President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday received briefings from the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqha Rabe Darma, at the State House in Abuja.
The meeting focused on the management and disposal of houses seized nationwide by the anti-corruption agency, according to a statement and photographs released by the State House media office on Tuesday night.
The meeting marked the first publicly disclosed engagement between Tinubu and Olukoyede since the President publicly directed the EFCC to reverse its freezing of Osun State Government accounts earlier this month.
The EFCC had on August 5 obtained a court order freezing the state’s accounts as part of an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of ecology funds, intervention funds and allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee, involving about N11bn.
The Osun State Government challenged the order at the Federal High Court in Abuja the same day, seeking its nullification and N2bn in exemplary damages. The state also accused the EFCC of conducting an unproven “witch-hunt” against it since March.
Two days later, Tinubu directed the EFCC to return to court and seek the vacation of the freezing order.
The President said he was “deeply embarrassed not by the EFCC’s exercise of its mandate backed by a court order, but by the timing of the agency’s action”, which came just 10 days before the August 15 governorship election.
Tinubu said he had deliberately refrained from interfering in the operational activities of the commission but could not allow any federal institution to create the impression that it was being used to influence the outcome of an election.
The development came amid heightened political tension in Osun, where incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke subsequently secured re-election in the August 15 poll.
Following his victory, Adeleke disclosed during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics that he had instructed the state’s Attorney-General to withdraw the suit against the EFCC.
The governor attributed the decision to the President’s intervention, saying, “I’m putting them behind. What else do I want? I have instructed my Attorney General to drop it. Mr President has done well. He called me. What more do I want?”
Tuesday’s meeting between Tinubu, Olukoyede and Darma centred on the handling of seized properties, with the State House stressing that their management and disposal would be conducted in accordance with principles of transparency and accountability.
