A legal practitioner has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the Oyo State Government over its handling of public funds, including a N30 billion federal intervention fund for victims of the January 2024 Bodija explosion, multiple bond facilities and loans totaling hundreds of billions of naira, and its budgetary spending between 2019 and 2026.
The petition, filed on October 20, 2026, on behalf of Mr. Akinloye Olusegun, an indigene of Oyo State, by his solicitors, is seeking a comprehensive forensic audit of the finances of the Governor Seyi Makinde-led administration.
In the petition addressed to the Chairman of the EFCC and anchored on Sections 6 and 7 of the EFCC Act, 2004, and Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the petitioner asked the commission to determine whether the state government complied with extant public finance regulations in the disbursement and utilisation of loans, bonds and budgetary allocations.
BACKGROUND: THE BODIJA EXPLOSION AND OYO’S BORROWING SPREE
To understand the petition, two contexts are important: The Bodija tragedy and Oyo State’s fiscal trajectory under Governor Seyi Makinde.
1. The Bodija Explosion of January 16, 2024:
On that Tuesday night, a deafening blast ripped through Dejo Oyelese Street, Bodija, a high-brow area of Ibadan. The explosion, which was heard 15km away, was later confirmed by security agencies to have been caused by explosives stored by illegal miners in a residential building occupied by one Sawani Yusuf.
Official figures put the casualty at 2 persons killed, 77 injured, 58 houses damaged, with over 200 residents displaced. The blast also damaged the Governor’s Office, the Oyo State Government Secretariat and the University College Hospital, UCH.
Governor Makinde visited the scene and promised that the state would bring the culprits to justice and support victims. The Federal Government, moved by the scale of destruction, subsequently approved N50 billion for reconstruction, out of which N30 billion was released through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on November 4, 2024.
2. Oyo State’s Finances Since 2019:
Governor Seyi Makinde assumed office on May 29, 2019. Since then, the state has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure drive, including the 76km Iseyin-Ogbomoso Road, the 110km Ibadan Circular Road, the upgrade of the Ladoke Akintola Airport to international status, and the Ibadan Dry Port corridor.
To fund these projects, the administration has relied heavily on bonds and loans. This is not unusual for sub-nationals, but it has raised public scrutiny. According to data from the Debt Management Office, DMO, Oyo State’s domestic debt rose significantly from 2019. The administration has defended its borrowing, stating that it was tied to critical infrastructure and that it was refinancing expensive commercial bank loans with cheaper capital market bonds.
It is this borrowing history that the petitioner now wants the EFCC to forensically audit.
THE CRUX OF THE PETITION: WHERE IS THE N30BN?
At the centre of the petition is the N30 billion Bodija intervention fund.
The solicitors alleged that the Oyo State Government, through its Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade, publicly acknowledged that the N30 billion was domiciled in the state’s Infrastructure Support Account, number 2045199879, with First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
The petitioners claim that the fund remained untouched as of December 31, 2025, raising questions about why victims were yet to experience full reconstruction and resettlement more than a year after the release of the fund.
The lawyers also drew the EFCC’s attention to a claim by the state government that it had spent N24.6 billion from its own resources on the explosion’s aftermath — comprising N20.141 billion for infrastructure and N4.085 billion for victim support. They are asking the anti-graft agency to audit that claim and verify actual expenditure.
They urged the EFCC to direct First Bank to produce the full statement of the account from November 4, 2024, to date, while the CBN and Federal Ministry of Finance should confirm the approval and disbursement trail.
OTHER LOANS UNDER SCRUTINY
The petition listed several other facilities: a N10bn infrastructure loan in 2019, a N7.6bn CBN agric loan, a N2.5bn health loan and N20bn loan in 2020, a N100bn Prosperity Bond in 2021/2022, a N50bn CBN DCRR facility, a N200bn bond approved in June 2025 for refinancing loans carrying 22-26% interest, and a 55 million euro (about N85bn) French concessional loan for health facilities.
It also queried the state’s budgets from N182bn in 2019 to N1.102 trillion in 2026 (comprising N892.085bn initial and N330bn supplementary for projects like Circular Road, Airport-Ajia Road, Ladoke Akintola Airport, Government House, debt servicing and gratuity).
The lawyers urged the EFCC to conduct a forensic audit, investigate the N24.6bn Bodija claim, and determine if there was financial crime, breach of trust, or procurement violation.
The solicitors said they are ready to provide documents and produce their client to adopt the petition under oath.
