APC, PDP, LP Governors who freeze state accounts within 24hrs of resuming offices and why

On Monday, May 29, Nigeria experienced a major transition in its political sphere as there was a transmission of power from one government to another, both at the federal and state level.

While President Bola Tinubu seemed to have kept his promise to hit the ground running on getting to the office as he announced the removal of fuel subsidy, which has kept the country in another dilemma, some newly sworn-in governors appeared to have taken his footsteps.

This is because some of the first-time governors froze their state accounts on the first day of their resumption to office. However, the governors did not give a clear reason for their actions but some of them have complained about their predecessors' financial management of the state.

These governors are listed below:

Alex Otti

The new Abia state administrator is the only elected governor on the platform of the Labour Party in the March 18 governorship election in Nigeria.

On resuming office on Tuesday, May 30, the governor, who defeated the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state during the poll, announced that the state bank accounts should be frozen and that all boards of Abia government agencies and parastatals should be dissolved.

Otti and the immediate past governor of the state, Okezie Ikpeazu, had earlier disagreed on the financial operation of the state before he was sworn in.

Francis Nwifuru

The newly sworn-in governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru, also joined his counterpart in Abia in ordering banks to freeze all the state accounts across the country.

Surprisingly, Nwifuru, who was a former speaker of the state house of assembly, and the immediate past governor of the state, David Umahi, appeared to be enjoying a good relationship and they were both in the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Peter Mbah

The new governor of Enugu state is also in the league of governors that froze their state bank account across the country within 24 hours of resuming office.

Interestingly, he succeeded Okezie Ikpeazu, a fellow PDP member, who supported his emergence even though he had a fierce battle with the Labour Party during the 2023 governorship election in the state.

Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia


The new Benue state governor froze the state bank accounts on Monday, shortly after he was sworn in, The Punch reported.

Unlike others, Father Alia said the purpose of the directive was to allow a change of signatories to the state account while warning banks not to allow any debit transaction to take place on the state bank accounts until signatories are changed.