Not less than 12 directors and top staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) including the Secretary, have been suspended with immediate effect in what appears to be a clean sweep.
The notice of suspension was communicated to the Acting Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Mohammed Umar, on Tuesday night by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The action was said to be in connection with the ongoing investigation of the suspended Acting Chairman of the agency, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
But there is anxiety in the commission on the suspension with some of those affected claiming that they were not directly involved in Magu’s administration
The Crest can confirm that the Executive Secretary, Olanipekun Olukoyede is among the officials suspended.
A dependable source said:“All the top officials in the agency have been suspended, their offices locked, to prevent any tampering with files at the commission.”
Last week, Magu was suspended and the agency’s Director of Operations, Mohammed Umar Abba, was appointed to oversee its operations. Abba is not part of the officials suspended.
It will be recalled that Olukoyede was appointed Secretary in November 2018 following his confirmation by the Senate. Olukoyede, a former chief of staff to Magu, replaced Mr Emmanuel Aremo, whose five-year tenure expired in July 2018.
Magu is facing the second week of grilling by the Justice Ayo Salami-led Presidential Panel over some weighty allegations of improprieties, money laundering, insubordination and misconduct. Others are re-looting funds recovered by the commission and accepting bribes to pervert justice. Magu has also been accused of allegedly failing to give proper account of missing 332 out of the 836 recovered real estate property as of March, 2018. He is also accused of mismanagement of recovered assets by the EFCC and helping the panel to resolve wide discrepancies in figures of recovered monies published by the agency.