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Claim: A Facebook user claimed EFCC discovered money and drugs in El-Rufai’s son’s Kaduna residence.
Verdict: Misleading! Credible media reports inform that the items mentioned were discovered at an apartment in Lagos State in 2017. Moreover, the EFCC, via its official Facebook handle, debunked claims of recovering the alleged items from the former Kaduna State governor’s son’s home.
Full Text
Former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has always been involved in controversial matters that have tarnished his image.
On Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, a Facebook user, Hammed Ishola, claimed the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raided the former governor’s son’s Kaduna residence and allegedly found a large stash of dollars in the apartment.
The Facebook user wrote, “EFCC Discovers $800 Million, ₦700 Billion Cash, and ₦1 Trillion worth of drugs at Nasir El-Rufai Son’s House in Kaduna.”
He also wrote that a violent altercation occurred between the EFCC officers and the private security team in charge of the private property.
“During the operation, a violent confrontation erupted between EFCC police personnel and the private security team guarding the property,” Ishola wrote.
As of Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, the post had earned about 55 likes, 60 comments, and 33 reposts.
Reacting to the post, most users believed the claim’s veracity and called for an immediate sanction, while few others tagged the post as old.
Titilayo Morohunfolu wrote, “Haaa Jesus Christ! In Nigeria today! Prison straight up.”
Another user, Rasheed Ajibola, commented, “This man is Finally Brought Down by the People he helped to be in position and again, Law of Karma would also come to play Btw him and Atiku ( El-Rufai ).”
“This is old news published again in 2024,” Aremu Olabode, another Facebook user, noted.
Due to the contrary opinions raised in reaction to the post and the personality involved, DUBAWA decided to verify its authenticity.
Verification
DUBAWA subjected the image shared by the Facebook user to Google Reverse Image Search. The result linked us with a Facebook post shared in 2017.
The post detailed how the EFFC raided an apartment in Lagos in 2017 after a tip-off and found $43 million (£34 million). The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also reported similar details on April 13, 2017.
Business Day also added that the pile of money was hidden in safe cabinets inside one of the building’s apartments.
On Apr. 19, 2017, Premium Times reported the incident and mentioned that former president Goodluck Jonathan, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele, and former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairperson Ibrahim Magu, among others, were to be questioned by the presidential panel over the money recovered from an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos State.
Further searches led us to a Vanguard post via X, which referenced the money the Facebook user mentioned as items found in an Ikoyi apartment in November 2017.
Investigating further, we checked for news reports to discover if the anti-graft agency recently raided El-Rufai’s son’s house but found none crediting the assertion. Instead, we came across various reports by credible news outlets debunking the claim as false.
On Dec. 5, 2024, Punch reported that the EFCC refuted claims that it uncovered $800 million, $700 billion in cash, and drugs valued at ₦1 trillion at El-Rufai’s residence. Vanguard also published a similar disclaimer on Dec. 5, 2024.
A thorough check on EFCC’s Facebook handle revealed a post stating that the anti-graft agency never visited the former Kaduna State governor’s son’s house or discovered the items mentioned by the claimant.
Conclusion
DUBAWA’s findings show that the money stash and drugs referenced by the Facebook user were discovered in a Lagos apartment after a tip-off in 2017 and do not have anything to do with El-Rufai.
