Abuja was thrown into tension on Monday as members of the National Interest Coalition staged a protest in solidarity with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and its Chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede.
Led by Comrade Bashir Abdul, the demonstrators marched from the Central Area through the Three Arms Zone before converging on the EFCC headquarters in Jabi, where they submitted a petition.
They vowed to resist what they called a deliberate campaign to discredit the EFCC leadership and derail the anti-corruption fight.
The group alleged that certain senior government officials and their allies were plotting to weaken President Bola Tinubu’s anti-corruption agenda and undermine Olukoyede’s reforms at the agency.
“We have uncovered an evil plot by some current occupiers of top government positions to attack the EFCC chairman and frustrate the President’s anti-corruption war,” Abdul told reporters.
“This protest is to show that we will resist such attempts and stand with the President and the EFCC chairman.”
The coalition cited EFCC records showing 4,111 convictions in 2024—the highest in the agency’s history—and more than 15,000 petitions acted upon, with over 80 percent resulting in convictions.
They argued that this record had unsettled corrupt elements within government.
Describing Olukoyede as a proactive leader with firm legal grounding, the group said attempts to tarnish his image were calculated efforts to shield corrupt officials from accountability.
The protest, which followed a press conference earlier in the day, drew large crowds waving placards and chanting slogans in support of the EFCC and the federal government’s anti-graft campaign.