The Osun State Government has rejected the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) claim that it froze its bank account over an ongoing investigation into the alleged diversion of N11 billion and suspicious move of the funds, describing the allegation as false and an attempt to justify what it called “an unlawful action.”

In a Thursday statement signed by Kolapo Alimi, the state’s Commissioner for Information, the state government insisted that the account restriction had nothing to do with financial misconduct, alleging instead that it was orchestrated to frustrate the payment of palliatives to civil servants ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

It alleged that the EFCC acted on order of the state’s former governor, Gboyega Oyetola to freeze the state account to stop the payment of palliatives which the state government has been disbursing to its workers.

“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 read.

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The latest response follows the EFCC’s statement on Wednesday explaining why it placed a Post No Debit (PND) restriction on an Osun State Government account.

In the commission’s statement, the anti-graft agency said it had been investigating the state government since March 2026 over the alleged fraudulent handling of Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations amounting to about N11 billion.

According to the commission, investigators observed “huge transfers” from government accounts into what it described as suspicious corporate accounts from 2 August, prompting the freezing of the account to prevent further movement of public funds.

“The commission noticed huge transfers of funds into different corporate entities and had to swiftly halt the trend by freezing the accounts from which such heavy funds are being moved,” the commission’s statement read.

The EFCC maintained that the action was part of its statutory responsibility to safeguard public resources and denied suggestions that it was linked to the forthcoming governorship election.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that the anti-graft agency froze an Osun State Government account domiciled with First Bank, a development the Adeleke administration initially described as politically motivated.

In the Thursday statement, Mr Alimi added that EFCC had also subjected senior officials to repeated interrogations since March without producing evidence linking them to any financial wrongdoing.

He argued that Osun had built a reputation for budgetary transparency and prudent financial management, insisting there were no diverted public funds as alleged by the commission.

“There is no fund to loot in Osun State as the little resources we have are expended on mega projects, workers’ welfare and sectoral development,” Mr Alimi said.

The commissioner also questioned the legality of freezing a state’s bank account without first obtaining judicial orders or filing criminal charges, describing the EFCC’s public allegations as an afterthought intended to justify an action that had attracted widespread criticism.

The state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, had also questioned the legality of the action, maintaining that the EFCC lacked the constitutional authority to freeze the accounts of a state government without due legal process.