The Osun State Government has rejected allegations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that about ₦11 billion was mismanaged under its watch, describing the claim as an attempt to justify what it called an unlawful freezing of the state’s accounts.
In a statement issued on Thursday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, the government insisted that there was no financial misconduct and accused the EFCC of making unfounded allegations to cover up its actions.
The government claimed that the freezing of the state’s accounts was not connected to any corruption investigation but was aimed at stopping the payment of palliatives promised to workers to cushion the impact of economic hardship.
“The real reason the commission froze the state account on the order of Gboyega Oyetola was to stop the payment of palliatives which the state government promised the workers some months ago,” the statement said.
However, the government said it had already paid the palliatives to workers despite the account restriction, adding that similar cost-of-living support had been provided to Osun workers in the past.
The state government also accused the EFCC of carrying out a politically motivated investigation designed to favour the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
“All material facts point to the fact that the commission is pursuing a hatchet job for the Osun APC by illegally freezing the state account and falsely accusing the government of looting ecological and other state funds,” the statement added.
The government maintained that public funds in the state were being used for infrastructure projects, workers’ welfare and other development programmes.
“There is no fund to loot in Osun State as the little resources we have are expended on the many mega projects, workers’ welfare and sectoral developments for the benefit of the masses,” it stated.
It further alleged that the EFCC had been investigating some top government officials since March 2026 without presenting any evidence of wrongdoing, accusing the agency of repeatedly distracting officials from governance.
The government argued that if the EFCC had evidence of financial misconduct, it should follow legal procedures rather than freeze government accounts.
“Assuming but not conceding that the EFCC has any evidence of looting, there are established procedures for bringing suspects to book instead of a politically motivated, unlawful freezing of government accounts,” the statement said.
The Osun government described the EFCC’s explanation for freezing the accounts as an afterthought, insisting that the allegations would not stand public scrutiny or legal examination.
The EFCC had earlier stated that the account freeze was part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged mismanagement of Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and FAAC allocations amounting to about ₦11 billion, insisting that the action was taken to protect public funds and was unrelated to the forthcoming governorship election.
