By Joyce Ekeh
Former member of the House of Representatives and chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, has issued a fresh seven-day ultimatum to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to reopen and prosecute alleged financial crimes involving former Vice President and African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Agbonayinma, through his lawyers, warned that he would commence legal action against the anti-graft agency if it failed to act on his demand at the expiration of the ultimatum.
The fresh demand was contained in a letter dated September 17, 2026, addressed to the EFCC Chairman and received by the commission on September 18. The letter was signed by Joseph Onyenweuzo, Senior Counsel at Sagitarian Law Firm, on behalf of Agbonayinma.
Titled, “Re: Request to Re-open and Prosecute the Financial Crimes Case Involving Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, Former Vice President of Nigeria,” the letter referred to an earlier petition submitted to the commission.
The lawyers stated that their client had previously granted the EFCC 14 days to reopen the case, relying on an alleged 2006 EFCC report and a 2010 report by a United States Senate committee.
They, however, expressed dissatisfaction that the commission had yet to respond to the earlier request.
The letter stated: “However, we note that your Commission is yet to take any action on our lawful request and we do not want to believe that your Commission is unable to muster the Will to undertake this patriotic duty.”
The lawyers consequently issued the fresh ultimatum, warning that further inaction would trigger legal proceedings.
“Accordingly, this letter is to give you a further 7 days to carry out this assignment, after which we shall be constrained to commence appropriate legal steps to compel your Commission to do the right thing,” the letter stated.
The latest petition follows an earlier demand by Agbonayinma, who, on September 1, 2026, called on the EFCC to reopen the alleged financial crimes case involving Atiku.
In the earlier petition, Agbonayinma, a former member of the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, alleged that the EFCC investigated allegations of corruption involving Atiku between 2005 and 2006, when he was Vice President.
He referred to a document described as “The EFCC Report on Vice-President Abubakar Atiku (Full Report),” dated September 2006, and alleged that the investigation established serious allegations involving corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes.
Agbonayinma further cited a report dated February 4, 2010, by the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, claiming that it contained related allegations.
He argued that the EFCC’s alleged failure to prosecute the matter after Atiku left office amounted to a dereliction of duty.
The former lawmaker stated in the petition: “That although the allegations were mind-boggling and the EFCC vowed to Prosecute Alhaji Abubakar Atiku as soon as he leaves office as Vice President (being covered by Constitutional Immunity then), nothing has been done till date despite Public outcry both within and outside Nigeria.”
He also called on the EFCC to reactivate the documents and use them as the basis for immediate prosecution.
“With all due respect, Sir, our Client believes that the present leadership at the EFCC has all it takes to bring Nigeria out of the high corruption index for which the country is presently infamous, and the Prosecution of this case will represent one of the greatest milestone achievements of your anti-corruption body,” the letter stated.
The petitioner’s demand is for the EFCC to review the referenced reports and determine whether grounds exist for renewed investigation and prosecution.
The fresh letter concluded with a warning that legal action would follow if the commission failed to respond within seven days.
There was no response from the EFCC included in the material supplied, and the allegations remain claims made by the petitioner.
