Protesters took to the streets of Abuja on Monday in defence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and its Chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede.
The demonstrators, identified as members of the National Interest Coalition, staged the march to show solidarity with the commission’s leadership.
Led by Comrade Bashir Abdul, they marched from the Central Area through the Three Arms Zone before converging at the EFCC headquarters in Jabi, where they submitted a letter of grievance. They pledged to resist what they described as an orchestrated plot to blackmail the EFCC leadership and derail the anti-corruption war.
The group alleged that some top government officials and their allies in the “corruption web” were behind a campaign to undermine both President Bola Tinubu’s anti-corruption drive and Olukoyede’s reforms at the commission.
“We have uncovered the evil plot by some current occupiers of top government positions to attack the chairman of the EFCC and President Tinubu’s anti-corruption war,” Bashir told journalists. “This protest is to show the world that we will resist their attempts and support the President and the EFCC Chairman to succeed.”
Citing records, the coalition said the EFCC under Olukoyede had secured 4,111 convictions in 2024, the highest in the agency’s history, and was on track to surpass the figure in 2025. They warned that corrupt officials were alarmed by the commission’s performance, noting that the agency had acted on over 15,000 petitions and secured convictions in more than 80 percent of the cases taken to court.
The group described Olukoyede as a proactive leader with deep knowledge of the law, insisting that attempts to smear his name or weaken the EFCC were calculated moves to shield corrupt officials from justice.
“Nigerians have always risen to defend the EFCC. On this occasion, we are called to duty again to ensure that we prevent this pushback by corrupt government officials,” Bashir said.
The protest, which followed a world press conference earlier in the day, attracted large crowds of supporters waving placards and chanting slogans in support of the EFCC and the federal government’s anti-corruption campaign.
