A new controversy is emerging around President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s anti-corruption efforts as the National Interest Coalition (NICO) has raised alarm over what it described as a “₦5 billion smear campaign” against the administration and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
At a world press conference in Abuja, NICO’s leader, Comrade Bashir Abdu, alleged that some senior officials currently facing corruption-related charges had joined forces to blackmail EFCC Chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede, and discredit the government’s anti-graft fight.
According to Abdu, the alleged conspirators are “desperate men” diverting looted public funds into sponsoring hostile propaganda, financing dissident voices, and operating offshore accounts in Dubai to bankroll the campaign.
“Their intention is simple: to undermine the anti-corruption war and destabilise the government,” he stated.
Abdu further disclosed that NICO itself was offered ₦100 million to join the smear campaign but declined, stressing that the fight against corruption must not be compromised.
Following the press conference, the coalition staged a solidarity march in Abuja, attracting thousands of supporters who chanted pro-Tinubu slogans and passed a vote of confidence on Olukoyede’s leadership. NICO insisted the smear campaign was not just an attack on the EFCC boss but “a direct strike on President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”
The coalition outlined reforms credited to the Tinubu administration and the EFCC under Olukoyede, including:
Unhindered prosecution powers for anti-graft agencies.
Tighter financial controls through the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
Strengthened criminal justice processes.
Recovery of billions in stolen assets.
Securing of hundreds of convictions.
“These desperate attacks are not against Olukoyede alone,” the coalition maintained, “but against the future of Nigeria’s children and millions of citizens who want a government that works for them, not corrupt elites.”
NICO warned that “corruption is fighting back” through orchestrated media campaigns and propaganda designed to paint the EFCC’s work as selective. It urged civil society groups, labour unions, student bodies, religious leaders, and Nigerians in the diaspora to resist what it called a “sinister agenda.”
“This country belongs to over 200 million Nigerians, not to a handful of corrupt men hiding behind propaganda. We stand with President Tinubu. We stand with the EFCC. We stand with justice,” NICO declared.