Dollar Crisis: EFCC Raids Forex Dealers In Abuja, Kano

• Targets Lagos, Onitsha, Ibadan, Port Harcourt next

BY EDMOND ODOK – With the Naira taking a deeper slump around N857 to a dollar at the parallel market, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday carried out simultaneous raids on Bureau de Change (BDC) operators in Abuja, the nation’s capital, and the commercial city of Kano

This is as reports indicated that the anti-graft agency’s operations in the two cities saw many illegal BDC operators and their suspected customers being nabbed while plans are on to extend the raids to Lagos, Onitsha, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, and other major cities across the country.

It was gathered that as the raid lasted, business was seriously disrupted with many BDC operators in Abuja going underground on the same day that the EFCC arrested the Kogi State House of Assembly candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Ismaila Atumeyi, and two others with a whopping N326m and $140,500 cash in their possession.

An eyewitness account indicated that the black market forex dealers were carrying on their business activity as usual when the EFCC operatives, backed by armed police personnel, stormed their popular location around the Sheraton Hotel in Zone 4, Wuse, Abuja.

According to the eyewitness, in the process, many of the forex operators were seen being dragged into waiting vehicles and taken into custody. The unexpected operation led to heavy vehicular traffic and a hold-up within the area.

The Sudden Operations

Offering an insight into the operations in Abuja and Kano, a senior EFCC official said the anti-graft agency has been monitoring the activities of forex dealers in both cities for some time now, explaining that the activities were intelligence-based and led.

The official, who did not want his name in print, also disclosed further that the raids would soon be extended to Lagos, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri, Ibadan, and other cities across the country to stop BDC operators from ‘destroying the Naira.’

“Today’s (Tuesday) operations were successful as they were intelligence-led. We have placed various bureau de change points under watch since the CBN announced the redesign of the Naira.

“So, we know that those with illegal wealth would want to take advantage of the development to off-load their stash and convert it to dollars. It is not a one-off operation; it would be extended to Lagos, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri, Ibadan, Onitsha and other cities,’’ the official disclosed.

However, while confirming the operations against forex dealers in Abuja and Kano, the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said he has no information on the planned operation in other cities, saying; “I can confirm that our operatives raided the Wuse Zone 4 area of Abuja today and arrested some BDC operators. However, I can’t confirm the number of suspects arrested yet”.

In his reaction, the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABDCN) President, Alhaji Aminu Gwaadabe, expressed full support for the EFCC’s operation saying; “As an association, we are in support of the raid. We cannot be seeing a lot of irregularities and still support them.

“It is unlicensed people that have taken over the market. The licensed are not even allowed to operate in the market”.

Gwaadabe said ABDCN was aware of the impact of the proposed Naira redesign, which had forced many Nigerians to move towards converting their Naira to dollars, noting, however, that it was not a justification for the level of uncertainties in the market.

Kogi Assembly Candidate In EFCC Net

The raids against the BDCs took place on the same day that the anti-corruption Commission arrested the Kogi State House of Assembly candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Ismaila Yusuf Atumeyi with N326million and $140,500 cash

Atumeyi, seeking to represent Ankpa 11 Constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly in the 2023 elections, was arrested on Sunday, October 30, 2022, alongside one Joshua Dominic, an alleged serial fraudster, in a sting operation at Macedonia Street, Queens Estate, Karsana in Gwarinpa, Abuja.

Arrested in connection with the Fraud also is a former bank employee, Abdumalik Salau Femi, who allegedly supplied the inside information that facilitated the syndicate’s successful attack on the affected bank.

EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said Femi was picked up on November 1, 2022, at Radisson Blu Hotel in Lagos, adding that; “Following his arrest, a search was conducted on his home in Morgan Estate, Ojodu where a total of $470,000 USD was recovered.

“The arrest of the suspects followed months of investigation into the hacking of one of the commercial banks by a syndicate of fraudsters who pulled off a heist of N1.4billion”.

The syndicate allegedly moved N887 million into the account of Fav Oil and Gas Limited, from where the monies were paid to several BDC operators and some auto dealers for exchange into US dollars and purchase of expensive automobiles. – With additional report from the Punch