The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has categorically debunked and discredited a report disseminated by Sahara Reporters, which alleged that a staggering sum of N54 billion, forfeited by certain associates of the erstwhile Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, was illicitly “shared” amongst ministers and aides of President Bola Tinubu, in collusion with officials of the EFCC.
In a formal statement on Wednesday , August 21, 2024, the anti-graft agency asserted that no official of the Commission has ever been involved in the “sharing” of any proceeds derived from forfeited assets.
The EFCC vehemently averred that the very notion of “sharing proceeds of forfeited assets” is utterly alien and anathema to the Commission’s operational ethos.
Elaborating on this matter, the EFCC’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale said: “The sensational report which was promoted ostensibly to scandalise the agencies mentioned, betrays the author’s ignorance of the existing asset recovery and management framework. Both the EFCC Act, 2004 and the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022, are unambiguous in terms of the accounts into which proceeds of forfeited assets are to be paid.”
Oyewale further posited that the concept of a “platform” for the “sharing of forfeited assets” is, in fact, infantile and devoid of any basis in reality.
He challenged Sahara Reporters to provide concrete evidence of when and how this purported “sharing” occurred, and who the beneficiaries were.
Oyewale denounced the report as a egregious example of journalistic irresponsibility, replete with defamatory content, and urged the public to dismiss the falsehoods.
“There is no “platform” for the “sharing of forfeited assets”; the notion itself being infantile. Otherwise, Sahara reporters would not have withheld information about when and how the sharing took place and who got what. The TRUTH is, it simply did not happen!
“Dishing fiction to the public as news is the height of irresponsibility and EFCC will not tolerate any attempt to defame its hard-earned reputation.
“The public is enjoined to trash the lie told by Sahara Reporters.”
