President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately vacate a court order freezing the accounts of the Osun State Government, citing the inauspicious timing of the action just days before the state’s gubernatorial election.
In a statehouse statement issued on Thursday, President Tinubu expressed deep embarrassment over the timing of the EFCC’s action, even as he affirmed his commitment to allowing anti-corruption agencies to operate independently without political interference.
The President noted that the EFCC obtained the court order on August 5, 2026, but said he was yet to be fully apprised of the facts that informed the commission’s decision to approach the court.
“I must state that I feel deeply embarrassed not by the EFCC’s exercise of its mandate backed by a court order, but by the timing of the agency’s action,” President Tinubu said in the statement.
“This is so because every action taken by an institution of State, especially at the Federal level, is always credited to me, as the President, even when I may not have had any prior knowledge of the action.”
The President emphasised that since assuming office, he has consistently maintained that anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies must be allowed to discharge their statutory responsibilities independently, professionally, without fear or favour, or political interference.
However, he noted that with Osun State only days away from its gubernatorial election, “nothing ought to be done to give an impression that the EFCC or indeed any other agency of the federal government is being used to interfere with the election.”
“Based on the foregoing premise, I am duty-bound to issue a directive on this issue in consonance with the overriding public interest in preserving public confidence and the integrity, credibility, and fairness of our democratic process,” the President stated.
President Tinubu has directed the EFCC to “immediately proceed to the court to vacate the order and discontinue whatever action it has instituted against the Osun State Government in this regard.”
The directive comes as a significant intervention by the presidency in the operations of the anti-graft agency, even as the President reiterated his belief that “strong democratic institutions, operating within the confines of the law, are indispensable to democratic good governance and the rule of law.”
As of press time, the EFCC had not issued a public response to the President’s directive.