The president also approved the appointment of Muhammad
Hammajoda as the Secretary of the EFCC on a renewable term of five years.
Both appointments are subject to Senate confirmation.
The appointments, announced in a statement by presidential
spokesperson on Thursday, confirms PREMIUM TIMES exclusive report days earlier
about Mr Tinubu’s plan to name Mr Olukoyede as the next EFCC chief in disregard
for the law.
Ajuri Ngelale, the presidential spokesperson who signed the
statement, said Mr Olukoyede’s appointment followed the resignation of the
immediate-past substantive chairman of the commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Mr Bawa has been in the custody of the State Security
Service (SSS) facing investigations over undisclosed corruption allegations
since his earlier suspension from office in June.
Mr Olukoyede, although a former secretary of the EFCC and
ex-chief of staff to the chairman of the commission, did not meet the
requirements of section 2(3) of the EFCC Act, to be qualified for the appointment.
The law stipulates that a chairman of the commission “must
be a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement
agency not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent;
possess not less than 15 years experience.”
Mr Olukoyede had no experience in any security or law
enforcement agency until his first appointment at the EFCC in 2016, when he was
appointed to serve as the Chief of Staff to then acting chairperson of the
EFCC, Ibrahim Magu. He held the position from 2016 to 2018.
He was subsequently appointed as the secretary of the
commission in 2018 and served in that capacity up till 2020, when he was
suspended from office by then President Muhammadu Buhari. He was suspended
alongside Mr Magu and some other officials of the commission. He and Mr Magu
were never recalled.
While Mr Magu was replaced with Mr Bawa in February 2021, Mr
Olukoyede was replaced with George Ekpungu, as the secretary of the commission
in June 2021.
But the presidency’s statement announcing the new EFCC
appointments on Thursday stated that Mr Olukoyede served as the secretary of
the commission up till 2023.
Read the presidency’s full statement below.
PRESIDENT TINUBU APPOINTS NEW EFCC CHAIRMAN AND SECRETARY OF
THE COMMISSION
By the powers vested in President Bola Tinubu as established
in section 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(Establishment) Act, 2004, that “the Chairman and members of the Commission,
other than ex-officio members, shall be appointed by the President,” President
Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr. Ola Olukoyede to serve as the
Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a
renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending Senate
confirmation.
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.
Mr. Olukoyede’s appointment follows the resignation of the
suspended Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Furthermore, President Bola Tinubu has approved the
appointment of Mr. Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda to serve as the Secretary of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (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.
President Bola Tinubu tasks the new leadership of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) 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.
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