Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has instituted a ₦2 billion suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), challenging the freezing of the state’s Federal Statutory Allocation Account and describing the action as unlawful and unconstitutional.
The suit, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, also lists the Attorney General of Osun State and the Accountant General of the state as second and third plaintiffs, respectively.
Joined as first to third defendants are the EFCC, its Chairman and First Bank Nigeria Limited.
In the originating summons, filed by a legal team led by M. T. Adekilekun (SAN), the plaintiffs asked the court to determine whether the EFCC acted within its constitutional and statutory powers by freezing the state’s account.
They argued that under the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, the anti-graft agency lacks the authority to “freeze, restrict, block, place a ‘post no debit’ order on, or otherwise interfere with” the Osun State Government’s statutory allocation account without first obtaining a valid court order.
The plaintiffs further questioned whether the EFCC’s directive to First Bank to freeze the account through a letter dated August 5, 2026, amounted to “an egregious act of executive lawlessness, an unlawful resort to self-help, a flagrant abuse of statutory powers, an unlawful suppression of the constitutional powers and functions of the Plaintiffs, a threat to the constitutional and corporate existence of Osun State… and a direct violation of the fundamental constitutional principles of due process, the rule of law, and the financial autonomy of a federating unit.”
They also asked the court to determine whether First Bank, as the state’s banker, could lawfully act on an administrative directive from the EFCC in the absence of “a valid, subsisting, and specific order of a court of competent jurisdiction.”
Among the reliefs sought, the plaintiffs requested the court to declare the freezing of the account “unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires their powers, null and void, and of no effect whatsoever.”
They also sought “an order setting aside, vacating, and nullifying the freezing, restriction, blocking, post-no-debit instruction, or any other restraint placed on the Osun State Statutory Account” and an order compelling First Bank to immediately remove all restrictions on the account.
In addition, the plaintiffs asked the court to issue perpetual injunctions restraining the EFCC from freezing any Osun State Government account without following due process and preventing First Bank from acting on similar directives unless backed by a valid court order.
The suit also seeks ₦2 billion as “exemplary and aggravated damages for the unlawful interference with public funds,” alongside the cost of the legal action.
No hearing date has been fixed for the case.
The lawsuit comes shortly after President Bola Tinubu directed the EFCC to return to court and vacate the order freezing the Osun State Government’s account.
The EFCC had earlier disclosed that it froze the account as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged fraudulent handling of about ₦11 billion in Ecological Funds, Intervention Funds and Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations. The Commission maintained that the action was aimed at preventing the movement of public funds under investigation and was unrelated to the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
Governor Adeleke, however, has consistently maintained that the freezing of the account violated constitutional provisions and due process.
In his own intervention, President Tinubu said he was “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,” adding that no action should create the impression that federal institutions were being used to influence the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State.
