- Safiu Kehinde
Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has ordered his Attorney-General, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, to withdraw the suit filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over the commission’s freezing of the state government’s account.
Adeleke disclosed that he ordered the Attorney-General to drop the suit following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu.
The governor made the disclosure while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics hours after being announced winner of Saturday Election.
Recall that the EFCC had on the 5th of August imposed Post No Debit on the state government’s account domiciled with First Bank, barring withdrawal and transfer from the account.
The anti-graft agency cited investigation on alleged misappropriation Federal Allocation by the Adeleke administration as reason behind the decision.
The development had sparked public outrage with Tinubu called out over what was considered an intimidation of the Ademola Adeleke-led administration by the All Progressives Congress ahead of the August 15 Governorship Election.
Reacting in a personal statement issued the following, Tinubu expressed disappointment over the EFCC’s action as he faulted the timing of the account freezing.
The President who distanced himself from the development, stressing that he had no prior knowledge about it, directed the EFCC to unfreeze the account.
However, the Osun state government filed a lawsuit against the anti-graft agency over the development.
Speaking on his decision to let go of the political antics targeted towards him before the election, Adeleke, on Sunday, held that the EFCC’s case is also included in the decision.
‘I’ve instructed my Attorney-General to drop it. Mr. President has done well. He called me. What more do I want.’ He said.
Meanwhile, Adeleke accused the former Osun governor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, of being responsible for the EFCC’s action as he recounted how the anti-graft agency summoned several members of his cabinet, including his spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed.
‘Most of these things, the President does not know. He has a lot of work to do. It was when this EFCC that didn’t let us rest.
‘They’ve been inviting us, questioning us on this and that and I told my people to go there.
‘We have nothing to hide. When they got there, they asked them question and they said okay go.
‘Can you imagine my spokesperson was invited by EFCC? What does my spokesperson has to do with it?
‘Is he the finance minister or accountant?
‘So, I told my Attorney to go. And when they probed and didn’t find anything, they asked him to go.
‘Just a distraction and let me tell you that all these things are Oyetola because he is the cousin to the president.’ He said.
On chances of defecting to the APC, Adeleke ruled out the chances while reaffirming his support for Tinubu’s re-election bid.
‘I’m not thinking about that. It’s not on my agenda. That doesn’t mean I cannot still support Mr. President.’ He said.