Civil Society Organisations have urged the Bola Tinubu administration to refrain from using federal agencies to intimidate the Osun State government, led by Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party.

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on, Wednesday, froze the Osun State government account, saying the action was meant to safeguard public funds from being looted following transfers to suspicious accounts. 

Condemning the EFCC’s action, which he described as intimidatory and undemocratic, the Lagos chapter chairman of the Civil Liberties Organisation, Kenny Bakare, told Peoples Gazette that the APC’s tactics were aimed at taking over the state at all costs because it feared Mr Adeleke could not be defeated at the ballot due to his popularity in the state.

Mr Bakare said, “I’ve been studying their situation too. What I’m seeing that the Federal Government and the APC are doing is that they are using their power, at all costs, to suppress the Accord Party. All these are not new, it’s some sort of intimidation. These kind of things are not good for the democracy we are practicing.

“Election is not a do or die affair. What the APC is doing is suppressing the people of Osun with their powers. That’s why they are pulling out all these intimidation against the governor. They know the governor is very popular and they want to force his hand before the election. Why do they have to freeze the state government’s account, just days to the election? That’s intimidation, it’s very bad for democracy.

“I’m even surprised that the APC is behaving like this. They want to capture power in Osun at all costs. All these things they are trying, they may not win that election because the Adeleke’s in Osun have more power and advantage to win that election even under Accord Party. It’s totally wrong for democracy. My organisation the CLO, don’t support it.”

The President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Debo Adeniran, said the EFCC had the right to take such action, provided it had evidence that the funds in the account were not being legitimately used for the welfare and security of the state.

Mr Adeniran, however, stated that the federal government had no right to cripple the state government from performing its constitutional functions if the account was frozen for political reasons.

He said, “Don’t forget that some Osun people wrote petitions to the EFCC, and if there is evidence that a crime has been committed, even by the state authority, it is the governor that has immunity, not the state government. So, the government can be called to account.

“If there are credible evidence and witnesses, then the EFCC has the authority to ask that “no credit order” be placed on their account. If a crime is suspected to have been committed or likely to be committed with the account, it is possible that the EFCC will ask that no debit order be placed on it.

“However, if it is for political reasons, then the Federal Government has no reason to cripple the state government from performing its statutory functions, just because of politics.

“Also, if there is any reasonable suspicion that there is wrong application of the fund, then the Federal Government or its agencies, will have good reasons, based on their enabling arm to do what they did, otherwise, the agency will find itself in problem if they are found to have done anything wrongly.”

Mr Adeleke, during a press conference on Wednesday evening, directed the state Attorney General, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, to challenge the freezing of the state’s account by the EFCC without a court order, days before the August 15 governorship election.

This development comes after the Secretary to the State Government, Teslim Igbalaye, was arrested at his residence in Osogbo last Wednesday, alongside five others whom the police claimed were on their watchlist for alleged criminal offences.

According to the spokesperson for the state police command, Abiodun Ojelabi, ₦4,810,500, two Permanent Voter Cards, a voter register, a Dynabook laptop, one photocopying machine, and one printer were recovered from Igbalaye’s residence.

Mr Adeleke has, however, alleged that the escalating violence against the people of Osun, including the killings of Accord Party members, the arrest of 60 party members, their subsequent detention in Abuja without any charges, and constant police raids on party members, is being sponsored by the immediate past state governor, Gboyega Oyetola.