YET to be confirmed reports indicate that erstwhile Secretary of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for two years under former acting chairman Ibrahim Magu,
Olanipekun Olukoyede may emerge as the new chairman of the commission.
Olukoyede, a lawyer, was suspended from office along with Magu in 2020 and has not been recalled.
Before his role as secretary, Olukoyede was Magu’s Chief of Staff.
His appointment, which requires Senate confirmation, according to informed sources, is expected to be announced “very soon“.
Meanwhile, Olukoyede’s alleged nomination is said to have generated some controversy owing to the fact that he has no experience in law enforcement or investigation. He is also seen as being too close to Magu, an equally controversial figure.
Another stumbling block is the statutory requirements for the appointment of a EFCC boss which Mr Olukoyede may not meet.
Section 2(3) of the EFCC Act, 2005, 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.”
However, Olukoyede’s supporters say he is a qualified lawyer with experience in compliance management, corporate intelligence, and fraud management, Premium Times reports. He is also said to be a certified fraud examiner.
If his name is eventually submitted to the Senate for confirmation and it is confirmed, Olukoyede will be the first Nigerian from the South to lead the EFCC.
The move to have a new chairman for the anti-graft agency is coming barely four months after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended Abdulrasheed Bawa from office.
Abdulkarim Chukkol, then Director of Operations, was appointed in an acting capacity.
Mr Bawa’s suspension, anchored on “weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him” followed a conventional pattern of unceremonious removal of past EFCC bosses.
Mr Bawa has been in detention at the State Security Service (SSS) after he honoured the agency’s invitation for interrogation regarding the corruption allegation.
There are speculations that Mr Bawa has agreed to officially resign from office.
Eighteen-Eleven Media reports that on 28 November 2018, the Senate confirmed Olukoyede as the Secretary to the EFCC in accordance with Section 2(3) of the EFCC Establishment Act 2004.
This followed his nomination by then President Muhammadu Buhari on 10 September 2018 to replace Emmanuel Aremo, whose five-year tenure expired in July 2018.
A seasoned and erudite lawyer with several years of experience at the Bar, Olukoyede is a regulatory compliance consultant, who specialises in compliance management, corporate intelligence and fraud management. He is a certified fraud examiner who has led and managed investigations and civil litigation of fraud and financial crimes in International development projects.
He is a widely travelled scholar who has attended a number of training programmes within and outside of Nigeria, focusing on fraud and corruption investigations. He also specialises in Anti-Corruption Research and Analysis, Corporate and Business Intelligence Gathering and Process.
He had his university education at Lagos State University; University of Lagos; Institute of Arbitration ICC – Paris, France and the University of Harvard (Kennedy School of Executive Education).
Mr Olukoyede is a member of the Fraud Advisory Panel (UK) and also a member, Federal Government Technical Committee on the Repositioning of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
He was born in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, on 14 October 1969.
Eighteen-Eleven Media