President Bola Tinubu has authorized the nomination of Ola Olukoyede as Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the first instance, subject to Senate confirmation.
According to a statement issued by presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale on Thursday, President Tinubu's powers are established in section 2 (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004, which states that "the Chairman and members of the Commission, other than ex-officio members, shall be appointed by the President."
According to Ngelale, Olukoyede is a lawyer with over 22 years of expertise as a regulatory compliance consultant and fraud management and corporate intelligence specialist.
“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 requirement for appointment as Chairman of the EFCC.
“Olukoyede’s appointment follows the resignation of the suspended Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa,” he said .
Furthermore, the presidential spokesman said President Tinubu has approved the appointment of Muhammad Hassan Hammajoda to serve as Secretary of the anti-graft Commission for a renewable term of five years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.
“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.
“President Bola Tinubu tasks the new leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to justify the confidence given to them in this 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,” he said.