The Executive Chairman,
\nEconomic and Financial Crimes Commission – EFCC
\nNo. 5, Fomella Street, Wuse Zone 7
\nAbuja, FCT<\/p>\n
Dear Sir,<\/p>\n
RE: DEMAND FOR IMMEDIATE UNFREEZING OF OSUN STATE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT AHEAD OF GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION<\/p>\n
We write to express our deep concern and strong objection to the decision of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to freeze the bank accounts of the Osun State Government, *ten days to the scheduled governorship election in the State.*<\/p>\n
While we acknowledge the statutory mandate of the EFCC to investigate financial crimes and prevent misuse of public funds, the timing and manner of this action raises serious questions of *political neutrality, fairness, and constitutional propriety.*<\/p>\n
*OUR GROUNDS OF CONCERN:*<\/p>\n
1. *Timing Suggests Political Motivation*
\nTo freeze the accounts of an entire state government at this critical period, when salaries, pensions, health services, security votes and election-related governance activities are ongoing, creates avoidable hardship for millions of citizens. This action, coming so close to an election, gives the impression of an attempt to cripple the state government and influence the electoral process.<\/p>\n
2. *Allegation of Partiality and Selective Action*
\nThe people of Osun and Nigerians at large are watching. If this action is truly in the public interest and non-partisan, we expect to see similar decisive actions against ALL states with pending investigations, regardless of the political party in power. The perception that the EFCC is being used as an instrument of the ruling party at the federal level damages public confidence in your Commission and in our democracy.<\/p>\n
3. *Violation of Federalism and Governance*
\nFreezing a state\u2019s account affects civil servants, pensioners, hospitals, and essential services. It punishes innocent citizens for an investigation that has not concluded. This approach contradicts the principles of due process and the rule of law enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.<\/p>\n
*OUR DEMANDS:*
\nIn the interest of justice, democracy, and the welfare of Osun people, we hereby demand:
\n1. *Immediate unfreezing of the Osun State Government accounts* to allow governance and payment of salaries\/pensions to continue.
\n2. *A public explanation* from EFCC on why this action was taken 10 days to the election, and what urgent threat necessitated it.
\n3. *Assurance of non-interference* by the EFCC in the forthcoming Osun State Governorship Election.<\/p>\n
The EFCC was created to fight corruption, not to be perceived as fighting opposition. Nigerians expect the Commission to be *independent, professional, and above partisan politics.*<\/p>\n
We urge you to act swiftly to clear this perception and to protect the integrity of the Commission.<\/p>\n
Yours faithfully,<\/p>\n
Bankole Solomon
\nCSO and Pro Democracy groups, Ogun state
\n08121921014
\nbankolesolomon3@gmail.ca<\/p>\n
*CC:*
\n1. The President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
\n2. The Attorney General of the Federation
\n3. The Independent National Electoral Commission – INEC
\n4. The National Human Rights Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission – EFCC No. 5, Fomella Street, Wuse Zone 7 Abuja, FCT Dear<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23266,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23265\/revisions\/23266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}