President Bola Tinubu has named Ola Olukoyede as the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Olukoyede, a former Secretary to the EFCC, was one of the officials suspended by former President Muhammadu Buhari in connection with the investigation of former EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, for corruption.
Prior to his suspension, Olukoyede had served as Magu’s Chief of Staff before assuming the role of Secretary to the Commission.
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This appointment comes roughly four months after President Tinubu suspended Abdulrasheed Bawa as the chairman of the commission on allegations of corruption. Hours after Bawa’s suspension, the Department of State Services (DSS) took him into custody, where he has remained for four months.
The allegations against Bawa involved mismanagement, misappropriation, conspiracy, and the diversion of proceeds from assets forfeited to the anti-graft agency.
Before Olukoyede’s appointment as Bawa’s successor, Tinubu had directed Abdulkarim Chukkol to serve as the acting Chairman of the commission.
Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu’s media adviser, announced in a statement that his principal approved Olukoyede’s appointment as EFCC chairman for an initial four-year term, pending Senate confirmation.
Ngelale further disclosed that President Tinubu approved the appointment of Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda as the new Secretary of the 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,” the presidential aide added.
President Tinubu tasked the new EFCC leadership with the responsibility of justifying the confidence placed in them in alignment with his administration’s Renewed Hope agenda, which aims to combat corruption through a reformed institutional framework in the anti-corruption sector.