By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to screen and confirm the appointment of Mr Ola Olukoyede, and Mr Muhammad Hammajoda, as Chairman and Secretary respectively of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Tinubu’s request was contained in a letter read at plenary by Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau.
The President had last Thursday approved the appointment of Olukoyede to serve as the Executive Chairman of the EFCC and Hammajoda as Secretary of the Commission for a renewable term of four years in the first instance, pending Senate confirmation.
The appointment came nearly four months after the erstwhile anti-graft agency chief, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa was suspended.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, “Olukayode’s appointment followed the resignation of the suspended Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa.”
Tinubu also asked the Senate to approve the appointment of Mrs. Delu Bulus Yakubu as the pioneer National Coordinator / Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA).
The National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA) (Establishment) Act, 2023, was signed into law on May 22, 2023.
Yakubu is a recipient of a Master’s degree in agronomy from the State University of Bio-Technology in Kharkiv, Ukraine, with over 15 years’ worth of working experience in Social Investment Programme management.
However, a pro-democracy group, Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEHUR) on Tuesday protested to the National Assembly to register their disapproval of the appointment of Olukoyede.
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The group declared that his appointment, last Thursday, was done in gross violation of the extant laws, which is the EFCC Establishment Act 2004.
The National Secretary of CEDEHUR, Adebayo Lion Ogorry, read a copy of the letter which was submitted to the Senate leadership during the protest.
He said the exercise became necessary to draw their attention to the gross violation of the extant laws, which is the Establishment Act 2004 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by the President.
“The action of President Bola Tinubu in making the appointment of Mr Olukoyede into such a high office with enormous responsibility as the Chairman of the EFCC in flagrant breach of the provisions of the laws of the parliament is contrary to the
oath he took on May 29, 2023, to protect and defend the laws of the nation.
“It is important to note that the EFCC Extant laws remain sacrosanct and need to be strictly adhered to before going ahead to appoint a chairman for the Commission.
“President Tinubu as the number one citizen, whose office is the creation of the law, needs to comply with the EFCC Extant Laws and not be seen to set a wrong precedence for successive administrations in making his appointment, which can slip the country into a state of anarchy” he said.
The letter read in part, “According to the extant provision of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004: (1) The Commission shall consist of the following members-(a) A chairman, who shall (i) be the Chief Executive and Accounting officer of the Commission, (ii) be a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent, and (iii) Possess not less than 15 years cognate experience
“Mr Senate President, The provision above is very clear and unambiguous. The functions of the EFCC are not civil. Hence it is a paramilitary organization. That is the rationale behind the inclusion of the police ranking system and its equivalent in other law enforcement agencies as one of the prerequisites for attaining the position of Executive Chairman.
“Secondly, the person sought to be appointed must not only be a member of the law enforcement family, he must also have 15 years cognate experience. In other words, the person must have the knowledge, skills, and abilities in the professional law enforcement activity.
“This section simply means that not all members of the police force, other Forces, and indeed the EFCC can be the Executive Chairman of the EFCC. A pilot, medical personnel, Admin officer, etc who have 15 years of police or paramilitary service, are ordinarily devoid of the cognate experience of enforcing the laws of the EFCC.
“This much is gleaned from Section 8 (5) of the EFCC Act which states that: … all officers involved in the enforcement of the Act shall have the same powers, authorities, privileges (including the power to bear arms) as are given by law to members of the Nigerian Police.
“The words that are underlined simply mean that not all officers or members are involved in the enforcement of the EFCC Act. This is not strange as the EFCC started as a new agency lacking in manpower across the board.
“Therefore, there was a massive recruitment and secondment of personnel of staff from sister agencies to boost the personnel capacity of the EFCC.
“In other words, there were different entry points. However, the EFCC in its wisdom consciously differentiated all the staff. To further buttress this point, the EFCC simply identified the officers who are beneficiaries of Section 8 (5) of the EFCC Act and issued them with a warrant card.
“The officers who do not possess a warrant card are not regarded as equivalent to police officers as envisioned by the EFCC Establishment Act.
“To put it in context, there are various members of the law enforcement agencies and Military organisations that are civilians and cannot take on the headship. Examples of these abound in the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police Force.
“A person who serves in the EFCC as Chief of Staff (personal staff of the Chairman) or secretary has no law enforcement training as envisioned by the EFCC Act. Just like, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) may consider appointing a non-Police personnel in his office to carry out certain work.
“That does not make the civilian a member of the Police Force in the context of appointment to the headship. Also, a civilian Police pay officer who works with the Police does not become a member of the Police force in the context of appointment as (GP.
“Any appointment that is contrary to the provisions of the Extant EFCC Establishment Act is an assault on the National Assembly which is the ‘constitutional organ responsible for making laws.
“If the Executive is uncomfortable with a provision, the appropriate action will be to beckon on the National Assembly to amend or repeal such provisions.”
