Freeze

  Osun State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, announced on Wednesday that he has been authorised by the governor to institute legal action against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following the anti-graft agency’s decision to freeze the state’s government accounts. Jimi-Bada said a ‘Post no debit’ letter from the EFCC was forwarded to the management of the First Bank where Osun government accounts were domiciled on Wednesday. The commissioner, who expressed readiness to proceed to court, said the move by the anti-graft agency may hamper government’s business, noted that Governor Ademola Adeleke was not using state funds to run its campaign for reelection. “I have the mandate of the governor to proceed to the Federal High Court to challenge this move. EFCC can investigate the accounts but it can’t freeze the accounts without order of court. “This step will affect government running but we will challenge the move and ensure that the agency acts within the ambit of the law,” Jimi-Bada said. Corroborating the Attorney General, Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Sola Ogungbile, alleged that police operatives had stormed the main branch of First Bank in Osogbo and arrested staff members of the bank. He also said Adeleke was not using state funds for his campaigns and urged the anti graft agency to consider the implications that the move will have on the general well-being of the residents. Earlier, Adeleke raised the alarm that EFCC was planning to freeze all Osun State government accounts. In a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, on Wednesday, the governor said the EFCC was also reportedly planning to freeze accounts of all top government functionaries. The governor who said such a plan, if true, amounts to the height of lawlessness, said “The plot to freeze the state government accounts is meant to paralyze government activities ahead of the August 15th governorship election.” The governor affirmed that there is no legal basis or justification for any push to freeze the state government accounts, declaring that the anti-graft agency has no legal powers to freeze the account of a state government. Details later…