Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has filed a ₦2 billion suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the commission’s decision to freeze the state’s Federal Statutory Allocation Account.
The suit was filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja and has the EFCC, its Chairman and First Bank Nigeria Ltd. as defendants.
The Attorney-General of Osun State and the state’s Accountant-General are listed as co-plaintiffs in the suit.
In the court processes, the plaintiffs argued that the EFCC acted outside its statutory powers by directing First Bank to restrict transactions on the state’s statutory allocation account without first obtaining a valid order from a court of competent jurisdiction.
They contended that the EFCC’s action violated provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The Osun Government is asking the court to declare the freezing of the account unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void.
It is also seeking an order setting aside the restriction and directing First Bank to immediately restore unrestricted access to the account.
The plaintiffs further want the court to permanently restrain the EFCC and the bank from taking similar action against the account without due legal process.
The state is also demanding ₦2 billion in exemplary and aggravated damages over what it described as unlawful interference with public funds, as well as the cost of the litigation.
The suit followed the EFCC’s confirmation that it had frozen the account as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged mismanagement of about ₦11 billion in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations belonging to the Osun Government.
The commission said the investigation commenced in March 2026 and that the restriction was intended to prevent the movement of funds under investigation.
The EFCC also maintained that the action was not connected with the forthcoming Osun governorship election.
Governor Adeleke has, however, described the freezing of the account as unconstitutional and warned that it could disrupt the state government’s ability to discharge its constitutional responsibilities.
The legal action also comes after President Bola Tinubu directed the EFCC to take immediate steps to unfreeze the Osun State Federal Statutory Allocation Account.
The President, in a statement, said he was “deeply embarrassed” by the timing of the EFCC’s action, while acknowledging that the commission was exercising its statutory investigative mandate.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
