Nigeria’s 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.
Thelagostimes recalls that on June 14, 2023, the President suspended Abdulrasheed Bawa indefinitely as the EFCC boss. Bawa was suspended “to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office”. It was gathered that 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.
With Thursday’s appointment, Olukoyede becomes the new boss of the commission.
Presidential spokesman Ngelale noted that 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.
“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,” Ngelale said.