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President Bola Tinubu has held discussions with the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqha Darma, on the administration of properties recovered by the anti-graft agency.
The meeting took place at the State House in Abuja on Tuesday, with the participants examining how seized houses across the country should be managed and disposed of in line with transparency and accountability principles.
The development came against the backdrop of the recent dispute between the Presidency and the EFCC over the commission’s freezing of accounts belonging to the Osun State Government shortly before the state’s governorship election.
The anti-graft agency had obtained a court order on August 5 restricting access to the accounts while investigating alleged irregularities involving about N11bn in ecology funds, intervention funds and Federation Account allocations.
The Osun Government challenged the action at the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking the court to set aside the order and award N2bn in exemplary damages. The state also alleged that the EFCC had subjected it to an investigation it described as a “witch-hunt.”
Tinubu later directed the commission to seek the lifting of the order, expressing concern that the timing of the action, coming barely 10 days before the election, could create the perception that a Federal Government institution was being used to interfere with the poll.
The President said his decision was not an attempt to undermine the EFCC’s statutory responsibilities but to prevent any government agency from being perceived as influencing the electoral process.
Governor Ademola Adeleke went on to retain his seat in the August 15 election and subsequently announced that he had instructed the state Attorney-General to discontinue the court action against the EFCC.
Adeleke said, “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 marked the first publicly disclosed encounter between Tinubu and Olukoyede since the controversy surrounding the Osun account restriction.
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