By Hadiza Mohammed, Northern Operation
“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,” EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede said on Monday, defending his agency’s decision to block public funds allegedly diverted into cryptocurrency wallets.
Addressing media executives and journalists in Abuja, Olukoyede said the commission traced money from a local government account to a private company before it was funneled into crypto wallets.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Olukoyede said the EFCC’s Fraud Risk Assessment and Control Department detected the transactions and intervened to determine their destination and purpose. He, however, did not name the local government, company or state involved.
The EFCC boss said the case reflects a dangerous new trend where public officials steal money and hide it in virtual assets.
“We have gotten to a stage in Nigeria now that public officials steal money and they put it in cryptocurrency wallets,” he stated.
“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.”
According to him, cybercrime has evolved beyond “Yahoo Yahoo,” with young people now being used as fronts to move illicit funds.
Olukoyede said the commission now has the capacity to trace cryptocurrency wallets, especially those on the about 40 virtual asset platforms licensed in Nigeria following new regulatory measures.
To address accountability gaps, he disclosed that the Federal Government had approved a national confiscation wallet for all virtual assets recovered by law enforcement agencies. The EFCC had earlier recovered virtual assets linked to the CBEX fraud.
The chairman argued that law enforcement must shift from reacting to completed theft to preventing suspicious transactions.
“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 comes weeks after public outcry trailed the EFCC’s freezing of an Osun State Government account days before the August 15 governorship election. Olukoyede, however, did not link the latest transaction to Osun or any specific state.
He also reeled out the commission’s achievements in the last three years, including the recovery of about N288.1 billion in federal and state taxes — N173.2bn for the federal government and N114.9bn for states.
Olukoyede added that over 40 EFCC personnel had been dismissed for alleged corruption and financial malpractice in the last 2.5 to 3 years, with some already facing prosecution.
