Post by Vanguard Newspapers (@vanguardngrnews)

By Dickson Omobola

Osun State Government has insisted that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has no power to freeze the state’s accounts without a court order, saying the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke is being witch-hunted.

Commissioner for Information in Osun State, Mr Kolapo Alimi, claimed that since the local government crisis began in February 2025, the Federal Government had been paying allocations directly to local government chairmen, leaving the Osun State government with no control over the funds.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Media and Publicity Committee, Mr Adebayo Adedeji, accused the Adeleke administration of corruption, saying its officials should face the EFCC’s investigation instead of pointing accusing fingers at the APC.

They both spoke on Channels Television on Thursday.

Speaking, Alimi said: “The EFCC lacks the power to freeze an account of an individual, not to talk of that of a state without a court order. In the instance of Osun State, was it at the instance of a court order? The answer is no. That is the first error committed by the EFCC. For a couple of months, Osun State Government has been under scrutiny. We are being witch-hunted. The accountant general of the state has been invited several times.

“The commissioner for finance and so many people have been invited. It is quite surprising that the same EFCC that Osun State Government petitioned since 2025 of money laundering and mismanagement of funds by the former governor of the state and now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, and against the …, that they withdrew N1.6 billion in cash over a period of three months. We attached relevant documents to that petition. Up to this moment, EFCC has closed its eyes to that petition. But whenever APC just puts anything on paper, EFCC will start working on it.

“There is no such fund to be embezzled. Since February 2025, when the issue of local government imbroglio started, federal government has been paying the local government allocation to the yes or no local government chairmen. Osun State Government has no access to that money.

“What is the implication of that in an administrative circle? The local government is responsible for the payment of salaries of local government workers. The local government is responsible for the payment of teachers at the primary schools. Every month, the financial responsibility of the local government happens to be about N6.5 billion, which is supposed to be paid from the local government allocation. We have been bearing that one.

“By the time we add the state bill with that of the local government bill, there is nothing left for us. Where is the money for anybody to take? Those people who have been sitting down on local government allocation and have been sharing the money, EFCC has refused to do anything against them.”

For his part, Adedeji said: “Government of Osun State has the culture of trying to be the judge in its own case. It is not correct that after meeting the statutory obligations in Osun State, there will not be anything left for the government to spend. The allocation to Osun State is about N14-15 billion. The monthly wage bill is about N6 billion.

“After paying N6 billion to meet the monthly statutory obligations, Osun State still has about N7-8 billion to play with. If the EFCC has now come in to investigate the government, they should face the EFCC. We started talking about the culture of corruption in Osun State in 2023.

“We have said it many times that the government of Ademola Adeleke is corruption-ridden. I will cite two or three examples. In 2023, when President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy, he gave N2 billion to each state of the federation, among other things, to purchase CNG buses and improve on the transportation of the state.

“Osun State diverted that N2 billion. Up to this moment, they have not been able to account for the money. Number 2, we have been talking about the mismanagement of ecological funds to Osun State. 17 billion Naira 2024 and 2025. Osun State has not been able to account for that money as well.”

The post Osun govt, APC trade accusations over EFCC probe appeared first on Vanguard News.

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/08/osun-govt-apc-trade-accusations-over-efcc-probe/

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