PEOPLES GAZETTE
The X (Twitter) handle of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has vanished from the frontline social media platform.
Checks throughout Wednesday by Peoples Gazette showed the organisation’s handle, with its 2.2 million followers, was no longer accessible. “This account doesn’t exist” was the page’s message instead.
Dele Oyewale, EFCC’s chief spokesman, confirmed that the handle, @officialEFCC, has been down for three days.
He attributed the issue to a network problem and noted that the agency’s ICT department is working to resolve it.
“Our ICT department is working on it. They have been on it for almost three days now,” Mr Oyewale told The Gazette on Wednesday night. “We are hoping It will come up again.”
The crisis came days after a cluster of suspected Internet fraudsters threatened to wage cyber warfare against the anti-graft office for its alleged disregard of constitutional norms in cracking down on dubious activities among Nigerians online. The threats were made on Reddit and other forums last weekend, with some of the commenters claiming anti-graft detectives extorted them.
The EFCC has ramped up its campaign against suspected crooks online in recent months, raiding hotels and university dorms in a zealous endeavour to stymie the trend, which anti-corruption campaigners said had become a blight on the image of Nigeria and its hardworking population.
