The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recently faced allegations of cheating and irregularities from bidders who participated in a car auction. The auction exercise began on January 20, 2025, allowing interested parties to inspect the vehicles at dedicated locations nationwide before the bidding day on January 27, 2025.
After the auction concluded, bidders expressed outrage on social media, sharing screenshots that they claimed proved they had been cheated out of the process. The aggrieved citizens alleged that their winnings had disappeared from the auction sites, and they could no longer access their accounts on those platforms.
Some bidders complained about supposed chicanery executed through outrageous amounts as bids designed to force many prospects from backing out on some deals. Screenshots showed that the biddings for mid-range and averagely sophisticated Lexus jeeps and SUVs ranged from N1 billion to N330 billion.
One user, Daniel Momoh, shared his frustrations on X, stating that he had won four different vehicles but found his name replaced with another, blocking him from accessing the website via his account. Another user, @Chizytelu, reported that a C300 with lot number ADC/BEN/AU/98 that he had bid on and won at N5,570,001 vanished from the auction site.
Baron El’Sama alleged that the auction was a sham, with bids of N350,000,000,000 for a Lexus RX 350 Jeep designed to gate-keep others from bidding. Aromeh Joshua expressed frustrations on Facebook, noting that some auctioneers’ websites were temporarily unavailable.
In response to the allegations, the EFCC denied any wrongdoing and challenged the protesting bidders to provide proof of compromise. The commission explained that government-licensed auctioneers handled the auction process and that the EFCC did not interfere in any of the processes.
The EFCC listed over 850 vehicles forfeited to the Federal Government for the auction, recovered during investigations into various financial crimes, including corruption, money laundering, and cybercrime.
AT Reporter
