Connect with us

Politics

EFCC: Rot inside Nigeria’s anti-graft agency 

Published

on

EFCC: Rot inside Nigeria's anti-graft agency 

 

…as corruption festers among public servants, political class

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials’ salaries range from approximately N170,000 for graduate assistants to N300,000 for detectives. But in the streets of Enugu and other South East capitals, it is sometimes hard to tell the commission’s officials apart from celebrities or suspected internet fraudsters, given the kind of cars they drive and the luxurious lifestyles they live.

“How is an EFCC officer able to afford fancy cars, a good house… when even his salary for a decade will not be able to afford him all that”? said Savn Daniel, a lawyer with Otung, Okoho & CO, and public affairs commentator. “This is where I appreciate China. Such officers should be sent to the gallows.”

The activities of the commission’s operatives came under close scrutiny following the unfortunate killing on January 17, of one of its officers, Aminu Sahabi Salisu, an Assistant Superintendent, during a raid on a residential building in Awka, Anambra State capital, by a suspect identified as Chukwuka Josiah Ikechukwu Nnamdi, who hails from Ifite.

The incident occurred two months after the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyode, directed that sting operations at night be stopped in all the commands of the commission.

Thus, instead of empathizing with the commission on the killing of the officer, members of the public are questioning the operational protocols of the EFCC’s operations. Indeed, many have accused the commission of engaging in acts of extortion and intimidation of the weak, while largely ignoring corrupt political figures.

“Oil thieves, drug cartels, bankers, politicians and civil servants are ruining this country every day with their corrupt activities but owning a laptop by the average Joe is where EFCC draws the line, noted Malachy Odo II, @MalachyOdo1, a lawyer. “May God have mercy on this country.”

Following the death of Salisu, a picture of him hanging a Mercedes Benz key around his waist trended on social media, with commentators questioning how an Assistant Superintendent whose monthly take-home pay is less than N300,000 is able to casually hang Benz key around his waist.

Advertisement

“As an officer attached to EFCC, how much does he earn monthly to be able to hang that Benz key on his waist? We need to ask these questions because if the tables are turned and roles reversed, they do the same to us as ordinary citizens.  They even tag us yahoo boys because we own laptops,” noted Igweh Udoka, @IgwehAchebe, a popular commentator on X.

Two days after the Awka incident, however, the EFCC issued a statement through its spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, noting that “it views with great concern the irresponsible,  callous, inhuman and outrageous narratives being circulated on social media on the why and wherefore of the fatal accident. It is heinous to reduce the death of a gallant officer, who was carrying out patriotic and official duties to social media razzmatazz.”

The commission maintained, despite banning night raids two months prior, that the late officer was “on a legitimate duty on January 17, 2025” when he was killed by “a suspected internet fraudster, Joshua Chukwubueze Ikechukwu.”

According to Oyewale in the statement that attracted even more criticism from Nigerians, compelling Community Notes to flag it, “Salisu, alongside other investigators of the EFCC, were at Dr. J.O. Ukwutinife Close, Ifite, Awka,  Anambra State, to arrest some suspected internet fraudsters in the early hours of January 17. The operation was duly documented at the Anambra State Command Headquarters and Area Command of the Nigeria Police in line with operational protocols.”

The operation, he said, “was initially smooth sailing with 37 suspected internet fraudsters already arrested at a two-storey building housing Ikechukwu and other occupants of the house.

“However, Ikechukwu, who sighted the investigators through a CCTV camera mounted at his doorpost and, who also confessed sighting them,  declined to open his door for the investigators, who politely demanded entrance to his apartment. Defying all the introduction and physical sighting of the investigators, he resorted to firing shots at them and killed Salisu in the process and wounded another officer detailed to conduct a search in his apartment.

“Preliminary investigations showed that Ikechukwu was involved in coding and online medical supplies of doubtful legitimacy. Two laptops, ipads, several recording devices were recovered from his apartment and his involvement in internet fraud is already established. Though currently in police custody owing to the murderous dimension of his case, the Commission will surely bring him to trial.

But it’s an anti corruption agency that many say has a penchant for dishing out false information. And many on social media called it out for allegedly issuing false statements against them, when their homes were raided in similar manner in the past.

This is even as CCTV footages of officials forcefully raiding hotels, and sometimes brutalizing occupants, began to trend on social media.

Advertisement

Musician, Raoul John Njeng-Njeng, alias Skales, @youngskales, took to his X account to share his own experience.

“It’s quite unfortunate that someone lost his life, but they had it coming,” he said. “Imagine the trauma me and my family still face till now.”

“I should be feeling bad but I actually don’t. They had it coming. Imagine that day I didn’t keep my cool. They would have probably switched the story just like they tried to do and shot me or something … I will never forgive them … they had it coming.”

Responding to an argument by one of his followers that “law enforcement officers have the right to tear down your door after you might have been told to open your door,” Skales maintained that when the officers came, they didn’t ask anyone to open the door.

“When they came to my house they didn’t ask, they didn’t knock. They just broke the door and I’m not a fraudster. Plus  my whole family was there with me, including my new born. Imagine being woken up with four AK47s and three sledge hammers like a  gaddamn horror movie and all this because they saw luxurious cars in front of my house.”

Much Ado About Internet Fraud

The EFCC has in recent years paid attention to internet fraud, a growing menace in Nigeria. Parading tens of suspected internet fraudsters has become part of the commission’s routine activities, a commendable effort on the surface. But investigations by Business Hallmark, following the Anambra incident, revealed that the supposed war against internet fraud is itself a huge scam.

Our correspondents gathered, after interviewing lawyers, who handle cases of alleged fraud in Enugu, the commission’s zonal headquarters, that what the populace generally view as war against internet fraud is a huge joke, as according to them, the commission’s operatives are mostly interested in extortion and nothing else.

“From what we witness here, a lot of EFCC operatives lack the standing to fight corruption because everything they do there is transactional. The only time that they take up issues and deal with it diligently is, perhaps, when the authority is involved or when they are on a vindictive mission; that is they want to get that individual or they want to get that individual on behalf of an establishment or on behalf of the government,” said a lawyer, who craved anonymity.

Advertisement

“But when it comes to their normal day to day activities, especially with regard to all these Yahoo boys, what they do is more of business transaction. Most of the time, they’ll go for a raid, carry like 20 persons along the way to their headquarter. Out of that number, five or 10 may decide to settle along the way, and they will discharge them there and go their way.

“They even prefer such transaction because when they take the suspects to the office and they are documented, the person in charge may not assign the case to them. They have all these IPOs, who take charge of the cases. But everything is just about bargaining. The very few people that may go to jail are those who couldn’t pay what they were asked to pay.”

Image Crisis 

It is an abiding irony that for a commission set up to fight corruption, its leadership over the past years have been mostly associated with corruption. Specifically, the past four successive chairpersons of the commission – since the dismissal of its pioneer chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, from the police force under President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua for reasons seen as largely political – have been removed from office for alleged corruption.

Farida Waziri, who succeeded Ribadu in 2008 was removed from her position by President Goodluck Jonathan in November 2011 following accusations that the EFCC under her had been selective in its investigations.  It was alleged that Waziri might have compromised the investigation into financial misappropriation against the former governor of Bayelsa state, Timipreye Sylva.

The late Ibrahim Lamorde, who took over from Waziri was sacked in November 2015 by President Mohammadu Buhari following allegations that he diverted $5bn in cash and recovered assets.

Ibrahim Magu, who replaced Lamorde, was on 6 July 2020, arrested for corruption charges relating to finances he allegedly embezzled for, among other things, supporting his lavish living and traveling expenses.

Twenty-two corruption allegations were reported against Magu in June 2020 as well.  Following his arrest, Magu remained in custody. And on 7 July 2020, he was suspended as the chairman of EFCC because of corruption allegations leveled against him.

Following Magu’s removal, Mohammed Umar Abba was appointed in an acting capacity. And in February 2021, he handed over to the substantive chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa.

Advertisement

Bawa was accused of selling 244 confiscated petrol trucks to his cronies in Port Harcourt in 2020, long before becoming EFCC chairman, and eventually kicked out by President Bola Tinubu in June 2023 for corruption.

Peoples Gazette, an online newspaper, had reported that Bawa allegedly auctioned the trucks “worth between N20-30 million [sic] each to his proxies at N100,000, or slightly more, per unit.”

Following his removal from office as EFCC chairman, Bello Matawalle, a former Governor of Zamfara State, accused him of requesting $2 million bribe.

Although the former governor did not deny the allegations of public funds diversion against him, he said he had evidence that Bawa asked him to pay the bribe to stop him from being questioned after exiting office.

Matawalle told BBC Hausa that the EFCC was only interested in investigating former governors, leaving federal officials unchecked.

The EFCC had alleged that Matawalle diverted N70 billion from the state’s purse before leaving office.

The current chairman, Olukoyode, is said to be determined to clean up the agency, but it would appear that even him is being overwhelmed by the depth of the alleged rot.

Looting Recovered Assets

The commission, in the past few weeks, has also battled internal scandals with officials accused of looting recovered assets, an indication of the rot within its system.

Advertisement

Earlier in January, the commission announced that no fewer than 27 of its officers were dismissed for misconduct and fraudulent activities in 2024.

The agency’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, in a statement on January 6, 2025, also indicated that the EFCC was investigating “a trending $400,000 claim of a yet-to-be-identified supposed staff of the EFCC against a sectional head.”

Two days later, 10 officers from the Lagos zonal command were detained over theft of operational items and exhibits, such as gold, and foreign currencies.

The detained officers were said to be answering questions regarding their inability to account for certain operational items that went missing under their watch.

Sources said the missing items included gold bars valued at over N1bn and jewelry, while between $350,000 and $400,000 had also gone missing.

“The operatives broke into the exhibit room and stole foreign currency, gold, and other exhibits,” one source said.

While the news of the corrupt officers had yet to fade, another scandal was uncovered at the Kaduna Zonal Office of the Commission on Wednesday.

An officer from the zone, identified as Polycarp, allegedly stole over $30,000 and other valuable exhibits.

While the commission did not disclose the specific items stolen by the officials, our correspondent gathered that they stole gold bars worth over N1billion as well as over $180,000 and about GBP 140,000.

Advertisement

Insiders disclosed that the zonal director, Benedict Ubi, had a couple of weeks ago ordered for an audit of the directorate’s exhibit room, following the internal heist that occurred in Lagos.

According to the source, when Mr. Polycarp received the directive that the exhibit room would be audited, he took an excuse to ease himself and fled.

Call for Reforms

Amid the controversies, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, called for an urgent internal cleansing of the EFCC to restore public confidence in the fight against corruption.

The Executive Director of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, lamented that the credibility of anti-corruption institutions had been severely undermined due to the involvement of some officials in stealing recovered loot.

“The confidence that Nigerians repose in anti-corruption agencies has waned. Anti-corruption agencies need internal cleansing. It is not that it is just starting; it has always been there,” CACOL stated.

CACOL urged the EFCC chairman to conduct an “organisational diagnosis” to identify and prosecute corrupt officials within the commission.

“This also happens in other agencies like the police, ICPC, and the rest of them, and the heads of these agencies must go into action and do internal cleansing and ensure that the bad eggs among them are brought to book to restore public confidence in them.”

EFCC spokesperson, Oyewale did not respond to Business Hallmark’s request for comments on the issues raised in this report.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *