Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has asked the state attorney general to abandon the lawsuit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the freezing of the state government’s account, following President Bola Tinubu’s intervention.
Adeleke claimed this in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday after being announced the victor of the Osun State governorship election and added that he was no longer interested in continuing the case against the anti-graft agency.
The governor stated that Tinubu had personally intervened in the situation and found no cause to continue with the legal procedure.
“What else do I want? I’ve instructed my attorney general to drop it. Mr. President has done well; he called me. What more do I want?” Adeleke said.
The EFCC slapped a post-no-debit restriction on a state government account as part of a probe into alleged manipulation of around N11 billion in ecology funds, intervention funds, and Federation Account Allocation Committee allocations.
The commission stated that the limitation was imposed in response to the “precipitate and unwarranted movement of funds” from the account into multiple company entities.
Adeleke had rejected the measure and urged the state attorney general and commissioner for justice to oppose the ban in court, claiming it was unlawful and politically motivated.
Speaking about accusations that some of his followers were still in EFCC detention, Adeleke stated that his attorneys were working with the agency.
“Well, we are… we’ve been talking. I’ve been calling all my lawyers to go there,” he said.
He also questioned the EFCC’s invitation to certain of his aides, particularly his spokesperson.
“Can you imagine my spokesperson? You are inviting my spokesperson to EFCC. Is my spokesperson a finance minister or accountant? So I told him, ‘Go,’” he said.
Adeleke claimed his aides accepted the invitations because they had nothing to hide.
The governor also stated that he has no plans to rejoin the All Progressives Congress, despite his renewed support for President Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
When asked if he would return to the APC, Adeleke replied, “I’m not even thinking about it right now.”
He did, however, state that his decision not to rejoin the APC would not preclude him from supporting Tinubu.
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t express my support…” “Mister President,” he said.
Adeleke, who previously ran for office under the APC before switching to the Peoples Democratic Party and eventually the Accord Party, stated that his support for Tinubu was independent of his party allegiance.
The governor further claimed that some people had been using Tinubu’s name in connection with the EFCC case without the president’s knowledge.
The governor’s comments came after he defeated the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, in Saturday’s governorship election, securing his second term.
The Independent National Electoral Commission reported that Adeleke received 511,067 votes to Oyebamiji’s 444,815.
