A news report by The Punch Newspaper claiming that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is going after a church for receiving N7 billion in fraud proceeds has sparked outrage and controversy on social media platforms, especially on X (formerly Twitter).
The report, which was published on February 1, 2024, and tweeted via the newspaper’s verified X account, was based on the revelation of the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, during a one-day dialogue on “Youth, Religion, and the Fight against Corruption” at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, on January 31, 2024.
The report quoted the EFCC chairman as saying: “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 report also claimed that a source in the anti-graft agency told the correspondent that the religious body was a church, though the EFCC chairman did not reveal the identity of the organisation.
However, a fact check by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) revealed that the EFCC chairman did not mention that the religious body was a church, mosque or shrine. He only said a religious body and their investigation was still ongoing.
The CDD War Room also found a statement signed by Dele Oyewale, the head of Media & Publicity at the EFCC Headquarters, which clarified the speech allegedly made by the EFCC chairman. The statement said: “The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to a misleading report in The Punch Newspaper of February 1, 2024, with the headline: ‘EFCC goes after church for receiving N7bn fraud proceeds’. The report is a gross misrepresentation of the facts of the matter as presented by the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, at the EFCC Anti-corruption National Dialogue in Abuja on January 31, 2024. The Chairman did not mention any church, mosque or shrine in his speech. He only referred to a religious body and the investigation is still ongoing. The Commission therefore urges the public to disregard the misleading report and be guided by the facts as stated in the Chairman’s speech, which is available on the EFCC website and social media platforms.”
The CDD War Room therefore concludes that the claim that the EFCC chairman said the EFCC is going after a church for receiving N7 billion fraud proceeds is misleading and should be disregarded by the public.
