THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has disclosed that about 18 states are currently under investigation over allegations bordering on the mismanagement of public funds, saying the ongoing probes are part of its statutory mandate to combat corruption and financial crimes.
News Point Nigeria reports that the commission declined to identify the affected states, insisting that doing so at this stage could jeopardise ongoing investigations and compromise the integrity of the probes.
The EFCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, made the disclosure during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday while responding to questions over the commission’s decision to place a temporary restriction on an Osun State Government account.
Uwujaren explained that the action against Osun was not an isolated case but one of several measures the anti-graft agency had taken or was preparing to take against state governments where suspicious financial activities had been detected.
Asked whether other states were under investigation, the EFCC spokesman confirmed that the number ran into double digits.
“Like we said in the statement, there are about 18 other states that we have ongoing investigations,” he said.
When pressed to reveal the identities of the affected states, Uwujaren declined, saying it would be inappropriate to do so while investigations were still in progress.
“I don’t want to start mentioning those states by name now,” he said.
The interviewer argued that Nigerians deserved to know which state governments were under investigation, but Uwujaren maintained that withholding the names was necessary to preserve the integrity of the ongoing probes rather than shield any administration from scrutiny.
“Not running away per se, but not to jeopardise the investigation that is currently ongoing,” he said.
Uwujaren also cited a previous intervention by the commission in Edo State, saying the EFCC had similarly restricted a government account before the emergence of Governor Monday Okpebholo after detecting suspicious movement of funds.
“Before, during the Edo State government, the Edo State election, before the coming of Governor Okpebholo, EFCC also took actions to restrict the account of that state government when we saw that funds were being moved to suspicious accounts.
“And we were able to preserve $12 billion for them. That is why the current government was able to come on board and have resources to work,” he said.
According to him, the commission’s actions were based strictly on the law and were never targeted at any particular administration or political interest.
“So this is not targeted at any particular government. We are simply doing our work under the law,” he said.
Responding to questions on why the commission did not take similar action during the Ekiti State governorship election, Uwujaren said the situations were not comparable because the EFCC acted on intelligence available to it.
“If you talk about what happened in Ekiti, we didn’t have any reason to intervene the way we are intervening now. And you don’t have access to the information that we have access to,” he said.
Clarifying the extent of the restriction imposed on Osun State, the EFCC spokesman stressed that only one statutory allocation account had been affected and that the state government remained free to operate its other accounts.
“We only targeted one statutory account, which is restricted, temporary restriction on that account. And it does not stop the government from operating other accounts that they have. It’s only one account that is frozen for now,” he explained.
Uwujaren said the commission had a statutory 72-hour window to either obtain a court order extending the restriction or lift it, adding that the period had not yet elapsed.
“We have a 72 hours window to obtain a court order, which the commission is at liberty to do.
“We have not exhausted that window, 72 hours, within which we either obtain a court order to continue to freeze it or lift the restriction on the other hand,” he said.
On the Osun State Government’s decision to challenge the restriction in court, Uwujaren said the government was entitled to seek judicial intervention, adding that the commission would also take whatever legal steps it considered necessary.
“It’s within their right to take that decision today. If we think they are right to take that decision, we are also working on what we should do as an agency,” he said.
The EFCC spokesman further cited Section 34 of the EFCC Act and Section 7(6) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, as the legal provisions empowering the commission to place temporary restrictions on accounts suspected to be linked to suspicious financial activities.
“Absolutely. Those two provisions give us the power to place temporary restrictions on any account, not only limited to state government, on any account that we suspect that there are suspicious activities on those accounts.
“And we have 72 hours between which to produce a court order to continue to restrict those accounts or lift the restriction,” he said.
Uwujaren maintained that the investigation involving Osun State did not begin recently, revealing that it commenced in March and had already led to the questioning of several state government officials.
“But as it is now, I want to restate the fact that the Osun State case didn’t start today. It started way back in March. And a number of officials from that state have been interviewed in course of this investigation. So it didn’t just begin now,” he said.
The disclosure that 18 states are currently under EFCC investigation is expected to heighten public scrutiny of state government finances nationwide, coming weeks after the commission’s restriction of the Osun State statutory allocation account drew criticism from the state government and the Nigerian Bar Association.