Olukoyede: Anambra, Imo EFCC Regional Office not to Hound But Help States Plug Leakages

.Soludo reveals commission absolved him of complicity in polymer note controversy David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka The Executive Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has stated that the establishment of a regional office of the commission in Awka, the Anambra State capital, to serve Anambra and Imo States was not to hound its people but can also help them in several ways to safeguard their funds. Olukoyede stated this yesterday during the official inauguration of the office in Awka, while addressing the governors of Anambra and Imo states, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo and Senator Hope Uzodinma respectively, and other dignitaries who attended. This is coming as Prof. Soludo, the host governor praised the professionalism of the commission and the enormous work they do, while also revealing that the commission later wrote him a letter to absolve him of complicity in the controversy surrounding the minting of polymer notes while he was the Governor of Central Bank. Olukoyede in his address said, “The establishment of this Directorate is integral to the commission’s ongoing expansion, made possible by the generous appropriations of the National Assembly and the critical interventions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. “There is no doubt that Anambra and Imo states deserve effective and responsive institutional presence. These states are renowned for enterprise, innovation, commerce and an extraordinary culture of industry. Across both states, we see Nigerians creating businesses, building industries, trading, investing and generating employment. “These legitimate economic activities must be protected from fraud, cybercrime, money laundering, investment frauds, diversion of public resources and other forms of economic and financial crime. “Therefore, our coming to Awka is beyond geographical expansion. It is about taking the mandate of the EFCC closer to the people and closer to the economic activities we are meant to protect. EFCC exists not merely to arrest and prosecute. Our official mission encompasses prevention, enforcement and coordination in the effort to eradicate economic and financial crimes. This balance is extremely important. “We must prosecute cases on the strength of evidence. We must trace and recover proceeds of crime. However, a fundamental question is, how do we prevent financial crime from occurring in the first place? If we can identify vulnerabilities before billions of naira are lost, prevent fraudulent transactions before citizens lose their savings, strengthen procurement systems before public resources are diverted and interrupt criminal financial flows before they mature, then we would have saved the nation enormous economic and social costs.” The chairman said that within the period the regional office has been in operation, since February 2026, it has received a total of 393 petitions, investigating 311 of such petitions, secured 58 convictions and recovered 111 plots of land worth N323 million. He said a total of N835.9million, $1,135, €400 have been recovered too. Meanwhile, Governor Soludo has revealed that the commission absolved him of complicity in the controversy surrounding the minting of polymer notes under his administration as Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Soludo said, “We are enthusiastic about having EFCC in Awka not because our people are criminals and whatever, but we are beginning to drill down the fight against economic and financial crimes to the grassroots. Fighting crime is the responsibility of everybody. Ideally, EFCC should be in the 774 LGAs, but with just 6,000 staff, there is a limit. “Welcome to Anambra, we will cooperate with you in every way possible to ensure that your work goes well. The work of the EFCC is pivotal to our national development and many people may not appreciate it because what they see is EFCC arresting people. But in a society where you have pervasive economic and financial crimes, that society will not move forward economically or in development. “I applaud the professionalism of the EFCC. In Anambra, we will not wait until you come looking in our books, we will come knocking because we need your help in the areas of revenue, tax and training. We need training for our civil service, training for staff of Local government and others. Many of these crimes people don’t know about, like procurement processes and rules. “My personal testimonies about the professionalism of this commission is that when I left office as CBN Governor, about three years after, EFCC was investigating an agency within the bank; the mint. I was chairman of board of the mint and I was given one month’s notice of investigation and I showed up. After about a year, I didn’t hear from them, so I wrote them and they said investigation so far didn’t show anything about me. “When some journalists mentioned my name in connection with the investigation, the former chairman of EFCC told them that I was not the subject of the investigation. Subsequently, they wrote me a beautiful letter and said their investigation showed I didn’t have anything to do with the matter. So I deeply appreciate the professionalism of the commission. “I want to urge that if you invite someone and later fail to find them complicit, you must write and say so, especially in this part of the world when if you invite people, it finds its way to the pages of the newspaper because they see invitation as indictment.” The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Tajudeen Abbas who represented President Bola Tinubu, called on Anambra and Imo states to embrace the zonal office as their own way of ensuring transparency and accountability in their states. This he said, was another way of bringing the fight against corruption further down.