FACT CHECK: Did Abia Governor Block EFCC Convoy to Release 59 Youths Arrested in Aba?

A claim has gone viral across several Facebook pages alleging that the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, intercepted a convoy of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Aba and ordered the release of 59 youths arrested for alleged internet fraud. The posts further claim that the governor instructed his security team to escort the EFCC operatives out of the city, purportedly declaring that “Aba boys are not thieves or killer herdsmen.”

The quote attributed to the governor specifically referenced Fulani herdsmen, but how true is this widely shared narrative? Grassroots Check launched a rigorous investigation to verify the authenticity of the claims, subjecting the post to a multi-layered verification process that included open-source checks, official government sources, media scans, and quote authentication. Grassroots Check first traced the origin of the claim to a post published on Facebook on 20 May 2025. The post, which lacked verifiable images or video evidence, alleged that the EFCC arrested more than 59 youths in Aba and attempted to transfer them to Abuja before being blocked by state government forces on the directive of Governor Alex Otti.

To verify this, Grassroots Check reviewed official communications by the EFCC, including statements and updates on its website and verified social media platforms. As of the time of this check, the Commission has not commented on any confrontation in Aba. It also did not issue any statement that it was forced to release suspects following intervention by the Abia State Government. The most recent publicised EFCC operation in southeastern Nigeria involved arrests in Enugu and parts of Imo State, but no official bulletin from the agency mentioned an incident in Abia between 18 and 25 May 2025. A separate press release dated 13 May confirmed the arrest of 17 suspected internet fraudsters in Ilorin, Kwara State, a north-central region not the South-East.

Additionally, Grassroots Check reviewed Governor Alex Otti’s official X (formerly Twitter) handle, his Facebook page, and press releases published on the Abia State Government website. None contained references to a confrontation with EFCC agents, nor did they indicate any official statement criticising the agency’s operations or making ethnic comparisons.

The alleged quote attributed to Governor Otti reads: “Aba boys are not thieves or killer herdsmen. No such arrests of my people will happen under my watch. Head back to Sokoto and arrest the Fulani herdsmen, not innocent Aba youths.” Grassroots Check subjected this quote to keyword and phrase-based digital searches across verified media platforms and archives, including Google News, social media monitoring tools, and web crawlers focused on Nigerian political coverage. No public statement, press conference, or interview containing those words was found linked to Governor Otti.

The inflammatory nature of the statement suggests it would have attracted substantial media coverage or political rebuttals, but no such reactions were documented. Moreover, no credible national or regional newspaper, including The Explainer, Punch, Channels TV, The Cable, or Premium Times, reported such an incident. The absence of professional media reporting on such a dramatic event involving two prominent state institutions casts further doubt on the claim’s credibility.

VERDICT: FALSE
Grassroots Check found no evidence that the Abia State Government blocked an EFCC convoy in Aba or ordered the release of 59 arrested youths.