On February 1, 2024, The Punch Newspaper tweeted via its verified X account (formerly Twitter) that “EFCC goes after church for receiving N7bn fraud proceeds.” Attached to the tweet is a news publication detailing the revelation of the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede. He allegedly made the revelation on Wednesday at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, during a one-day dialogue on “Youth, Religion, and the Fight against Corruption.”
According to the publication by The Punch Newspaper, they said “though he did not reveal the identity of the religious organisation, a source in the anti-agency privy to the case told our correspodent that it was a church.
Claim: The EFCC chairman said the EFCC is going after a church for receiving N7 billion fraud proceed
Verification:
On January 31, 2024, the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukayode, spoke at the EFCC Anti-corruption national dialogue in Abuja. The event was organised by the anti-graft agency to address the challenges of youth involvement in cybercrimes.
The one-day dialogue was themed “Youth, Religion, and the Fight against Corruption.” While speaking, the chairman revealed the roles of religious organisations, institutions, sects, and bodies in aiding and abetting fraudsters and terrorists.
In his speech, he said “As I’m standing before you, there is a matter we are handling, a pyramid scheme that involves over N30 billion fleeced from Nigerians. Along the line, some people died, some victims collapsed and all of that. We were able to trace over N7billion to a particular religious body. I said, write a letter to the leader of that religious sect, and we did. The next thing we saw was a restraining order. We got a restraining order stopping us from inviting them, stopping us from recovering the money….”
The CDD War Room also found a statement signed by Dele Oyewale, the head of Media & Publicity at the EFCC Headquarters. The statement clarified the speech allegedly made by the EFCC chairman. We also reached out to the EFCC spokesperson who clarified that “the chairman did not mention a church, mosque or shrine. He said a religious body and their investigation is ongoing.”
Verdict: MISLEADING
The CDD War Room found that the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, did not mention that the anti-graft agency is going after a church for receiving N7 billion fraud proceed. As at the time of this fact check, the helmsman of the anti-graft agency revealed the commission had traced over N7billion to a particular religious body but did not specify which of the specific religious body was culpable.
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