The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has rubbished a news report entitled, “Magu’s Chief of Staff Under Investigation for Bribery and Unlawful Enrichment”, published by online news platforms, First Weekly Magazine and Nigeriannewsdirect, alleging that Mr. Ola Olukoyede, Chief of Staff to Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of EFCC, is under investigation for alleged corruption.

EFCC Head, Media & Publicity Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja: “The publications purport that Mr. Olukoyede defrauded some prominent “Nigerian (sic) . . . under the guise of assisting (sic) to curry (sic) from his boss, Ibrahim Magu.” It went on to list an unnamed former Niger a State governor and a prominent Chief from the southwest among his alleged victims. The latter, the publications claimed, lost N100m to the Chief of Staff!

“The salacious claims continued with the strange revelation that EFCC “discovered a mind-boggling amount of money in his personal accounts", which supposedly forced the Vice President to order an internal probe.

“The icing was the disclosure that Mr. Olukoyede was detained and thereafter placed on suspension.

“The narrative and the issues raised are strange to the EFCC. As far as the Commission is concerned, Mr. Ola Olukoyede is not under any investigation and could, therefore, not have been detained or suspended. The Commission has no record of any petition by anybody calling into question the integrity of the Chief of Staff. So stories about a former governor or a prominent south-west chief accusing him of wrongdoing are at best fictional.

“Consequently, the Commission is inclined to dismiss these publications as the handiwork of mischief makers who are out to impugn the hard-earned reputation of Mr. Olukoyede for reasons that are not clear.

“The Commission consequently enjoins members of the public to disregard the publication for what it is: fake news!”

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