The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has warned the public to ignore a letter currently making the rounds purported to be issued by the office of the Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan directing the EFCC to begin immediate investigation and prosecution of some prominent Nigerians including the leader of the main opposition party, the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar among others.

Most people listed in the allegedly forged letter were members of the opposition party and some persons of northern extraction holding top notch public offices. But the EFCC has dismissed the letter as ‘fake and forged’ with proof of what a memo truly issued by the Presidency looks like.

The ‘fake’ memo also bears a forged signature of the Chief of Staff, though it comes with a letter head bearing the coat of arms which on a closer scrutiny looks like a computer-generated document with no serious artistic imprint.

According to the EFCC, the letter was intended to mislead the people. The Commission therefore urged the public to ignore the memo and its content. Other notable persons listed for investigation in the memo include Governors Adams Oshiomhole, Rotimi Amaechi, Ahmed Abdulfattah, Senator Danjuma Goje, Senator Bukola Saraki and Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

A top Presidency source told our reporter that the ‘fake’ letter was engineered by the opposition to cause disaffection between the public and the Presidency.

The statement issued by the EFCC reads: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, wishes to alert the public about a letter supposedly from the office of the Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan, mandating the commission to initiate discreet investigation against some prominent political figures in the country.

“The commission urges the public to discountenance the said letter as it is forged document, intended to mislead the people. The features of the letter are markedly different from that on a genuine letter from the office of the Chief of Staff to the president.

“As evidence that this is a clear forgery, we reproduce below the fake letter alongside a copy of an authentic letter from the same office”.