Legal practitioner and public affairs analyst Frank Tietie has defended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s authority to freeze accounts suspected of illegal activity without prior consultation, arguing the agency acted within its statutory powers in the recent case involving the Osun State government account.
Tietie made the remarks during a live interview on Arise Television on Friday. His comments followed the EFCC’s move to freeze the state government’s account days before the Osun governorship election, a decision President Bola Tinubu swiftly reversed by ordering the anti-graft agency to vacate the court order.
According to Tietie, the presidential directive constitutes a hindrance of law enforcement that nearly borders on obstruction of justice. He cited Court of Appeal decisions involving cases against the EFCC during the administration of former Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, as well as express provisions in Section 34 of the EFCC Act and Section 7, Subsection 6 of the Money Laundering Act.
“The EFCC didn’t need to apologize to anybody, didn’t also need to consult anybody before exercising its powers to freeze a particular transaction, which I urge it to do, or to freeze a particular bank account, so long as it does it not exceeding three days,” Tietie said. “The EFCC chairman and the commission were acting within their powers.”
He argued that expecting the commission to ignore suspicious financial flows during an election period would be irresponsible. “Now you couldn’t expect that a reasonable and responsible commission would see state monies, for example, being ferreted to terrorists in terms of terrorist financing, and you want to say that because of an election season, the EFCC shouldn’t exercise these statutory powers? That will be unpatriotic, illegal and gross negligence on the part of those leading the EFCC.”
The episode has reignited debate over the operational independence of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies and the extent of executive influence over statutory enforcement powers. Legal observers note that the EFCC Act grants the commission authority to act swiftly on suspicious transactions, subject to judicial oversight within a defined timeframe. The tension between electoral sensitivities and enforcement mandates remains a recurring challenge in the country’s governance landscape.