EFCC: Osun Account Freeze Not New… We Saved N12bn During Edo Guber

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says the freezing of high-profile accounts is a routine practice by the agency and not targeted at any state government.

Wilson Uwujaren, director of public affairs of the EFCC, spoke on Thursday during an interview on Arise Television’s Morning Show, dismissing claims that the recent freezing of the Osun state government’s accounts had a political undertone.

He said although the anti-graft agency had no reason to freeze the Ekiti state government’s accounts during the recent governorship election, it took similar action during the last Edo governorship poll.

According to him, the move preserved N12 billion for the administration of Monday Okpebholo after it took over from Godwin Obaseki, former governor of Edo.

“If you talk about what happened in Ekiti, we didn’t have any reason to intervene the way we are intervening now,” he said.

“But I can tell you that Osun State is not the first state that we’re taking this kind of action.

“During the Edo State election, before the coming of the governor of Okpebholo, EFCC also took actions to restrict the account of that state government when we saw that funds were being moved to suspicious accounts and we were able to preserve N12 billion for them.

“That is why the current government was able to come on board and have resources to work. So this is not targeted at any particular government. We are simply doing our work under the law.”

BACKGROUND

On Wednesday, the EFCC said it froze the Osun state government’s bank accounts over the alleged fraudulent handling of ecological and intervention funds.

The anti-graft agency said it had been investigating the government since March, adding that some officials, including the accountant-general, had been interviewed by its investigators.

The commission said it observed huge transfers from the accounts into different corporate entities since August 2 while the probe was ongoing.

But in a statement on Thursday, Kolapo Alimi, commissioner for information and public enlightenment, rejected the EFCC’s claims, describing them as an attempt to justify an illegal action through unfounded allegations.

Alimi said “the real reason the commission froze the state account on the order of Gboyega Oyetola was to stop the payment of palliatives which the state government promised the workers some months ago”.

The development comes amid rising political tension in the state ahead of the governorship election slated for August 15.

Ademola Adeleke, governor of Osun, is seeking re-election for a second term on the platform of the Accord Party.

In recent weeks, the state has witnessed heated exchanges between supporters of the governor and those of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is seeking to reclaim the state after four years.

The governor’s camp has accused the APC of using federal government agencies, including the police and the EFCC, to intimidate Accord Party supporters ahead of the poll.

The APC has since rejected the claims.