EFCC’s overreach: When an innocent pays for a crime not his own

By Taiwo Mustapha

In a dramatic exposé of regulatory overreach, I recount a harrowing ordeal that has left me not only financially depleted but emotionally battered. What began as a routine banking issue spiraled into an alleged ordeal of arbitrary detention, coercive tactics, and a forced payment for a crime I did not commit, raising serious questions about the EFCC’s commitment to justice and due process. I have suffered a series of bureaucratic missteps and questionable enforcement tactics by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This event has cast a harsh spotlight on the operational integrity and investigative competence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In June 2023, I secured a N1,466,757.60 naira loan from GT Bank, facilitated by a bank official, with a clear 36-month repayment plan that I meticulously honored. However, what began as straightforward financial management quickly soured into chaos. In October 2024, while studying abroad, I discovered a glitch in the GT Bank App. My scheduled deductions ceased despite my account being sufficiently funded. My repeated emails to the bank, including inquiries on November 28, 2024, and again on January 3, 2025, went unanswered, leaving me to wonder if I was destined to bear responsibility for a malfunction I never caused, as the loan continues to increase month by month.

Upon my return to Nigeria in May 2025 to personally resolve the banking issue, the situation took a sinister turn. While I was lodged in a hotel in Abuja, a sudden and unexplained debit of 98,511.26 naira was made from my First Bank account and instantly credited to my GT Bank account with this transaction narration: “Debit: 202XXXX593 Amt: NGN98,511.26 Date: 15-MAY-2025 05:54:30 Desc: FIP:/MUSTAPHA TAIWO OLA/GSIRecovery/9851.”, I quickly went to First Bank, an official, citing an obscure “General Standard Instructions, GSIRecovery” told me that I have been labeled as a “chronic debtor” and, GSI is used to pull funds from my linked BVN to credit the bank that I owe, after then I headed to GT Bank, while attempting to address this loan issue at the GT Bank Head Office in Abuja, I found myself effectively detained by bank staff on the pretext of awaiting EFCC officials. For five agonizing hours, I was held without a clear reason, explanation, or formal charge, causing immense distress to me and my family. The EFCC, it appears, was invited by the bank before any internal resolution was attempted, signaling a concerning overreach or misapplication of authority. Eventually, the EFCC did not show up, and that was when I was asked to leave the bank at 5 pm.

The ordeal escalated further on May 20, 2025, when, amid a journey by train to Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, I received an unexpected call purportedly from EFCC officials in Makurdi, Benue State. A day after, an invitation was sent via WhatsApp instructing me to appear at the Lagos counter-terrorism efforts and general investigations (CTGI) Lagos 1 unit. My return flight to the US was rapidly approaching, so I reluctantly complied, accompanied by a family member and legal counsel. At the EFCC office on May 28, 2025, the Investigating Officer probed me about a seemingly minor transaction, a sum of N81,600 credited into my GT Bank account in March 2021 from an unrelated party. Despite initial misdirection, the core accusation against me stemmed from a petition by Dr. Agweye Osu Jeremiah, who claimed his BVN was used by someone to secure a fraudulent loan from “Credit Express Limited.” In which a sum of N34,067.25 naira was being deducted from his account every month for 2 years. The EFCC’s “evidence” linking me to this crime was a single 81,600-naira transaction from March 2021 sent into my GT Bank savings account by the alleged criminal, which I later identified as a legitimate POS payment at my Bookshop, an entirely unrelated event to the alleged BVN fraud claimed by GT Bank for freezing my account.

The Investigating Officer (IO) demanded that I “produce the person” who made the transfer to me in 2021, threatening immediate detention if I failed to comply. This blatant disregard for the presumption of innocence is a fundamental affront to justice. The situation spiraled when bail was inexplicably fixed at an astronomical N817,614.00, the total of funds allegedly deducted from the other party’s account over two years. Despite my clear non-involvement in the fraudulent loan taken by someone else using Dr. Jeremiah’s BVN, the EFCC IO insisted on an outrageous condition for bail: as I had to pay the entire sum deducted from the petitioner’s account over two years, a staggering ₦817,614.00. This demand, made under the duress of potential detention and the risk of missing my flight back to the U.S. for my studies, forced me into an impossible position.

The EFCC appears to have bypassed a thorough investigation into the actual BVN fraudster or “Credit Express Limited,” opting instead to extract payment from a seemingly unrelated individual with a tenuous financial link. This approach not only fails to bring actual criminals to justice but also casts a long shadow over the EFCC’s investigative integrity. After agreeing to the payment under duress as advised by my legal counsel, the IO’s supervisor inexplicably insisted the case be transferred to Makurdi, prolonging my ordeal and further threatening my return travel plans. This suggests a lack of coordination and a potentially arbitrary process within the agency.

On Wednesday, 29th of May 2025, my sister and I went to the GT Bank on Saint Gregory Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, to raise a draft of N817,614 naira in Dr. Agweye’s name and returned to the EFCC (CTGI) office for submission. I equally submitted a letter to remove the restriction on my account, which I was told would take up to a month to take effect. This incident exposes systemic weaknesses within the EFCC’s operations. The reliance on flimsy evidence, the apparent readiness to intimidate citizens, the disregard for due process, and the alarming demand for an unrelated party to bear the financial burden of another’s crime are deeply troubling. For an agency tasked with fighting corruption and ensuring financial accountability, such conduct undermines its credibility and instills fear rather than confidence in the public. When innocent citizens are made to suffer and pay for crimes they know nothing about, the very essence of justice is betrayed, leaving a bitter taste of injustice and a profound question: What happened to the real criminal? Reform, transparency, and accountability must become the hallmarks of any institution entrusted with protecting financial and civil liberties, a standard that, in this case, appears to have been seriously compromised.

Taiwo Mustapha Olayode

Writes from Florida, USA