Seven months after Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was suspended from office over allegations of corruption, forty-year-old Abdulrasheed Bawa was nominated by President Mohammed Buhari to take over from Mohammed Umar, who has been acting in the capacity of the Chairman since July 2020. The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Nigerian Senate.
7 Things to Know
- Bawa is the Chief Investigator of the alleged multi-billion naira fraud case against former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
- Supervised the investigation of all cases in Port Harcourt Zonal office in which 215 convictions were secured in eleven months and hundreds of properties were forfeited to the Federal Government.
- If confirmed by the Nigerian Senate, he would be the youngest person to ever lead the Agency.
- Before his appointment, he headed the Lagos Zonal office of the EFCC.
- In the Petroleum Subsidy Fraud of 2012-2015, he identified Fraud of about N70 billion, recovered billions of Naira, and prosecuted several companies.
- He was trained by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United States Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FINCEN), the World Bank, the United Nations Office of Drug and Crimes, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Nigeria State Security Services.
- Joined the EFCC in 2004.