Month: September 2026

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed that public funds were allegedly transferred from a local government account to a private company before being moved into cryptocurrency wallets.

EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, made the disclosure on Monday in Abuja during an engagement with media executives and journalists.

He said the commission’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department detected the suspicious transactions and temporarily froze the account for 72 hours to determine the destination and purpose of the funds.

Olukoyede did not identify the local government, company or state involved in the transaction.

Defending the commission’s intervention, the EFCC chairman said suspicious movement of public funds should not be allowed to continue unchecked.

He said, “When we see money moving suspiciously, we move in and freeze it in the interim. I know some of you are calling for my head. The account was frozen for 72 hours. Okay, come and show where this money is going? Why are you moving money? We saw money being moved from the local government account to a company. Apart from that phase, we discovered that the money has gone into cryptocurrency wallets.

“Is that the road to build? Is that the power to generate cryptocurrency wallets for your people? Are you asking me to close my eyes and not do something like that? Then you don’t need me in this office.”

According to him, the development demonstrated the importance of preventing suspicious transactions before public funds are lost rather than waiting until after theft has occurred.

“Why must we be waiting for money to be stolen? Why can’t we change the narrative? And that’s the main thing we need to bring to the office,” he said.

The disclosure followed controversy earlier in August after the EFCC froze an account belonging to the Osun State Government shortly before the August 15 governorship election.

However, Olukoyede did not connect the transaction he disclosed with Osun State or any other state.

The EFCC chairman also warned that cybercrime in Nigeria had moved beyond the conventional “Yahoo Yahoo” narrative. He said some young Nigerians were allegedly being used by public officials to conceal and transfer funds through cryptocurrency wallets.

He said, “We have gotten to a stage in Nigeria now that public officials steal money and they put it in cryptocurrency wallets.

“Most of the directors we are investigating now, you can’t trace tangible assets to them. They steal this money, give it to students, give it to young people. They open cryptocurrency wallets all over the world. They plunder the money there within 24 hours.

“The money moves abroad. They buy a house anywhere in the world, buy luxury items. Those are the recent trends.”

Olukoyede said the commission had developed the ability to track cryptocurrency wallets, particularly those connected to virtual asset platforms registered in Nigeria.

He noted that regulatory measures had led to the licensing of about 40 virtual asset platforms in the country.

“Now we also have the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets now, at least with those that are registered in Nigeria, and we are doing that,” he said.

Speaking on the EFCC’s achievements over the past three years, Olukoyede disclosed that the commission had recovered virtual assets linked to the CBEX fraud.

He, however, identified the management of confiscated cryptocurrency as a challenge that had previously raised concerns about accountability.

“When you recover virtual assets, where do you put them? No accountability. That’s why we can’t continue like this,” he said.

According to him, the Federal Government had approved a national confiscation wallet for virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies.

“Today, now we have a national confiscation wallet. So if I confiscate virtual assets now, it’s a national wallet that we put into those,” he said.

The EFCC chairman further called for greater technological capacity among financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to address the growing use of cryptocurrency in the movement of illicit funds.

He said, “When we are talking about cybercrime, please cooperate with us, understand the scope. Not just Yahoo. Some of the people you are calling Yahoo, see your young children; they are stealing on behalf of London, on behalf of public servants.”

Olukoyede also disclosed that the EFCC’s anti-corruption operations had contributed to revenue recovery, with federal and state tax recoveries reaching approximately N288.1bn during the period under review.

He said federal tax recoveries accounted for about N173.2bn, while N114.9bn was attributed to State Internal Revenue Services.

The EFCC chairman further revealed that more than 40 commission personnel had been dismissed over alleged corruption and financial misconduct within the past two and a half to three years.

He added that some of the dismissed officers were already facing prosecution, while case files involving others were being prepared for prosecution.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has asked former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, to appear before the agency for questioning over an alleged $14.86m fraud case.

The commission declared Sylva wanted in connection with an alleged case of conspiracy and dishonest conversion involving $14,859,257.

EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, made the call on Monday while responding to accusations by the former governor that the anti-graft agency had become more of a political arm of the All Progressives Congress than a state institution.

“He has been declared wanted; he should make himself available to the commission,” Oyewale said.

The development came on the same day Sylva announced his resignation from the APC after more than a decade as a member of the ruling party.

In his resignation letter, which was addressed to the APC chairman of Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Sylva said he had also sent copies to the national chairman of the party, the EFCC chairman and the APC chairman in Bayelsa State.

Sylva said his decision followed consultations with his family, associates, colleagues and supporters.

He described the APC as a “floundering ship whose fate appears to have been sealed by its irredeemable load of iniquities.”

The former governor also accused the party’s leadership of abandoning the principles that informed its creation.

In the letter dated August 31, 2026, Sylva wrote, “As a founding member of the APC, and one who joined other well-meaning Nigerians in building the Party with sweat and money, it is deeply saddening to witness how the ideals we espoused have been so thoroughly and unrecognisably thwarted.

“Moreover, I cannot, in all good conscience, continue to belong to a Party whose leaders believe that ‘all is fair in politics;’ and have consistently demonstrated that belief in practice.

“All cannot be fair in any endeavour of life. The demands of basic decency and morality forbid it. Unfortunately, this mentality appears to underpin virtually every action, and even inaction, of this administration.”

Sylva further criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu, claiming that the Federal Government had failed to live up to the expectations of Nigerians.

“The present Government, formed under the banner of the APC we once loved, has disappointed the vast majority of Nigerians. And I can see neither a credible attempt nor any possibility of a revamp,” he stated.

He said he had decided to leave the party because he believed Nigerians would seek a political change at the next election.

“I am therefore left with no other choice than to jettison a floundering ship whose fate appears to have been sealed by its irredeemable load of iniquities. I have no doubt that, in the coming election, Nigerians will vote for Nigeria and free the Country from this stranglehold on our beautiful country,” he said.

Sylva also explained why he copied the EFCC in his resignation letter, accusing the commission of acting in a manner that suggested political alignment with the APC.

He wrote, “I am deliberately putting the EFCC in copy of this letter because, of late, it has conducted itself more as an organ of the APC than as an institution of State.

“I am fully aware that this action of mine may invite a redoubled witch-hunt against me and my associates, but that is a risk I am willing to take.”

The EFCC had declared Sylva wanted in November 2025 over the alleged $14.86m transaction.

The former governor has also been linked to an alleged plot against the Tinubu administration. He is listed as a defendant in a 13-count Federal High Court charge that includes allegations of treason, terrorism-related offences, conspiracy and money laundering.

He has denied involvement in the alleged plot.

Reports linked Sylva to an alleged financial contribution of about N785m to the purported operation through Purple Waves Limited, an Abuja-based company. Investigators reportedly traced the money through the company and a bureau de change operator.

The wider investigation allegedly involved more than N5bn, which investigators said was pooled for the operation. Funds paid into Purple Waves were also reportedly linked to contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission and loans secured by the company.

The allegations remain before the courts, and Sylva has not been convicted of the offences.

In July 2026, the Department of State Services arraigned five associates of the former governor over allegations that they concealed his whereabouts after he was declared wanted in connection with the alleged plot. They pleaded not guilty and were granted bail.

Earlier, in May 2026, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted an interim forfeiture order over nine properties linked to Sylva following an application by the EFCC.

Sylva served as governor of Bayelsa State from 2007 to 2012, although his tenure was affected by court decisions. He later served as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

By Sabiu Abdullahi

A sworn declaration filed by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has acknowledged that Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the subject of a criminal investigation linked to drug trafficking in the early 1990s.

The declaration was submitted before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on August 28, 2026, as part of a legal dispute over records requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The document was obtained by Von Batten-Montague-York, a Washington-based lobbying firm engaged by former Nigerian Vice-President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

The firm published portions of the document on X and said it had received a large volume of records from the FBI, which it was reviewing.

In its sworn declaration to the court, the FBI stated, “The responsive records herein were compiled in furtherance of the FBI’s investigation of multiple individuals for drug trafficking crimes.”

The agency also stated that “the court has already determined that an official acknowledgement had been made of an investigation of Bola Tinubu”.

The declaration was signed by an FBI official who serves as Acting Section Chief of the Record/Information Dissemination Section.

It concerns FOIA requests submitted by American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, who sought records connected to the investigation.

Among the materials requested were the “entire FBI file for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, DOB 3/29/1952, President-Elect of Nigeria as of February 2023” and “FBI 302 interviews with Bola Tinubu from FBI Case No. 245-IP-71386-UUUUUU during the timeframe 1992-1993”.

Court Had Earlier Rejected FBI’s ‘Glomar’ Response

The latest declaration follows an April 2025 ruling by US District Judge Beryl Howell concerning requests for records held by the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.

The court ruled that the agencies could no longer use “Glomar” responses to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records concerning the Tinubu investigation.

Judge Howell held that the agencies had not provided sufficient privacy grounds to keep secret the fact that Tinubu had been the subject of a criminal investigation.

The FBI’s latest filing explains why some of the requested records remain withheld under FOIA Exemptions 6, 7(C), 7(D), 7(E), and 7(F).

The exemptions cover areas such as personal privacy, confidential sources, law-enforcement procedures and information whose release could potentially endanger individuals.

Von Batten-Montague-Mork further stated in a post accompanying the document: “Update: We received a huge amount of records, which we are carefully going through and redacting where we see fit. Posted below are portions of the @FBI’s own sworn declaration submitted to the court on August 28, 2026.”

The firm added: “The FBI states under oath that the court has already determined that a criminal investigation of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu (@officialABAT) was officially acknowledged.

“Let that sink in: This is a sworn declaration submitted by the FBI to a United States federal court stating that Nigerian President Bola #Tinubu was criminally investigated in connection with the trafficking of #heroin.”

The lobbying firm also said: “We are posting this document to counter the claim made yesterday that President #Tinubu was never criminally investigated and is simply following the law to protect his privacy. That claim is false, as shown by the FBI’s sworn declaration below.”

FOIA Case Dates Back To 2022

The dispute arose from FOIA requests submitted by Greenspan between 2022 and 2023.

He requested records from six US federal agencies concerning a Chicago-based heroin trafficking operation that was active in the early 1990s.

The requests identified four individuals, including Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Adegboyega Akande and Abiodun Agbele.

The April 2025 ruling by Judge Howell formed part of the legal proceedings over the agencies’ handling of those requests.

The FBI’s latest declaration was submitted as the agency sought to justify continued withholding of portions of the records under federal disclosure exemptions.

The allegations and records concern events from the early 1990s. The court proceedings relate to access to government records under US law.