The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is facing fresh allegations of misconduct after Nigerian musician and Creative Industry Group president, Felix Duke, accused its operatives of storming his Abule Egba hotel in a violent raid, destroying property, intimidating guests, and allegedly carting away €5,000 in cash.

Duke, whose Duke and Duchess Hotel sits on a busy commercial stretch of Lagos’s Abule Egba axis, told reporters the Friday, August 1 incident unfolded without warning. Around 4 p.m., he said, eight armed men arrived in an unmarked bus, blocked the hotel entrance, and began searching rooms without producing a court-issued warrant.

“They attempted to arrest my wife, Lady Capriz, an American citizen, who refused to go with them unless they produced legal documentation which they could not. They drove away customers and broke into rooms, claiming they were looking for me,” Duke alleged. “I later found out €5,000 was missing from my room.”

The musician believes the raid was tied to a simmering land dispute with a retired soldier who, he claims, lodged a petition with the EFCC to weaponise the agency against him. Duke says he has filed a lawsuit against both the EFCC and the petitioner, demanding N50 million in damages and an official apology for what he calls “a violation of my fundamental human rights.”

EFCC Denial

When contacted, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale flatly denied any such operation took place.

“According to our Lagos Directorate, no such operation happened in Abule Egba. The only arrest by our men that week was on Wednesday at Chevron, Lagos Island,” Oyewale said. “He should redirect his allegations elsewhere.”

The EFCC’s rebuttal raises critical questions: if not EFCC, who were the armed men? Were they rogue operatives exploiting the agency’s name or an unofficial EFCC team acting off the books?

Patterns of Controversy

This is not the first time the EFCC’s operational methods have come under public scrutiny. Over the past 18 months, the anti-graft body has intensified its cybercrime raids many targeting hotels, lounges, and short-let apartments in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan.

In several high-profile cases, including the October 2023 Ile-Ife hotel raid, guests reported being herded into vans at gunpoint without warrants, with claims of cash and valuables going missing. While the EFCC has repeatedly insisted it operates within the law, these incidents have fuelled criticism of its “midnight raid” tactics and opaque arrest procedures.

The Commission’s expanded cybercrime crackdown, which intensified after Nigeria’s inclusion on several global fraud watchlists, has been defended as necessary to dismantle “Yahoo-Yahoo” networks. However, critics argue the approach often sweeps up innocent citizens and can be manipulated by private actors to settle personal disputes.

Legal and Oversight Questions

Duke’s case highlights a long-standing gap in Nigeria’s law enforcement ecosystem: the difficulty of proving or disproving the involvement of state operatives in alleged abuses. Without body cameras, transparent warrant procedures, and an independent complaint review board, victims often face a “word against the agency” battle.

The EFCC’s denial may shift the focus of this investigation toward identifying whether the alleged operatives were impostors, hired thugs, or actual EFCC officials acting off-record. For Duke, however, the damage both financial and reputational is already done.

“This is not just about me. If this can happen to a public figure, imagine what happens to ordinary citizens,” he said.

As the legal battle begins, the case could reignite debate over EFCC’s operational accountability and whether Nigeria needs stricter checks to prevent the misuse or impersonation of its anti-graft machinery.