President Bola Tinubu’s directive ordering the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to reverse the freezing of an Osun State Government account has triggered fresh political controversy, with opposition parties questioning the President’s explanation, lawyers and civil society groups backing the intervention, the Osun State Government dragging the commission to court, and scores of Nigerians on social media demanding the resignation or removal of the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede.

The EFCC on Wednesday directed that no money be withdrawn from the Osun State Government’s statutory allocation account as part of an ongoing investigation. The anti-graft agency, in a statement, said the action followed suspicious movement of funds amid an ongoing investigation into alleged fraudulent handling of about N11billion in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federal Account Allocation Committee allocations.

Tinubu, in a personally signed statement on Thursday, directed the anti-graft agency to immediately approach the court to vacate the order freezing the account and discontinue the action, saying although he was yet to be fully briefed on the circumstances surrounding the case, the timing of the restriction was inappropriate given the August 15 Osun governorship election.

Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu on Thursday received the outgoing President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray, at the State House, Abuja.

According to photographs released by the State House media office, Touray visited the Presidential Villa in the company of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye.

Although details of the closed-door meeting were not immediately made public, Thursday’s meeting came weeks before the Gambian diplomat formally hands over the leadership of the executive arm of the regional bloc.