"But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the
Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC),
Nigeria's leading anti-graft departments, denied freezing Mr Obi's account,
with the EFCC spokesperson telling PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday night that
there was no truth in the claim.

The PDP spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement that the
opposition party decried the "stoppage of transactions on all accounts
belonging" to Mr Obi, "his wife, his family members and their businesses by
agencies of the Muhammadu Buhari administration."

Mr Ologbondiyan's statement was silent on the specific agencies responsible
for the purported restrictions, and his telephone line failed to connect
after repeated attempts by PREMIUM TIMES Saturday night.

Although the EFCC emphasised that it should not be suspected as the
department responsible for the alleged freeze, especially as the PDP failed
to mention any agency, it nonetheless emphasised its commitment to
professionalism in the course of curbing endemic corruption in the country.

"There is no where the EFCC is mentioned in this statement. The EFCC is a
law abiding agency and committed to ridding the nation of economic and
financial crimes. That, we would not relent to do.

"But let nobody cry wolf where non exist. Please direct your question to
the author of the statement; and please let us not speak in parables. And
let the media not interpret out of context," EFCC spokesperson Tony Orilade
said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES.

Rasheedat Okoduwa, a spokesperson for the ICPC, also said the agency was
not responsible for any purported blocking of accounts run by Mr Obi.

Although the EFCC has since inception in the early 2000s been known to
regularly freeze bank accounts of persons identified in corruption
investigations, there have been wrong claims about restrictions on bank
accounts of politicians.

In the run up to the governorship election in Osun State, PDP candidate
Ademola Adeleke raised false claims that the family's bank accounts were
frozen.

Some PDP governors have also made claims, without supporting evidence, that
their states' bank accounts were blocked by the EFCC, only for the
anti-graft office to strongly deny the claim."

~Premium Times