The move by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to freeze the Osun government statutory account, barely 10 days before the state’s anticipated off-cycle governorship election, has drawn several reactions.

On Wednesday, the EFCC, in a letter dated August 5, requested First Bank of Nigeria to place a post-no-debit on Osun’s statutory allocation account, claiming it was for a potential N11 billion fraud.

Reacting to the development, Joseph Aliu, the spokesman for Lawyers In Defence of Democracy Initiative, faulted FirstBank and EFCC for freezing the account.

Mr Aliu said, “The position of the law is well settled like the waters of Babylon. In the case of GTB PLC v. Adedamola (2019) 5 NWLR (Pt. 1664) at pg. 30, it was held that ‘before freezing or placing any form of restriction on any bank account, a bank must be satisfied that there is an order of court’. That First Bank Plc could brazenly go ahead to restrict the account of the Osun state government without a court order is a manifest of total disregard for the rule of law and our courts.”

Mr Aliu, who referenced Section 34(1) of the EFCC Act, 2004, said the agency lacked the constitutional power to direct a bank to restrict an account, adding that due process must be followed in the strict sense.

“The Osun state government has the locus standi to legally challenge this unconstitutional act of the EFCC and First Bank Plc, demanding huge costs,” the lawyer explained.

A political analyst and state coordinator of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights, Kola Ibrahim, said the EFCC’s decision was part of a broader pattern of how federal institutions are being used to frustrate the re-election of the incumbent party and administration in the state.

Mr Ibrahim stated, “Legally speaking, the state government has indicated interest to go to court, so I cannot comment on that. However, the EFCC shows a pattern of federal agencies being used to support APC in the state in the run-up to the governorship election.”

“While we don’t hold briefs for the state government, which we believe is not acting in the interests of the working people and the poor in the state, we need to oppose the arm-twisting and undemocratic actions of the federal government, which are undermining the peace and wellbeing of the state.”

An Osun-based lawyer and rights activist, Alfred Adegoke, faulted the anti-graft agency for allowing itself to be drawn into the current political atmosphere in the state.

He stated, “In the first instance, the same EFCC has done nothing over the seizure of local government funds by the APC. It has watched while the seized funds are being spent without any caution or eyebrow from the EFCC.

“Why does it now have an interest in Osun? The interest stinks of partisan degeneration, which is a disaster for law enforcement. The same pattern was witnessed with the police. The EFCC’s action at election season can only be termed an interference in the Osun elections because of the sensitivity of such allegations at such a volatile period.

“The Osun state government needs to call a spade a spade. You cannot be pretending that the problem is with Oyetola, the former governor, when in actual fact, it’s the entire apparatus of the federal government led by President Tinubu that is unleashing tyranny and stifling the state.”

Mr Adegoke urged the state government to report the EFCC, police and the federal government to the International Criminal Court and the United Nations. He also called for the establishment of an independent panel of inquiry to investigate the alleged complicity of security agencies in the Osun crisis.

A public affairs analyst and lawyer, Festus Ogun, on Wednesday, in a post on X, called on the anti-corruption agency to exercise “caution and circumspection”.

Mr Ogun said while the EFCC is empowered by law to request that a bank account of any person, corporate entity or government institution be frozen or placed on “post-no-debit” restriction, such power should be exercised with legal restraint and caution.

The lawyer stated, “As held by the court in EFCC v AG Benue State (2022) LPELR-58696(CA) (a case that shares uncanny similarity with the present situation), the EFCC can only make such a request for PND restriction on the state’s account where there is a reasonable suspicion that the account is involved in any financial crime. In the absence of such reasonable suspicion, placing a lien on the account will be unlawful and arbitrary.

“There is already a perilous precedent with Osun state local government system. For over 12 months, the federal government has unlawfully, unconstitutionally and callously withheld Osun local government allocation. Head or tail, it is the people at the grassroots that suffer the heavy consequences of this needless power play,” Mr Ogun said. “The functionality of a state should not be crippled owing to duality of political interests. The interest of Osun people matters more.”