The Economic and Financial Crime Commission has denied allegation of shooting at pro-Yahaya Bello protesters at its headquarters on Monday in Abuja.

Spokesman for the commission, Dele Oyewale, said this while responding to reports that the commission’s operatives attacked the protesters

Mr Oyewale said that there was no shooting at any protester at the commission on Monday.

He said the operatives only dispersed the protesters who went to the commission’s headquarters to disrupt activities.

”No arrests were made as claimed by the group. No two groups demonstrated at the commission today. The first group came with a letter of commendation in support of the EFCC anti-corruption fight.

”They presented their letter, which was received by the Director of Public Enlightenment Department, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, who promised to deliver their message to the chairman. Not quite after, another group came, these people were violent and destructive, the men of the commission had to chase them away. It is not true, nobody was arrested and there was no shootout,” he said.

The pro-Yahaya Bello group is supporting the immediate past governor of Kogi State who is in hiding to evade prosecution by the EFCC over alleged corruption.

The pro-Bello protest was staged by the Kogi Youth Coalition.

The protesters claimed they were attacked by operatives of the commission. The group claimed that the first group of protesters were allowed into the commission but the pro- Yahaya Bello group were denied entry.

Videos of the protesters struggling to make their statements while being harassed and scampering for safety flooded the social media with a picture of a badly damaged vehicle.

The group claimed that at least 10 of the members were arrested while many were injured. They said they staged the protest to counter what they described as an EFCC-sponsored protest and vowed to resist the intimidation, and urged President Bola Tinubu to call EFCC to order.

The Head of the Kogi Youth Coalition, Otitoleke Richard, while speaking on the attack said, “We’re here this morning at the headquarters of EFCC in Abuja, addressing a topical national issue that has to do with the rule of law, the defence of democratic governance in Nigeria.

“We have been intimidated, we have been harassed. The EFCC is saying we do not have the right to express our opinion on national issues. We have been shot at; they have used their sticks to beat ordinary Nigerians that are harmless. We shall continue to air our opinion for democracy to thrive in Nigeria. Nigeria is not a banana republic. We’re saying the rule of law must be applied in all corruption files. You cannot fight corruption with lawlessness.”

A protester, identified only as Malik, said it was unfortunate that peaceful protests that were a right of every Nigerian had now been made selective by the commission.

“Why didn’t they attempt to disperse those Igala boys that protested against the former governor, can you imagine? EFCC sponsoring Muri Ajaka’s boys to support them and call Yahaya Bello out? Nigerians should not be fooled to think anybody is fighting any corruption. They just want him out. Period. But we are saying they can’t disgrace him. He has done more than any governor for us in Kogi and all these people know. This will not make us afraid of asking for our rights. We will continue,” he said.

(NAN)

The family of a female 400-level student of the University of Abuja, Murjanatu Zubairu, who was declared missing on Friday, has confirmed her death.

An uncle to the deceased student, who is also a former Vice Chairman of Kwali Area Council, Alhaji Zubairu Jibrin Yewuti, confirmed the death of the missing student while speaking with our reporter through telephone on Monday night.

He said the family of the missing student called to inform him that after a series of intensive enquiries to ascertain the whereabouts of the missing student, it was later discovered that she died in a ghastly motor accident on Friday evening along Lugbe – Airport Road, Abuja.

According to him, the corpse of the missing student was discovered at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital’s morgue in Gwagwalada during the family’s visit to the hospital mortuary.

He said, “The family of Murja called me in the afternoon and they confirmed that she died in an accident that occurred along the Lugbe – Airport Road last Friday. They visited the mortuary at the University of Abuja, Teaching Hospital, where her corpse was found.”

Yewuti said the family of the deceased student had engaged the services of some security agents from Kaduna State to track her location before the discovery of her corpse at the mortuary.

He said all arrangements had been concluded by the family of the deceased student to retrieve the corpse from the morgue today for burial.

The Lugbe Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Commander Sunday Ajokotola, while speaking with our reporter through telephone on Monday, confirmed that ten people were involved in a ghastly motor accident, in which four including a female were burnt to death along Lugbe -Airport Road last Friday.

He said the lone accident, which involved a Toyota Sharon bus, happened around 8:34 pm near Dunamis Church along the Airport Road. He added that the bus, which was on high speed suddenly went up in flames and killed four persons including a female on the spot.

“Before our rescue team arrived at the scene, six people among the ten inside the bus that sustained burns were rescued by the Airforce personnel who were treated in their hospital. Our men arrived the scene and evacuated the four others including a female that got burnt beyond recognition to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital’s morgue in Gwagwalada on that same Friday night,” he added.

•Court okays freezing of accounts for unauthorised forex dealings, terror financing

The Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an interim order empowering the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to freeze 1,146 bank accounts belonging to individuals and companies.

The agency claimed it was investigating them for unauthorised dealing in foreign exchange, money laundering and terrorism financing.

Justice Emeka Nwite issued the order in a ruling on an ex-parte motion by EFCC lawyer Ekele Iheanacho.

The judge ordered the commission to ensure that its investigation is concluded within 90 days.

Justice Nwite, after listening to Iheanacho, held: “It is hereby ordered as follows: that the applicant’s application is hereby granted as prayed.

“That an order of this honourable court is hereby made freezing the bank accounts stated in the schedule below which accounts are owned by various individuals who are currently being investigated in a case involving the offences of unauthorised dealing in foreign exchange, money laundering and terrorism financing to the extant that the investigation will be for a period of 90 days.”

He adjourned till July 23 for a report on the findings.

A copy of the enrolled order, made last Wednesday, was obtained yesterday.

The EFCC, in the motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/543/2024 said: “The bank accounts in respect of which the reliefs are sought are subject of investigation by the EFCC in relation to money laundering and terrorism financing.

“Preliminary investigation conducted thus far reveals that the bank accounts are linked to persons, who take advantage of the virtual cryptocurrency exchange platforms to illegally manipulate the value of the naira and launder proceeds of unlawful activities.

“There is a need to preserve the funds in the identified bank accounts pending the conclusion of investigation and possible prosecution.”

On February 29, Justice Nwite issued a similar order compelling Binance Holdings Limited to provide EFCC with the comprehensive data or information of all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform.

The interim order granted was to enable the EFCC investigate the allegations of money laundering and terrorism financing raised against Binance, a crypto currency trading platform.

In a motion it filed, the EFCC claimed that it uncovered users of Binance platform deploying it for price discovery, confirmation and market manipulation which caused tremendous distortions in the market, resulting in the naira losing its values against other currencies.

The EFCC added that the information provided its investigating team by Binance showed that the total trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6 billion.

The anti-graft agency filed a charge against Binance and two of its executives on alleged money laundering, while the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) filed another charge against them.

Binance and its two officials are currently being prosecuted before a Federal High Court in Abuja by the EFCC and the FIRS on two separate charges bordering on money laundering and tax offences.