An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigating officer, Tanko Abubakar, has told an Abuja High Court that the first defendant in an alleged $700,000 fraud case claimed to be the Personal Assistant to the commission’s chairman, Ola Olukoyede.

Abubakar is a witness for the prosecution in the trial of Ojobo Joshua and Aliyu Hashim, who are accused of impersonating EFCC officials to extract money from a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello Koko.

The EFCC alleges that the two men approached Koko and told him his time at the NPA was under investigation. They allegedly said the EFCC chairman and the commission’s Director of Operations wanted $1 million to halt the probe, a sum later reduced to $700,000. Joshua is said to have presented himself as the chairman’s aide throughout the scheme. The defendants face an amended four-count charge of conspiracy, impersonation and obtaining money by false pretence.

In earlier testimony, Abubakar told the court that the EFCC’s Abuja zonal director put together an investigative team after receiving intelligence that the defendants planned to defraud Koko.

He said Joshua turned down offers of $300,000 and $500,000 before Hashim persuaded him to accept $700,000. Hashim was later arrested at a hotel in Abuja’s Area 11 after showing investigators a bag containing the money, while Joshua was picked up at his residence after a video call confirming the cash was ready.

Abubakar also told the court that investigators recorded a video call in which Hashim allegedly told Joshua he had collected the money.

Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie has admitted several items as exhibits, including $100,000 in marked notes, three mobile phones, a flash drive containing video recordings and a Toyota Prado SUV seized from Hashim. Joshua’s counsel did not oppose their admission, while Hashim’s counsel objected.

Both men were arraigned in November 2024 and pleaded not guilty. The trial continues.