BREAKING: Aregbesola faces EFCC’s arrest over alleged N600 billion fraud [Details]

Reports gathered by CAPITAL POST in Abuja indicated that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC may have succumbed to calls by a popular human rights organisation, the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ), to arrest the former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola over alleged N600 billion fraud.

The former ally to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was accused of misappropriating the sum of N600 billion Local Government Funds when he was governor of Osun State for eight years.

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He was said to have fraudulently diverted the amount between 2010 and 2018, being funds accrued to Osun State particularly allocations meant from the Federal Allocation Accounts committee, FAAC, adding that he initiated phantom projects in order to funnel away the fund for selfish purposes.

According to CHRSJ, which leads a coalition of civil society organisations under the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) — once chaired by the late Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman (aka Revolutionary Alfa) — several petitions had been filed against Aregbesola since 2015.

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It was recalled that the human rights organization had flooded the EFCC with petitions between September 4, 2015, June 17, 2016, and November 19, 2018, detailing evidences of financial misappropriation by the ex-governor Rauf Aregbesola.

In the same vein petitions were forwarded to the Presidency and National Assembly on March 21 and April 4, 2016, which were acknowledged by relevant authorities and international organisations at the time, but did nothing.

Comrade Abiola Ganiyu (Dove), who is the Deputy General Secretary of the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ), in a statement made available to journalists on Sunday October 12, 2025, said the group has been given the nod to resubmit its demands to the EFCC for Aregbesola’s prosecution,

The rights group alleged that Aregbesola, along with his then Commissioners for Finance and Local Government Affairs, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro and Mr. Kolapo Alimi, diverted Local Government allocations by illegally suspending elected local council administrations between 2011 and 2014.

The trio, it was alleged, control and embezzle local government fund to a whooping sum of over ₦600 billion.

The organisation claimed that both Bolorunduro and Alimi had at one time been placed on administrative bail by the EFCC during earlier stages of investigation. It further alleged that Aregbesola could only account for ₦6 billion out of ₦300 billion allocated to local councils during his first term in office.

CHRSJ described Aregbesola’s administration as “clueless and corruption personified,” accusing him of plunging Osun State into crippling debt and creating a legacy of unpaid salaries and pensions.

The group said: “Aregbesola should stop claiming to be a saint or champion of good governance. During his time as governor, he exhibited no prudence in managing the state’s resources, especially local government funds.”

The statement further recalled that during his tenure, the former governor introduced half-salary payments to public workers and retirees, a policy that earned him the local moniker ‘Baba Hafusa’ among aggrieved citizens.

The CHRSJ vowed to send a renewed petition to the EFCC leadership to reopen investigations and prosecute Aregbesola over his alleged “bad stewardship” as governor.

“We have concluded arrangements to formally write the EFCC, urging them to revisit all pending petitions and begin immediate prosecution without delay,” the group’s statement read.

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