President Tinubu appoints Olukoyede as Chairman of EFCC

* First Southerner to occupy the position

By Jon Egie

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr Ola Olukoyede to serve as the Executive Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending senate confirmation.

The appointment is in line with the powers vested in the President as established in Section 2(3) of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004.

Mr Ola 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 fulfills the statutory requirements for appointment as Chairman of the EFCC.

His appointment follows the resignation of suspended Executive Chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa.

President Tinubu also approved the appointment of Mr Muhammad Hassan Hamijoda to serve as Secretary of EFCC for a renewable term of five years in the first instance, pending senate confirmation.

The appointments were contained in a release issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale.

The release quoted the president as tasking the new leadership of the EFCC to justify the confidence given to them in that important national assignment as a newly invigorated war on corruption undertaken through a reformed institutional architecture in the anti-corruption sector remains a central pillar of the president’s Renewed Hope agenda.