By Henry Umoru Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, ahead of the 2027 election, Prince Adewole Adebayo has taken a swipe at calls for the removal of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, over the freezing of Osun State Government’s accounts. Adebayo declared that President Bola Tinubu, not the Chairman of the EFCC, should resign over the president’s directive reversing the freezing of the Osun State Government’s accounts. He argued that while political pressure has mounted on EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede to step aside, the anti-graft agency merely exercised powers granted to it by law by obtaining a court order freezing the accounts under investigation. According to him, the real constitutional breach occurred when President Tinubu publicly directed the EFCC to vacate the court-backed action, describing such intervention as an assault on the rule of law and the independence of law enforcement institutions. Adebayo said that rather than point accusing fingers at the EFCC over the Osun State Government account crisis, the responsibility for the controversy surrounding the EFCC action rested with President Bola Tinubu, alleging that the President had interfered with the independence of a law enforcement agency. Speaking with journalists on Thursday in Abuja at the SDP National Secretariat, the SDP candidate, who noted that he supported law enforcement institutions, said that agencies such as the EFCC, police and other security services should be allowed to operate within the law. He said that if Osun State believed its accounts were wrongly frozen, it had legal options, including challenging the action in court, adding that the EFCC chairman should not be blamed for exercising powers granted by law and supervised by the judiciary. Adebayo, who argued that the major constitutional concern was any attempt by political office holders to direct investigations or influence the operations of law enforcement agencies, said: “If EFCC wrongly froze the account of Osun State Government, there are legal remedies that could be taken to unfreeze it, including getting damages against EFCC.” The SDP Presidential candidate also criticised what he described as poor leadership under the Tinubu administration, and called on Nigerians to focus on accountability rather than targeting officials heading government institutions. Adebayo said, “Going by the drama over Osun account freezes and President Bola Tinubu ordered to unfreeze it. Do you support the growing call for EFCC chairman to go for alleged office abuse? And resignation, yes. Well, the person who should resign is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I don’t have enough evidence to suggest that the EFCC chairman should resign. The only person who is at fault here is the President himself. Because EFCC is a very difficult place to work. “From my own personal assessment of Olukayode, the EFCC chairman, I think that he wants to do his job. And I have always supported the EFCC right from the time of Nuhu Ribadu, up to the only lady who has ever been EFCC chairman, down to the present one. I’ve always supported law enforcement. “I am not a politician that will criticise the IG of police, EFCC chairman, DG DSS, because those are difficult jobs to do, or army staff, or any service personnel, because these are difficult jobs to do under a very bad government. So the buck stops at the table of the President. The confusion in Osun is caused by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and I don’t know why Nigerians are always shy to ask and incompetent and obviously corrupt President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to resign. “Nigerians are always going for the weak targets. Oh, Chief of Staff should resign. Did the Chief of Staff appoint himself? Did he instruct himself? Next, they’re always looking for a weak person. So the person who should go is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, because the Attorney General is the only political person who has authority to advise or interact with EFCC. “So for the President to purport to order EFCC is already an impeachable offence, because EFCC is part of the legal process in Nigeria. And as a lawyer, I’ve done cases against EFCC; I’ve defended people before EFCC, and just like police. The law is clear on how to get it right. “If EFCC wrongly froze the account of Osun State Government, there are legal remedies that could be taken to unfreeze, including getting damages against EFCC. You will see that Dr. Olu Agunloye, the National Secretary of the SDP, got a huge judgment against EFCC, and he’s going to get a bigger one very soon, nothing being equal. “But we in SDP have never insulted EFCC. We’ve never interfered with them, because if you want to live in a country of rule of law, you must give the professionals who are in charge of maintaining rule of law freedom to act, because there is sufficient safeguard on how
Don't miss out on breaking stories and in-depth articles.
