Osun Guber: Adeleke Names Who’s Responsible for Freezing of Account, Other Issues

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu was unaware of several actions taken by federal agencies against the state shortly before the governorship election.

Adeleke claimed that former Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola, who is also President Tinubu’s cousin, was responsible for some of the actions, including the freezing of a state government account by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The governor made the allegation during an interview with Channels Television on Sunday while discussing developments that preceded his re-election.

The EFCC had earlier frozen an account belonging to the Osun State Government as part of an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of about N11 billion. The commission said it identified suspicious movements of funds and restricted the account to prevent further transactions while its investigation continued.

President Tinubu subsequently directed the EFCC to return to court to seek the lifting of the restriction, expressing concern that the timing of the action could be interpreted as an attempt by a federal agency to interfere in the election.

Adeleke said the President was not aware of most of the developments because of his numerous responsibilities, including international engagements.

“The President is not aware of most of these matters. He has numerous foreign responsibilities and tasks to attend to,” Adeleke said.

The governor also alleged that some of his aides were invited by the EFCC for questioning but were released after investigators found no evidence of wrongdoing.

He questioned the relevance of inviting some officials, including his spokesperson, as part of an investigation into financial matters.

Adeleke described the EFCC invitations as a distraction and alleged that Oyetola was behind the actions because of his relationship with the President.

“All these things is Oyetola because he is the cousin to the President. He is dropping the President’s name,” Adeleke alleged.

He added that Tinubu intervened after becoming aware of the EFCC action.

“I know that the President didn’t know about the EFCC one. That is why he had to call me and stop it,” he said.

Adeleke was re-elected governor of Osun State after securing 511,067 votes on the Accord Party platform. His closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, scored 444,815 votes, while Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress polled 17,180 votes.

The governor won 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji secured victory in 11.

The allegations come amid continuing political debate over the conduct of the election and the actions of federal institutions in the weeks preceding the poll.