Protest: EFCC begins probe of sponsors’ bank accounts

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has commenced investigations into the bank accounts of some individuals and organisations allegedly sponsoring the planned nationwide protest, Daily Trust reports.

It was gathered that the anti-graft agency was directed to liaise with the Department of State Services (DSS) to get full details of the individuals and organisations that had earlier been identified as sponsors of the protest.

A highly-placed official of the EFCC confided in our correspondent on Monday that the detailed information of the sponsors had been gotten, and that the agency had commenced its probe into their bank accounts immediately.

This, the source said, would help the commission to know the extent of their level of involvement in case violence erupts in any part of the country, adding that the anti-graft agency would ensure that terrorism funding was prevented.

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“Details of those sponsoring the planned nationwide protest slated to begin on Thursday have been fully acquired. We have begun investigations on them in earnest. We want to know the real intention on why some monies were sent into those bank accounts.

“Although some of those accounts have been flagged because majority of them received funds from foreign countries, investigations need to be deepened,” the official, who pleaded anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak, confided in Daily Trust.

When asked how they would be sanctioned if found guilty after investigation, the EFCC official said laws would be applied appropriately and they would be charged accordingly.

The source further told Daily Trust that they were asked to take over the responsibility because of the sophisticated equipment at the possession of the agency.

Dele Oyewale, the spokesman of the EFCC, when contacted, said he had no information regarding the development. He declined further comments when our correspondent pressed further.

Hundreds of Nigerians are currently mobilising online and offline for a nationwide protest billed to hold between August 1 and August 10, 2024 over widespread hunger in the land.

In the early hours of Monday, some protesters displayed placards with different inscriptions along Suleja axis of the Abuja-Kaduna road, while lamenting the present economic situation.

Some of their placards read ‘Enough is Enough’; ‘Stop Anti-Masses Policies’; ‘We Are Not Slaves In Our Country’; ‘Hardship Is Unbearable’, and ‘Fuel Subsidy Must Be Back’.