The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has dismissed allegations that its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, held a meeting with a former South-South governor and his predecessor 48 hours before their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The denial came in response to claims made by Paul Ibe, spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday.
Ibe alleged that the EFCC Chairman and the Solicitor General met with a serving and a former governor from the South-South region at a government lodge just days before their defection to the APC.
Speculation had earlier emerged that Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and his predecessor Ifeanyi Okowa left the Peoples Democratic Party for the APC in April.
In a statement released on Friday, the EFCC expressed outrage at Ibe’s allegations, labeling them as “patently fabricated” and “unfounded.”
“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”.