The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed that it is currently investigating approximately 18 state governments across Nigeria over allegations involving the mismanagement of public funds.
The disclosure was made by the commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday. While confirming that ongoing probes involve double-digit state administrations, Uwujaren declined to publicly identify the specific states involved.
“I don’t want to start mentioning those states by name now,” Uwujaren stated, maintaining that withholding the names was necessary “not to jeopardise the investigation that is currently ongoing.”
Addressing the anti-graft agency’s recent temporary restriction on an Osun State Government bank account, a move that sparked sharp criticism from the state government and the Nigerian Bar Association, Uwujaren noted that the intervention was far from an isolated event. He pointed to a previous operation in Edo State prior to the assumption of office by Governor Monday Okpebholo, where similar measures preserved funds from suspicious movements.
“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,” he explained. “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.”
Uwujaren dismissed assertions of selective targeting or political bias, clarifying why similar actions were not taken during elections in other states, such as Ekiti. He noted that the commission acts strictly on specific intelligence unavailable to the general public.
Reiterating the agency’s legal position, the spokesman affirmed that the Osun State probe is not a fresh development, having commenced in March 2026 with several state officials already interviewed.
He stressed that the commission acted within statutory frameworks, citing Section 34 of the EFCC Act and Section 7(6) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2022, which empower the agency to temporarily hold suspicious accounts for up to 72 hours without prior judicial authorization.
“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,” Uwujaren said.
Regarding Osun State’s declaration that it will challenge the freeze in court, Uwujaren stated that the state is within its rights to seek legal redress and confirmed the EFCC will respond accordingly.
He added that the 72-hour statutory window remains active, during which the agency will either obtain a formal court order to sustain the restriction or lift it once satisfied. He also reiterated that only a single statutory account is affected, leaving the state government free to operate its remaining accounts for daily administration.