CISLAC warns Presidential intervention in EFCC Osun case threatens anti-graft independence

By Anan Geolengs

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, has warned that President Bola Tinubu’s direct intervention in the EFCC’s action on Osun State Government accounts threatens the operational independence of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies.

CISLAC, Transparency International Nigeria, said on Thursday that while it acknowledges the need to prevent actions that disrupt legitimate government functions, the President’s instruction to the EFCC to seek the lifting of a court order raises serious concerns.

Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said in a statement that the EFCC was established by law to investigate, prevent and prosecute economic and financial crimes, and its effectiveness depends on discharging those duties without political interference.

“If the freezing of the Osun State Government account was based on credible evidence that public funds were at risk of diversion, the appropriate response should have been to allow the law, the courts and the investigative process to take their course,” he said.

Rafsanjani noted that public money belongs to citizens, not to any governor, political party or administration. He added that where an anti-corruption institution has reasonable grounds to believe public resources are threatened, protecting such funds is part of its statutory responsibility.

“What is particularly troubling is the precedent created when the President can publicly direct an anti-corruption agency regarding a specific ongoing enforcement action. Even where the intention may have been to prevent political abuse, such intervention creates the perception that anti-corruption investigations are subject to presidential control,” he said.

“That perception is extremely damaging. Nigeria cannot build strong institutions if enforcement agencies are perceived as powerful when investigating some individuals but vulnerable to political intervention when their actions become inconvenient to those in authority.”

CISLAC called for urgent steps to strengthen the institutional independence of anti-corruption agencies. It said an EFCC Chairman should be able to make lawful operational decisions and defend them before courts without waiting for political instructions.

The group recommended four actions: that lifting restrictions on the Osun account must not terminate any legitimate investigation; that the Federal Government must guarantee operational independence for EFCC, ICPC and other agencies; that the National Assembly should strengthen legal safeguards against political interference; and that all political actors must refrain from turning anti-corruption institutions into instruments of electoral warfare.

Rafsanjani, however, defended the EFCC’s initial decision to freeze the account, citing Section 7(6) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and Section 34 of the EFCC Act, 2004.

He said the freeze was a fiduciary act to protect salaries, pensions, healthcare and development funds for Osun people, and referenced similar EFCC actions in Edo, Benue and Kogi States where accounts were restricted to preserve public funds during investigations.

“Freezing an account protects evidence. It protects workers waiting for wages and pensioners who have served the state for 35 years. What paralyses governance more — a temporary audit, or the disappearance of billions meant for public good?” he asked.

CISLAC urged Nigerians to support anti-corruption efforts, saying “to defend public funds is to defend democracy itself.”