PEOPLES GAZETTE
On Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu removed Abulrasheed Bawa as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The president, who assumed office on May 29 with the highest corruption perception index of any Nigerian leader, said he suspended Mr Bawa to allow a detailed investigation into multiple petitions assailing the anti-graft chief’s conduct in office.
Mr Bawa was subsequently held by the State Security Service (SSS), where he lingered under interrogation without access to a legal representative as of this publication.
While Mr Tinubu’s supporters have praised his action as indicative of his resolve to promptly address complaints against public servants in his administration — in contrast with Muhammadu Buhari’s manifest laziness in handling similar transgressions — anti-corruption activists are sceptical about the timing and circumstances preceding his wrath towards Mr Bawa, who is among the first cadet of the EFCC in 2003 and became the youngest officer to lead the agency following his confirmation to the position by the Nigerian Senate in 2021.
For one, Mr Tinubu’s action was seen as action as retaliation because Mr Bawa, 42, had launched an investigation into Mr Tinubu’s alleged fraud and racketeering while he was in charge of the EFCC’s Lagos zonal office in 2020.
“We all saw that Bawa was investigating Tinubu just before he became the EFCC chairman and moved to the headquarters in Abuja,” anti-corruption analyst Sola Olubanjo said. “The president being so prompt in removing a man that investigated him strikes me as too convenient.”
Mr Tinubu’s action also appeared more aimed at giving a respite to his political allies in Mr Bawa’s crosshairs, some of whom initiated the purported petitions used to oust Mr Bawa, Mr Olubanjo said.
“We should see this second part for what it is: a clear obstruction of active investigations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former governors like Bello Matawalle and Kayode Fayemi,” Mr Olubanjo said. “The president has immunity from criminal prosecution, so he is only helping his allies in the ruling party who don’t have such protections.”
