TheCable

James Faleke, secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, says his Facebook account has been hacked.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Faleke, who is the chairman of the house of representatives committee on finance, said the hackers are using the Facebook account to extort Nigerians.

He said the hackers are demanding N18,000 from the public to access a purported empowerment fund from the Bola Tinubu campaign organisation.

“I have been inundated with reports from several Nigerians about the activities of some unscrupulous elements who hacked my official Facebook account to extort unsuspecting Nigerians,” the statement reads.

“According to them, these individuals requested that the intending beneficiaries should pay the sum of N18,500 into a designated account.

“One of the individuals behind this fraud is also sending messages to unsuspecting victims using the name of a certain Dr Lukman Johnny with phone number 08147136835, and who is said to be a staff of the federal ministry of agriculture in Abuja.”

The lawmaker said the message being circulated reads: “Dr Lukman Johnny on 08147136835 tell him I directed you, he is the director in charge of the empowerment fund in the federal ministry of agriculture here in Abuja, he will guide you on what to do”.

Faleke asked Nigerians to “track and report” criminal activities to security agencies.

“I, therefore, wish to put on record that I am not aware of any empowerment fund being allocated or distributed to any individual or group of persons by Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu or by myself,” he said.

“At no given time did I initiate such a scheme and will not subscribe to any form of dubious activities of fraudsters.

“While I urge Nigerians not to subscribe to the antics of these criminals, I also wish to appeal to all and sundry to track and report the activities of the criminals to relevant security agencies near them and ensure that they are apprehended and prosecuted.”