Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has filed a ₦2 billion lawsuit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), challenging the freezing of the state’s Federal Statutory Allocation Account and describing the action as unconstitutional.
The suit, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, also lists the Attorney General of Osun State and the state’s Accountant General as co-plaintiffs. Named as defendants are the EFCC, its Chairman and First Bank Nigeria Limited.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to determine whether the EFCC acted within the law by directing the bank to freeze the state’s statutory allocation account without first obtaining a valid court order.
According to the originating summons, the Osun government argued that the commission violated provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the EFCC Establishment Act and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act by placing restrictions on the account through an administrative directive.
The plaintiffs urged the court to declare the action “unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires their powers, null and void, and of no effect whatsoever.”
They also asked the court to order the immediate lifting of all restrictions on the account, restrain the EFCC from taking similar action without due process, and award ₦2 billion as exemplary and aggravated damages for what they described as unlawful interference with public funds.
The lawsuit follows the EFCC’s confirmation that it froze the account as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged handling of about ₦11 billion in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) funds.
The anti-graft agency maintained that the action was intended to prevent the movement of funds under investigation and was “not connected to the forthcoming election.”
Governor Adeleke, however, insisted the move breached constitutional safeguards and due process.
The legal action also comes after President Bola Tinubu directed the EFCC to approach the court to unfreeze the Osun State Federal Statutory Allocation Account.
In a statement, 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.”
