Published 17th Jan, 2023

By Emmanuel Uti

Michael Legeli (not real name), a teacher in Oyo State, thought his end had come on July 25, 2022, when officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) broke into his compound at 3 am.

Legeli told FIJ it was “an unforgettable morning” because the officials arrested all the young men of age in his compound in search of an internet fraudster they presumed lived in the house.

The teacher said he presented his identity card to the officials when they asked him who he was but they still did not let him prepare for work.

He said the EFCC officials went through his phone and branded him a fraudster when they found an email address with a foreign name.

Legeli said he explained he used the mail on freelance platforms like Fiverr but the officers refused to listen and insisted he follow them to their office at Iyaganku in Ibadan.

That morning, Legeli said, the EFCC shoehorned all the men arrested from his compound into their buses as they headed to Iyaganku.

Legeli said when he arrived at the EFCC office, some officers perused the content of his phone and checked his bank account but found nothing implicating.

“In their office, they spoke like it was a simple case. They said we just had to clear ourselves, but it was a different scenario. They paraded us as ‘Y’ahoo boys and took our pictures,” Legeli told FIJ.

“We had to get lawyers to secure our release. I waited for my lawyer, but he didn’t make it until the following day, so I slept in the cell just as everyone else did.”

Legeli said his lawyer came in the following evening to secure his release.

“For me to be released, I paid to get a lawyer. But that was not all. The EFCC said I would show up every week to sign in their office, and I have been doing that since July,” he said.

“The worst thing is that they said they were investigating my bank account. I realised in August that without a court order, the EFCC had ordered three of my bank accounts, including my salary account, to be frozen despite finding nothing on me.

“Anytime I go to sign, I ask them about my account, but they always promise to resolve it quickly. It’s seven months now.”

He said he had written to the EFCC and the management of his banks, through his lawyer, to lift the restriction on his account but to no avail.

“In December, I told the EFCC that I could no longer live as I wanted because I could not access my money in the banks. I can’t pay my rent even when I have sufficient funds in my accounts,” he explained.

“But the EFCC in Ibadan said they couldn’t do anything and were waiting for orders from their headquarters in Abuja.

“They claimed to have forwarded my message to their legal department, which means I am one step from regaining total freedom, but it has been this way in the last three months. This is a new year; I cannot continue this way.”

When FIJ called the EFCC office in Ibadan, their line did not connect. They had also not responded to the message sent to them at press time.

FIJ called the headquarters of the EFCC via one of their phone numbers, but their background was noisy. At press time, they had not responded to the text sent to their phone.

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