As the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission gets a substantive Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, STEPHEN ANGBULU examines his trajectory as Secretary and Chief of Staff, his suspension under Ibrahim Magu, and the early battles surrounding his chairmanship
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission got another helmsman on Thursday. A statement signed by President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, read that he “approved the appointment of Mr Olukoyede to serve as the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.”
Ngelale, as though pre-emptive of the fireworks that would follow, prefixed the announcement with “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…”
Shortly afterward, traditional and social media went agog with narratives for and against Olukoyede’s appointment. The reasons are not farfetched.
Though a younger brother to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (formed in the year 2000), the EFCC, which began operations in April 2003, is now the face of the anti-graft war in Africa’s largest economy.
The reasons behind its formation enforced this position. The administration of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo established the commission in response to finger-pointing from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering—known by its French name, Grouped’actionfinancière.
GAFI, an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 nations—comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America—ranked Nigeria as one of 23 non-cooperative countries stymieing in the combined efforts to fight money laundering globally.
For Obasanjo’s nascent administration, this was a putrid tag.
The first EFCC Establishment Act of 2002 had to be repealed due to inadequacies and re-enacted by the national assembly in 2004, a telltale sign of the hurry with which the Commission was established.
In the few months after it began operations under its pioneer chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the commission led an effective campaign, dismantling the empires of the renowned 419 kingpins previously perceived untouchable.
Despite being reappointed for another tenure in 2007, Ribadu was removed from office and eventually dismissed from the Nigeria Police Force by the Police Service Commission.
His three substantive successors—Mrs Farida Waziri, Ibrahim Lamorde and Abdulrasheed Bawa—have faced a similar fate since then, raising questions about whether the office is laced with a spell of bitter endings.
Some who served in an acting capacity, like Ibrahim Magu, were embattled until their abrupt removal from office.
For the fifth substantive Chairman, Olukoyede, the battle appears to have begun quite early. Nonetheless, he is no stranger to the commission and the woes of being part of its leadership.
As Chief of Staff to the former Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, Olukoyede’s job description involved managing high and low-level personnel to ensure high performance.
His responsibilities included coordinating and analysing reports from all the directorates in EFCC, supervising investigations involving all suspects, politically exposed persons and other high-profile cases, and analysing updates on the prosecution of all cases handled by the Commission.
As the Secretary to the Commission from 2018 to 2023, he headed its secretariat and was in charge of developing, implementing and coordinating compliance with Strategic Policy documents for operations, legal and administrative sections of the EFCC. However, his trajectory, according to reports, has not been smooth.
Olukoyede was suspended in the wake of Magu’s removal and investigation in July 2018. He was reportedly among 11 officials shown the door after days of appearing at the presidential investigation panel probing allegations against Magu, which involved corruption and insubordination, as levelled against him by then Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
Under such circumstances, he was expected to hand it over to another official. However, there are no records of that in the public space.
However, sources have come out to say that the suspension was not connected to any crime he committed but part of administrative protocol demanded by the panel, which said it wanted unfettered access to documents under the purview of the affected officers.
Also, it is unclear when he was recalled to office, as the Presidency’s statement says he served as Secretary of the commission uninterrupted from 2018 to 2023.
Nonetheless, Olukoyede’s current battle is not solely about his past but his qualification to serve as chairman of perhaps the most troubled office in the country.
In the Frequently Asked Questions section of its website, the commission answered the question, “Must the EFCC Chairman be a serving or retired Police Officer?” It said, “No. Section2 (a) (ii) of the EFCC Act 2004 clearly states that the Commission’s Chairman 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 its equivalent and (iii) possess not less than 15 years cognate experience.
In this answer lies the perceived faultline and legitimacy of the appointment. In the Court of Public Opinion, the narratives have been polarising.
Prominent amongst voices kicking against Olukoyede’s appointment is Lawyer and Spokesperson for the Atiku Campaign Organisation in the 2023 Presidential elections David Bwala.
Bwala argued that the who argued that the appointment “is unlawful and illegal…runs foul of the provisions of Section 2 of the EFCC ACT, which requires that the person to be appointed as EFCC Chairman must, amongst other things, have been a serving or retired member of any security or law enforcement agency, must have 15 years cognate experience of law enforcement, and must not be below the rank of assistant commissioner of police.”
Bwala argues that Olukoyode is a private legal practitioner and has never worked or belonged to any security or law enforcement agency as a member. e also does not have 15 years cognate experience as a law enforcement officer, the lawyer claimed, adding that “his private legal practice years cannot be equated to the rank in law enforcement. Not enough attending seminal courses as a private legal practitioner can equate to 15 years cognate experience contemplated by section 2 of the Act.”
According to Bwala, the new antigraft boss “only has a stint as chief of staff of Magu and later became a secretary of the commission, all of which lasted for less than 6 years.”
