Fraudsters using my name to blackmail governors, ministers – EFCC chief Ibrahim Magu

The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, says fraudsters have been using his name to extort money from governors, ministers and national chairmen of leading political parties.

Magu, therefore, warned political office holders to be circumspect lest they fall victim to conmen.


The EFCC boss was quoted as saying this in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

He said the modus operandi of some of the fraudsters was to write invitation letters to political office holders informing them that they were under probe.

The post read in part, “For the umpteenth time, the EFCC is constrained to alert the public to the activities of fraudsters who have been extorting money from prominent office holders, including sitting governors, ministers, and national chairmen of leading political parties, using the name of Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the commission.

“Members of these criminal gangs, from available information, have been writing invitation letters to some politically-exposed persons on the pretext that such communication emanated from the office of the acting chairman of the EFCC.

“The commission has had cause to issue public disclaimers of such fraudulent letters, still the criminals are undeterred. The situation is made worse by the fact that not all recipients of such fraudulent invites had the courage to seek clarification.”

While dissociating itself from such letters, the anti-graft agency said Magu had neither written nor mandated anyone to write any invitation letter to any state governor and had no reason to do so as they belong to the category of officials that enjoy constitutional immunity from criminal prosecution while in office.

It added, “The commission urges this category of public officers to be circumspect and verify the authenticity any supposed invitation from the acting chairman of the EFCC in order not to be ensnared by fraudsters.

“Also, there have been instances in the past in which fraudsters cloned the email and Facebook accounts of the EFCC chairman and were sending messages demanding bribes from unsuspecting members of the public.”