The controversial financial freeze, executed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) just ten days before the highly anticipated August 15 Osun State governorship election has continued to attract widespread political outrage and accusations of federal weaponization.
Reacting to the development, a rights activist and political analyst, Comrade David West warned the federal government to desist from acts cable of derailing the nation’s nascent democracy.
The EFCC had defended its decision to secure the August 5 court order by revealing that it was investigating the suspected fraudulent diversion of ₦11 billion in public allocations.
According to EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, investigators detected an alleged hasty and unwarranted movements of large sums of money into suspicious corporate accounts beginning on August 2, forcing the agency to place a Post No Debit restriction to prevent the looting of state funds.
However, Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke swiftly rejected this explanation, characterizing the freeze as an illegal, politically motivated maneuver designed to cripple basic state operations, including the payment of civil servant salaries on the literal eve of the gubernatorial poll.
Speaking to TNN on the matter, West maintained that the timing of the freezing of the State account under any guise was condemnable.
“The EFCC should not do something that the masses will begin to look at them as an instrument the government is using to frustrate opposition political parties during elections.
“Of what premise are they freezing the account? Adeleke has said that he is not using state resources to fund his election.
“Is it not the same thing all of them are doing? Will the president not use state funds to fund his campaign?
“So, I don’t see any reason the EFCC will be freezing a state few days to election. This will continue to put them in the news in bad light,” he added.
Meanwhile, we learnt on Thursday, that president Bola Tinubu expressed deep embarrassment over what he described as “inauspicious” timing of EFCC’s actions, emphasizing that preserving public confidence in the integrity and fairness of the democratic process must take precedence over the ongoing investigation.
Tinubu may have vowed to intense pressure from a wave of fierce criticism from opposition leaders, legal experts, and civil society organizations who warned against using public institutions to gain political advantages.
