A prominent social media critic, Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, has criticized the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, for his failure to apprehend former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
Bello was declared wanted by the EFCC in April for alleged corruption involving N80.2 billion but has remained free for over seven months.
Otse argued that Bello’s arrest would have sent a strong message to deter corrupt politicians. He expressed frustration that despite declaring the former governor wanted on April 18, 2024, the EFCC has yet to take action.
Bello, accused of laundering N80.2 billion during his tenure, claimed on September 18, 2024, to have voluntarily presented himself to the EFCC, but no arrest was made.
In a viral video on Monday, VeryDarkMan did not hold back in his scathing critique of the EFCC chairman. He said:
“Ola Olukoyede is a symbol of incompetence, mediocrity, and I call him a clown. Why did I call him a clown? On April 18 he posted that Yahaya Bello is wanted by the EFCC. On the same day he posted that ‘N80.2bn money laundering, Bello’s absence stalls arraignment.’
“Since April, EFCC posted that Yahaya Bello was wanted, it has been story upon story. Within all these, EFCC has been able to arraign over 100 people. The money from all these people is not up to N120 million unlike Bello.”
He accused the EFCC of prioritizing the arrest of small-scale offenders over high-profile corruption cases.
“Your office shouldn’t be existing again, arresting young boys every day and neglecting the real fraudsters,” he added.
VeryDarkMan also reminded the public of a press conference held on April 23, 2024, where Olukoyede vowed to resign if Bello was not prosecuted. He criticized the EFCC chairman for failing to keep this promise.
“This man swore that if he does not get Yahaya Bello, he will resign, and up till now, the man is yet to resign.”
He lamented the inability of the EFCC to hold powerful individuals accountable, arguing that this undermines efforts to address corruption in Nigeria.
“How are we going to address corruption in Nigeria when the people that are deep into this corruption cannot be held accountable for their crimes while the petty (thieves) are being arrested on a daily basis?
“We were expecting that when you hold somebody like Yahaya Bello, you will discourage a lot of these politicians from taking our money in Nigeria. But of course, you cannot do it because you are a clown and the face of mediocrity in the whole of Africa.”
He concluded with a warning, predicting potential unrest if Nigerian youths, often distracted by other issues, were to focus their frustrations on the government’s failures.
“One day you will push the youths of this country and they will act, and that will be very crazy,” he said.
