President Bola Tinubu has appointed Ola Olukoyede as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, announced this in a statement on Thursday.

Ngelale explained that Olukoyede’s appointment is for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.

The leadership of the country’s focal anti-graft agency has experienced shakeup in the last few months since the assumption of President on May 29, 2023.

On June 14, 2023, the President suspended Abdulrasheed Bawa indefinitely as the anti-graft agency boss. Bawa was suspended “to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office”. The action followed “weighty” allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.

The President subsequently directed the Director of Operations at the Commission, Abdulkarim Chukkol, to step in as acting EFCC chair while the Department of State Services (DSS) took Bawa into custody.

However, with Thursday’s appointment, Olukoyede becomes the new helmsman of the commission.

Presidential spokesman Ngelale said the decision of the President to appoint Olukoyede as new EFCC boss was derived from the powers vested in him as established in section 2 (3) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004.

“Mr. Ola Olukoyede is a lawyer with over twenty-two (22) years of experience as a regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence,” Ngelale said.

“He has extensive experience in the operations of the EFCC, having previously served as Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman (2016-2018) and Secretary to the Commission (2018-2023). As such, he fulfills the statutory requirement for appointment as Chairman of the EFCC.”

Bawa Resigns
The presidential spokesman said Olukoyede’s appointment followed the resignation of Bawa.

Also, the President approved the appointment of Muhammad Hammajoda to serve as the Secretary of the EFCC for a renewable term of five years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.

“Mr. Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda is a public administrator with extensive experience in public finance management who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Maiduguri and a Masters in Business Administration from the same university.

“He began his career as a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi. From there, he went into banking, including successful stints at the defunct Allied Bank and Standard Trust Bank.”

The President tasked the new leadership of the anti-graft commission to “justify the confidence given to them in this important national assignment as a newly invigorated war on corruption undertaken through a reformed institutional architecture in the anti-corruption sector remains a central pillar of the President’s Renewed Hope agenda”.

By Kayode Oyero

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