On Wednesday, October 25, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) called for caution from the public following a recent attack on some of its operatives in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital.
The EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale confirmed in a statement that seven of its operatives on routine verification exercise of a surety, Azeez Kazeem Oluwakemi, were, on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, attacked and held hostage by staff and students of the Federal College of Forestry, Idi-shin Estate, Ibadan.
Oyewale said that the operatives were in the college to authenticate the address and identity of Oluwakemi, who stood as a surety for Alakinde Khalid Kolawole, a suspected internet fraudster in the custody of the Commission.
A surety verification exercise is a standard law enforcement practice for ensuring the bail conditions of a suspect. This fact occasioned the mission of the EFCC’s operatives at the college.
“For some inscrutable reasons, students and staff of the college went on a frenzy of attacks against operatives of the EFCC who were on an authorized assignment,” Oyewale stated.
He added that this is in spite of the fact that the college community was duly informed about the mission of the EFCC’s team.
He said, the college’s Student Union President, in concert with his colleagues and some staff of the institution, reportedly ignited violent confrontations with operatives of the EFCC.
“Two main entrance gates to the college were barricaded with a car believed to be owned by one of the lecturers of the college,” Oyewale explained.
“The bus that conveyed operatives to the college was vandalized, even as students and staff of the college threw stones and dangerous objects at the vehicle.”
