EFCC Chairman, Bawa, was arrested Shortly after his Suspension By President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday.
The suspended chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has been questioned by the Department of State Services (DSS).Dr. Peter Afunanya, the Service’s spokesperson, verified this yesterday night, saying Bawa honored the DSS invitation after he was suspended from office.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Nigerian Boat Capsizes, Over 100 Passengers Feared Dead
Bawa arrived a few hours ago,” he says. The invitation is related to various investigations involving him.
The DSS, on the other hand, did not say if he had been freed on bond or was still being kept at their facilities.
Bawa’s suspension comes just one week after President Bola Tinubu dismissed the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
President Tinubu has suspended Bawa from office indefinitely.as stated by The removal of the commission’s chairman, according to the office of the secretary to the government of the federation (OSGF), is to allow for a proper inquiry of his actions while in office.
This came after serious allegations of abuse of office were lodged against Bawa, according to the statement.
The president asked Bawa to immediately hand over his office’s affairs to the commission’s director of Operations, who would manage the affairs of the Office of the Chairman of the Commission until the investigation is completed.
The suspended EFCC chief was the commission’s first employee to be named chairman. At the age of 40, he was appointed as Deputy Chief Detective Superintendent in charge of the Lagos zone office in 2021.
Bawa, the EFCC’s zonal ffice, was confirmed as the commission’s chairman in February 2021. He joined the organization in 2004 and was chosen in October 2015 to lead the commission’s investigations into Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Petroleum Resources Minister, and her allies.
He is the commission’s youngest chairman, as past substantive chairpersons, notably Ibrahim Magu, who chaired the agency in an interim capacity for nearly five years, were well over 40 years old when they assumed the highly coveted position.
Nuhu Ribadu, the first chairman of the EFCC, took office at the age of 43 in 2003 and left in 2007. Farida Waziri, his successor, took office in May 2008 at the age of 59 and left on November 23, 2008.
Aside from his record age, Bawa was the first substantive chairman without a background in the Nigerian Police Force, a trait that appears to be consistent with one of the Ayo Salami panel’s reported recommendations.
Bawa, who is from Jega in Kebbi State, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics (Second Class Upper) from Usmanu Danfodio University in Sokoto in 2001.
Bawa, who joined the EFCC in 2004 as an Assistant Detective Superintendent (ADS), also has a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy from the same university.
He was a member of the first EFCC Cadet Officers training in 2005. He worked his way up the ranks to become a Deputy Chief Detective Superintendent (DCDS).
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: SHOCKING: CBN Permits Banks To Sell Dollar At Any Rate
He has worked as a detective with the EFCC for nearly 17 years and has extensive investigation and prosecution expertise in the areas of advance fee fraud, official corruption, bank fraud, money laundering, and other economic and financial crimes.
In August 2020, Bawa was assigned to head the commission’s operations zonal office in Lagos, where he would serve until his appointment as chairman of the commission.
