A Nigerian resident abroad, Oluwatosin Osasona Adekunle, has approached the Federal High Court in Lagos seeking to nullify the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s declaration of him as a wanted person.
In an affidavit dated 24 August 2026 and filed through his lawyers from the firm of Akinola JP, Adekunle argued that the EFCC published the wanted notice on its official website and social media platforms on 19 August 2026 without first obtaining an order or leave of any court of competent jurisdiction. He described the action as unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires and a violation of his fundamental rights to personal liberty, private and family life, freedom of movement and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment.
Adekunle is asking the court to direct the commission to remove the publication from its website and social media platforms, restrain it from further publishing his name as a wanted person or taking any steps that would infringe his rights, compel it to issue a public apology, and award him N5 million as general damages.
According to the suit papers, the EFCC’s action stemmed from a matter involving his business associate, Victoria Chidinma Nwachukwu. Adekunle stated that Nwachukwu had a case before the commission bordering on alleged money laundering and obtaining money under false pretences. He claimed that she incorporated Oasis Vivacity Global Limited, used his residential address as the company’s office address, and made him a director and signatory to the company’s bank account without his prior knowledge or consent.
He alleged that after Nwachukwu became indebted to a customer and could not be located, the EFCC began intimidating and harassing him with the intention of arresting and detaining him in her place. Adekunle maintained that there was no complaint or prima facie evidence directly linking him to the alleged offences beyond his purported role as an agent. He further claimed that members of his immediate family had become apprehensive following alleged threats by the commission to arrest him or any family member if it could not locate him.
Adekunle argued that declaring a person wanted is a legal status that requires prior judicial authorisation. He contended that where no warrant of arrest has been issued and the person has not escaped from lawful custody, a unilateral declaration by a law enforcement agency lacks legal foundation and amounts to executive overreach.
The EFCC had on 19 August 2026 issued separate wanted notices, signed by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, naming both Adekunle, a 32-year-old man from Ekiti State, and Nwachukwu, a 31-year-old woman from Imo State, as directors of Oasis Vivacity Global Limited.
The notices linked them to alleged conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence and fraudulent diversion of funds. Both were said to share the same last known address at House No. 3, Millennium Estate, Alhaji Gbenga Ashafa Street, Gbagada, Lagos State. The commission appealed to the public for information on their whereabouts and listed contact channels including its zonal offices and the telephone line 08093322644.
The EFCC’s official website and X account confirmed the declarations around that date. No hearing date has yet been fixed for Adekunle’s suit.
Similar challenges to unilateral wanted publications by the EFCC have previously succeeded in Nigerian courts, with judges holding that such notices without prior judicial authorisation can violate constitutional rights and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
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