Counsel to the Osun State Government, Professor Mubarak Adekilekun (SAN), has faulted the restriction placed on the state’s statutory allocation account, insisting that neither the government nor First Bank was served with a court order authorising the action.
Naija News reports that Adekilekun stated this on Friday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today while reacting to the controversy surrounding the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) directive restricting access to the account.
According to the senior lawyer, the law requires a valid court order to be obtained and served, particularly on the financial institution holding the account, before such a restriction can be imposed.
He said, “You will recall that after the letter was written to First Bank in Osun, which in turn transmitted the letter to the state government, the requirement of the law in this regard is that a court order must be issued and served on, especially, First Bank.
“The letter was forwarded to Osun State Government, where First Bank confirmed that no court order was attached to it.”
Adekilekun acknowledged that the EFCC had statutory powers to act where financial crimes were suspected, but argued that those powers must be exercised in accordance with provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act.
He said the commission could not rely solely on the powers of its chairman to place a Post-No-Debit restriction on the statutory account of a state government.
He further stated, “They were trying to justify their action that if they do not do it, the account could be compromised.
“Yes, we agree there are some provisions of the law that say EFCC can, but if you interpret this in conjunction with Section 7 of the MLA, it says that there must be a court order served on that party.
“You can’t just go in and say, ‘We are using our power vested in the Chairman of EFCC to now put a PND on the State Government’s statutory account.’”
Asked whether the EFCC could temporarily restrict an account for up to 72 hours before securing judicial approval, Adekilekun rejected the argument.
Adekilekun stated, “See, in this regard, EFCC must get a court order. The laws are there.
“If you read the provision I’m talking about, Section 7 of the Money Laundering Act, it stipulates that a court order must be served. It is there.”
The SAN maintained that compliance with the law was particularly important given the nature of the account involved and the potential impact of restricting a state government’s access to public funds.
Lawyer Rejects Money Laundering Claim
Adekilekun also dismissed suggestions that the account was being used for money laundering, saying its inflows came from allocations distributed through the Federation Account.
He added, “You can’t do an act of this magnitude and just say you are transmitting a letter to put a PND on a state government account.
“The only money that is being transferred to that account is from the Federation Account, pure federal domain. That’s one of the requirements.”
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