The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has defended the legality of its restriction on an Osun State Government account. The commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, recently had his say while speaking to the press, and Nigerians have been reacting.
Citing specific provisions of the law as its authority, Wilson revealed that the action did not require a prior court order, contrary to claims by the state government and the Nigerian Bar Association.
On the legality of the action, Uwujaren said the commission’s power to place a temporary restriction on an account is well established.
His words, “As we indicated in the statement released by the Commission, we took that step to preserve the account of the Osun State Government.
We observed in the past one week that activities on that account looked suspicious, and based on the mandate of the Commission, we took the step of placing a restriction on that account to preserve it.
That restriction order does not mean that all the accounts of Osun State have been frozen. No. It is just a targeted restriction on one account of the Osun State Government.
The essence, like I said, is just to preserve that account because we observed suspicious activities on that account in terms of the transfer of funds to a number of entities within one week.
So we had to take that decision to place a restriction on that account, not minding the fact that there is an election process in place.
We have the responsibility under the law to do so because if we don’t take that step and, for instance, funds are looted from the account of the Osun State Government, I’m sure the Nigerian public will also ask, ‘Where was the EFCC when those funds were being moved?’
It does not stop the Osun State Government from running the government of the state because they have access to other funds in the other accounts that they have.
In any case, the payment of salaries and other expenditures by the state government happens just once in a month. What we have done is not a blanket freezing of the account.
It’s just a targeted freezing. Once we are satisfied that activities on that account are no longer suspicious, it will be lifted.
A number of people have asked whether the Commission has the power to do so under the law. I can assure you that we have the power to place a temporary restriction on an account.
Section 34 of the EFCC Act and Section 7, Subsection 6 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2022 give us that authority to take that step.
The restriction order can last within 72 hours before we can come with a court order if we need to provide a court order.”
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