By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the indefinite suspension of Mr AbdulRasheed Bawa as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to allow for a proper investigation into his conduct while in office.
In a statement on Wednesday, it was disclosed that the action followed “weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.”
Mr Bawa has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Director of Operations in the commission.
The Director will oversee the affairs of the Office of the Chairman of the agency pending the conclusion of the investigation.
In February, a Kogi State High Court in Lokoja ordered Mr Bawa to be imprisoned for disobeying its order.
The court also directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Alkali Baba, to arrest Mr Bawa and remand him in Kuje prison, Abuja, for the next 14 days.
The judge, Justice Rukayat Ayoola, ordered that Mr Bawa be detained in prison “until he purges himself of the contempt”, meaning until he clears himself of the contempt for which he was jailed.
The suspended chairman was not present in court during the sitting and was, however, not expected to spend time in jail, despite the court ruling, based on precedence.
Justice Ayoola issued the committal order based on an application filed by Ali Bello accusing Mr Bawa of disobeying a court ruling by going ahead to arraign him on December 15, 2022, against an earlier court order made on December 12, 2022.
