The ongoing war against corruption moves a notch higher this Monday as President Muhammadu Buhari swears in the new chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye.
Owasanoye, a professor of law and indigene of Ondo town in Ondo State, replaces Barrister Ekpo Nta, whose five-year tenure expired in September, 2017.
With his swearing in on Monday, Owasonye becomes the fourth substantive chairman of the ICPC. His predecessors are: Justice Mustapha Akanbi, the pioneer chairman; Justice Emmanuel Ayoola and Barrister Ekpo Nta.
The Crest recalls that Senate confirmed Owasanoye on Thursday, December 20, 2018, even as it urged the executive to correct an alleged imbalance in the composition of the 12-member ICPC Board. Eight members of the ICPC board were also confirmed.
They included Grace Chinda from Delta, Okolo Titus (Enugu), Obiora Igwedebia (Anambra) and Olubukola Balgun (Lagos). Others are Justice Adamu Bello (Katsina), Hannatu Muhammed (Jigawa), Abdullahi Saidu (Niger) and Yahaya Dauda (Nasarawa).
While deliberating on the report of the screening of the membership of the ICPC Board by the Chairman of the Committee on Anti-corruption and Financial Crimes, Sen. Chukwuma Utazi, the Majority Leader, Sen. Ahmed Lawan, had drawn the attention of the Upper Chamber to alleged lopsidedness in the extant composition of the board.
Lawan had observed that the North East had no representation when it ought to have two members, while the South South had only one member as against two.
Similar imbalance was also noted in the composition of the board of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The six-member EFCC board had two nominees each from the North East and South West while the South East and South South had no representation, it was observed during the confirmation deliberation.
Senator Lawan, however, calmed frayed nerves when he assured the senate that the executive would soon correct the anomaly.
“The executive arm of government has promised us that they will send the two nominees for the North East, and the remaining one from the South South to complete the full nomination,” Lawan had said.
“It is important that we approve the nine nominees here before us so that the ICPC would have a balanced governing board to make it more effective and efficient.”
