‘BLATANT LIE’: EFCC DENIES CLAIM OF PRE-DEFECTION MEETING BETWEEN OLUKOYEDE, GOVERNOR

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By Oduola F.A.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has denied an allegation that its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, met with a former South-South governor and his predecessor 48 hours before they decamped to the All Progressives Congress.

The denial followed claims by a spokesperson to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe, during a recent interview.

Ibe, who was a guest on Seun Okinbaloye’s Politics Today on Channels Television on Thursday, alleged that the EFCC Chairman and the Solicitor General met with a former and a serving governor from the South-South region 48 hours before they decamped to the APC. He also claimed that the meeting took place at a government lodge in the South-South state.

Reports had circulated that the governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, and his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa, left the Peoples Democratic Party for the APC in April.

Reacting to the allegation, the EFCC in a statement on Friday, said it was “outraged” by Ibe’s “unfounded claims”, describing it as “patently fabricated”.

“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is outraged by the unfounded claims of Mr. Paul Ibe, spokesperson to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, alleging that Ola Olukoyede, Executive Chairman, held a secret meeting with an unnamed politician.

“Ibe, who was a guest on Seun Okinbaloye’s Politics Today on Channels Television on Thursday, May 22, 2025, bared his mind on sundry theories, conjectures and assumptions relating to opposition politics and defections.

“However, his allegations of the Executive Chairman EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede and Solicitor General of the Federation’s alleged meeting with an unnamed governor forty-eight hours before his defection to the ruling All People’s Congress, APC, are patently fabricated and in bad taste. “Olukoyede has stressed it at several fora that he is apolitical and the EFCC totally wired against partisan tendencies”, the statement wrote.

Olukoyede enjoined the public to disregard the allegation as it exists only in “Ibe’s imagination”.