EFCC Operatives
EFCC-ICPC Impersonators
EFCC Operatives
EFCC-ICPC Impersonators Nabbed in Akwa Ibom
The Uyo Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, has arrested three men in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom
State capital for impersonating the staff of the Commission and
that of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related
Offences Commission, ICPC. The suspects are: Norbert Rampa, (51);
Patrick Essien, (50) and Gabriel Daniel,( 32).
The trio along with other members of their team had on September
19, 2018, paid a courtesy visit to the Commission’s Uyo office,
under the auspicies of Grassroots Development Advocacy Initiative
(GDAI) which they claim was a registered organisation with the
National Anti-corruption Coalition (NACC).
During the visit, its national director, Essien spoke
extensively on the several trainings that the members had gone
through to ensure grassroots engagements in budget processes, aimed
at sustaining the fight against corruption, while Rampa who
introduced himself as the director of programmes of the group spoke
on their robust collaboration with the ICPC.
They, however, requested that they be granted operational
powers, to which the Zonal Head, Mr. Garba Dugum refused and
advised them to rather report all perceived corrupt practices to
the Commission.
The team obviously paid no heed to Dugum’s advice as Rampa,
Essien and Daniel, who are the leaders, were discovered to have
embarked on various levels of forgery and impersonation in a
criminal act of extortion from unsuspecting members of the public,
whom they deceive and intimidate with the claim that they are in a
joint operational task force with both the EFCC and the ICPC.
Trouble, however, started for them when they tested their luck
on Mr. Aloysius Udobong, an elderly retiree for intimidation and
extortion. Their move on Udobong failed, forcing them to send a
baseless petition against him to the EFCC, concocting allegation of
being a corrupt retired public servant against him.
When Udobong was invited for questioning, he made allegations of
forgeries and impersonation against the trio, buttressing them with
documented evidences.
According to Udobong, sometime in 2018, the syndicate issued a
letter of investigation to him, purportedly emanating from the EFCC
and attempted to extort money from him, but when they discovered
that he wasn’t willing to comply with their financial demands, they
left, but returned to him in 2019 with more letters, this time,
listing his assets and properties and threatening to prosecute him
if he refused to dole out money to them.
Udobong tendered some of the letters of invitation for
investigation which he claimed were all personally delivered to him
by Rampa. This instantly turned the table against them and they
became suspects.
The forged letters furthermore, pushed EFCC operatives to carry
out a search on the apartments of the trio. The outcome of that
search strongly established that Essien, Rampa and Daniel had been
impersonating the EFCC and ICPC in the state and beyond.
Forged documents recovered from their apartments include: Fake
EFCC letterhead papers, ICPC operational jackets, forged identity
cards of National Anti-corruption Coalition of ICPC/EFCC
Partnership, various forged letters to individuals and
organisations purportedly coming from EFCC and ICPC. Others are:
Forged investigation letters to First Bank of Nigeria, handwritten
drafts of fake petitions against individuals, forged investigation
letters from the suspects to their accuser, Mr. Udobong and a
desktop computer.
Also included are a fake “National Anti-Corruption Coalition
(NACC) of ICPC/EFCC Partnership,” letterhead paper that captured
Norbert Rampa as “Head, Intelligence Investigator/Operations,” a
forged EFCC letterhead paper with the Commission’s logo on the left
hand side and the coat of arms on the right hand side and forged
identity cards.
The suspects are currently providing useful information to the
Commission and will be charged to court as soon as investigations
are concluded.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head , Media and Publicity
………………………………………………
EFCC Arrests Suspected Yahoo Boys
In continuation of its war against internet fraud, officers of
the Cyber Crime Section at the Abuja Zonal office of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Monday September 9, 2019
raided the residences of suspected yahoo-yahoo fraudsters at House
16, Yashin Dogara News Engineering, Dawaki, Abuja.
In the same vein, arrests were carried out on September 13, at
Nepa Road, Phase 4 Kubwa and at No 18, Samuel Crescent, Dantata
Estate Kubwa, Abuja.
The operations followed covert intelligence gathering and leads
from already arrested suspects.
The suspects arrested are Iloh Joseph and Emeka Jonathan.
In the course of the operation, mobile phones, laptop computers,
and a Toyota Corolla car were recovered. The suspects will be
charged to court as soon as investigations are completed.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media and Publicity
………………………………
Sapele Youths Denounce Cybercrime, Pledges Supports For EFCC
Youths in Sapele and its environs on Tuesday September 17, 2019
staged a peaceful rally in support of the efforts of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to rid Delta State and the
entire country of cybercrimes and other forms of economic and
financial crimes.
The youths under the aegis of Save Sapele Group, carried banners
and placards bearing various messages such as “Sapele Say No to
Crime, Yahoo Yahoo, Kidnapping and Internet Fraud”, “Say No to
Corruption”, “Protect our Youths, Daughters and Sisters – Say No to
Yahoo Yahoo” and ” Say No to 419″, as they marched through the
streets of Sapele. They also wore T-shirts with inscriptions
condemning internet fraud popularly known as yahoo yahoo.
The youths said the rally which is coming on the heels of
several arrests of cybercrime suspects in the city, was to
demonstrate their disapproval of the activities of elements that
engage in activities such as internet fraud, cybercrimes and
kidnapping in Sapele. “We don’t want yahoo yahoo. We don’t want
internet fraud, We say no to 419 and ritual killing”, they
declared.
Today’s rally in support of the Commission is coming few days
after some youths in the area staged a protest against a sister
agency, claiming that officers of the agency were instigating the
frequent EFCC raid of Internet fraudsters in the city.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media and Publicity
17 September, 2019