By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter
PRESIDENT BOLA Tinubu has instructed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately return to court to vacate the order freezing the accounts of the Osun State Government and discontinue every action it instituted against the state in the matter.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that in a statement issued on Thursday, Tinubu said he became aware that the EFCC obtained a court order on August 5, 2026, freezing the Osun State Government’s accounts.
The President said he felt 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.
He said every action taken by a state institution, especially at the federal level, was always credited to him as President, even when he had no prior knowledge of it.
Tinubu said that since assuming office, he had 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.
He said he had deliberately refrained from directing or interfering in the operational activities of the EFCC or any other investigative or prosecutorial agency because he believed that strong democratic institutions operating within the confines of the law were indispensable to democratic good governance and the rule of law.
The President added that he remained committed to allowing institutions of state to function and take any action they considered necessary in the interest of proper governance without requiring prior approval.
He said that although he was yet to be fully apprised of the facts that informed the EFCC’s decision to obtain the court order, he had no doubt that the timing of the action was inauspicious and compelled him to intervene.
Tinubu noted that Osun State was only a few days away from its governorship election and said nothing should be done to create the impression that the EFCC or any other federal government agency was being used to interfere with the election.
He said that, in the overriding public interest of preserving public confidence and the integrity, credibility and fairness of the democratic process, he considered it his duty to issue the directive.
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