The Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has defended the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, over the freezing of the Osun State Government’s account, insisting that the controversy should be blamed on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, not the anti-graft agency.
Adebayo made the remarks on Thursday while speaking with journalists at the SDP National Secretariat in Abuja, where he criticised the President’s directive ordering the EFCC to vacate the court order that froze the state’s account.
According to him, the EFCC merely exercised powers granted to it under the law by obtaining a court order to freeze an account under investigation.
He argued that the real constitutional concern arose when President Tinubu publicly directed the commission to reverse its action.
Adebayo maintained that if the Osun State Government believed the account was wrongly frozen, it had every legal right to challenge the decision in court instead of seeking political intervention.
“If EFCC wrongly froze the account of Osun State Government, there are legal remedies that could be taken to unfreeze it, including getting damages against EFCC,” he said.
The SDP presidential candidate said he has consistently supported law enforcement agencies, including the EFCC, regardless of who heads the institution.
According to him, agencies such as the EFCC, the Nigeria Police Force and other security organisations should be allowed to perform their constitutional responsibilities without political interference.
“From my own personal assessment of Olukoyede, the EFCC chairman, I think that he wants to do his job. I have always supported the EFCC right from the time of Nuhu Ribadu up to the present leadership,” Adebayo stated.
He argued that the President, rather than the EFCC chairman, should bear responsibility for the controversy surrounding the Osun account.
According to Adebayo, President Tinubu’s directive amounted to interference in the operations of an independent law enforcement agency.
“The only person who is at fault here is the President himself,” he said.
Adebayo went further to accuse the Tinubu administration of undermining constitutional governance and called on Nigerians to hold the President accountable instead of targeting heads of government agencies.
“The person who should resign is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I don’t have enough evidence to suggest that the EFCC chairman should resign,” he declared.
He also argued that the President’s public instruction to the EFCC was inconsistent with the principles of the rule of law.
According to him, only the courts should determine whether the commission acted lawfully or unlawfully in freezing the account.
Adebayo stressed that if the EFCC obtained a valid court order before taking action, then any challenge should also be resolved through the judicial process.
He warned against politicising the activities of law enforcement agencies, saying doing so would weaken institutions responsible for fighting corruption and enforcing the law.
The SDP flagbearer also criticised what he described as poor governance under the Tinubu administration, accusing the government of repeatedly undermining constitutional processes.
Speaking on the 2027 general election, Adebayo dismissed growing discussions about opposition coalition politics, insisting that the priority should be presenting Nigerians with a credible alternative capable of delivering good governance.
“What we want is for all Nigerians to unite. The issue is ensuring that person is not President Tinubu,” he said.
He also defended Northern Nigeria against narratives portraying the region as a burden, arguing that the North possesses enormous human and natural resources capable of driving Nigeria’s economic development if properly harnessed.
Adebayo called for greater investment in agriculture, education and infrastructure, insisting that poor leadership—not any region of the country—remains Nigeria’s biggest challenge.
He concluded by describing the current administration as one that has failed to provide convincing solutions to the country’s growing challenges.
“A failed government is one in which the explanation is worse than the problem,” he added.
