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Suspended EFCC chairman, AbdulRasheed Bawa
By Anthony Maliki, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has suspended the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. AbdulRasheed Bawa over weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.
This was contained in a statement from the Office of the Secretary of the Federation (SGF) signed by Willie Bassey, Director, Information late Wednesday.
Bawa was born on 30 April 1980 and served as EFCC chairman from 24 February 2021 replacing Umar Mohammed Abba, who acted in that capacity following the suspension of Ibrahim Magu.
Bawa was the Deputy Chief Superintendent of the anti-graft agency.
Bawa joined the EFCC as an Assistant Detective Superintendent (ADS) in 2004. He was in October 2015 appointed to head the commission’s investigations of Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources and her associates. He has been part of the prosecution of advance fee fraud, official corruption, bank fraud, money laundering and other related crimes.
The youngest chairman of EFCC till date, he was trained by the United StatesFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
However, in September 2020, Peoples Gazette in an exclusive report detailed how Bawa stole and sold dozens of petrol-bearing trucks confiscated from suspected looters, auctioning them off to his proxies at ridiculous prices while he was in charge of the Port Harcourt office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The report stated that Bawa was arrested and detained for several days by the then Acting Chairman of the commission Ibrahim Magu. Bawa was subsequently relieved of his position in Port Harcourt and transferred to the agency’s training school in Abuja.
When he was nominated for the position of the Chairman of EFCC after the removal of Magu, civil society organisations condemned the nomination, calling on the Senate to reject his nomination. At the Senate confirmation screening, Bawa denied the allegation of selling seized properties in Port Harcourt.
The full statement of the suspension:
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERATION
14th June, 2023
PRESS RELEASE
PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU SUSPENDS BAWA INDEFINITELY FROM OFFICE AS CHAIRMAN ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has approved the indefinite suspension from office of Mr. AbdulRasheed Bawa, CON, as the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office.
- This follows weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.
- Mr Bawa has been directed to immediately handover the affairs of his office to the Director, Operations in the Commission, who will oversee the affairs of the Office of the Chairman of the Commission pending the conclusion of the investigation.
Willie Bassey
Director, Information
