Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr Ola Olukayode as the new Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to Mr Ajuri Ngelale, the spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, Mr Olukayode, prior to the appointment, was the Secretary of the EFCC.
This appointment confirms the resignation of the suspended Chairman of the commission, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa.
His appointment is for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.
Mr Olukoyede is a lawyer with over 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 fulfils the statutory requirement for appointment as Chairman of the EFCC.
President Tinubu also appointed Mr Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda to serve as the Secretary of the anti-graft agency for a renewable term of five years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.
Mr 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.
Mr Olukayode was supposed to be the next senior officer to take over from Mr Ibrahim Magu, who was suspended by former President Muhammad Buhari due to the ongoing investigation into the conduct of the anti-graft agency boss.
Instead, the former president appointed Mr Bawa in 2021.
The Department of State Services (DSS) arrested Mr Bawa on June 14, hours after his suspension by President Bola Tinubu on June 13.
The Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Willie Bassey, in a statement announcing Mr Bawa’s suspension, cited “weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him” as the reason for the President’s decision.
Since his arrest, the DSS has kept mum on the specific offences for which Mr Bawa was arrested, the level of investigation and whether charges would be filed against him in court. He has now spent almost four months in the net of the secret police.
