President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to lift the freeze order it placed on a bank account of the Osun State Government.
Mr Tinubu gave the directive in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, describing the timing of the EFCC’s action, coming 10 days before the upcoming Osun State governorship election, as deeply embarrassing.
The directive came amid growing criticisms of the anti-corruption agency’s action, which has increasingly drawn condemnation as a politically motivated step.
On Wednesday, the EFCC asked First Bank to freeze an account belonging to the Osun State Government, days before the 15 August governorship election in which Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party is running against Bola Oyebamiji, the candidate of the president’s party, the All Progressives Congress.
“I must state that I feel 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,” Mr Tinubu wrote.
