By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has directed the state Attorney-General to withdraw the legal action filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the freezing of the state government’s bank account.
Adeleke disclosed the decision during an interview with Channels Television on Monday,17 August, 2026, shortly after being declared winner of the August 15 governorship election.
He explained that President Bola Tinubu’s intervention had prompted him to abandon the case, which was instituted after the anti-graft agency froze the state’s statutory allocation account.
He said he had instructed the Attorney-General to discontinue the matter, insisting that the President’s intervention was sufficient to resolve the dispute, and stressed that he was putting the issue behind him since Tinubu had personally called him to address it.
Addressing reports that some members of his administration had been invited by the EFCC for questioning, Adeleke disclosed that he had directed his legal team to assist the affected officials, explaining that his lawyers had been in touch with those invited.
He alleged that the invitations were politically motivated, although he acknowledged that some officials who honoured the EFCC’s invitations were subsequently released after questioning.
He further stated that he did not believe Tinubu was aware of some of the actions being attributed to federal agencies, explaining that the President’s engagement with foreign affairs and other national responsibilities left him unaware of certain developments.
The Governor went on to accuse former Osun State Governor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, of influencing the EFCC action, alleging that Oyetola had exploited his relationship with Tinubu in the matter.
He maintained that Tinubu was unaware of the EFCC’s action, insisting that this was why the President had to call him and put a stop to it.
The dispute traced its origin to the Osun State Government’s move to approach the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the EFCC’s decision to freeze its statutory allocation account.
The suit, filed on Wednesday, 5 August, 2026, and numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/1762/2026, sought an order setting aside the freeze and demanded N2bn in exemplary damages against the commission, with the EFCC maintaining that the account was frozen as part of an investigation into alleged financial irregularities involving the state government.
The dispute was subsequently defused after Tinubu directed the EFCC to lift the restriction on the account, having earlier expressed embarrassment that actions taken by federal institutions were being associated with his administration even when he had no prior knowledge of them.
