he was declared winner of the August 15 governorship election.

The governor said he decided to discontinue the case following President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the matter.

“I’m putting them behind. What else do I want? I have instructed my Attorney-General to drop it. Mr President has done well. He called me. What more do I want?” Adeleke said.

On reports that some of his aides and government officials had been invited by the EFCC for questioning, Adeleke said he had directed his lawyers to assist them.

“Well, we have been talking. I have been calling all my lawyers to go there,” he said.

The governor alleged that the EFCC invitations were politically motivated, adding, however, that some officials who honoured the invitations had been released after questioning.

Adeleke also said he did not believe President Tinubu was aware of some of the actions attributed to federal agencies.

“Most of these things, the president doesn’t know. The president has a lot of foreign work and jobs to do,” he said.

The governor further alleged that former Osun State Governor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, was behind the EFCC action because of his relationship with Tinubu.

“All these things is Oyetola because he is the cousin to the president. He is dropping the president’s name,” Adeleke alleged.

“I know that the president didn’t know about the EFCC one. That is why he had to call me and stop it.”

Background

The Osun State Government had filed a suit against the EFCC over the freezing of its statutory allocation account.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1762/2026, was filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 5. It sought to nullify the anti-graft agency’s directive and demanded N2 billion in exemplary damages against the commission.

The EFCC had said it froze the account as part of an investigation into alleged fraudulent handling of funds by the state government.

Following the development, President Tinubu directed the EFCC to immediately vacate the freeze order.

The President said he was embarrassed by the development, noting that actions taken by federal institutions were often attributed to the Presidency even when he had no prior knowledge of them.