Ola Olukoyede has been named Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by President Bola Tinubu.
Ajuri Ngelale, the presidential spokesman, stated this in a statement on Thursday.
Ngelale added that Olukoyede’s appointment is for a four-year renewable term in the first instance, subject to Senate confirmation.
Since the election of President on May 29, 2023, the leadership of the country’s primary anti-corruption agency has been shaken.
On June 14, 2023, the President removed Abdulrasheed Bawa as the head of the anti-graft agency for an indeterminate period of time. Bawa was suspended “to allow for a thorough investigation into his actions while in office.” The move was taken in response to “weighty” charges of abuse of office leveled against him.
The President then authorized the Commission’s Director of Operations, Abdulkarim Chukkol, to serve as acting EFCC chair while the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested Bawa.
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 charged the anti-graft commission’s new leadership with “justifying the trust placed in them in this important national assignment as a newly energized 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.”
