
He is the rave of the moment. A man of rounded cherubic features. A consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence. Olanipekun Olukoyede, the Executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is currently in battle with the thieves of the Nigeria’s commonwealth.
Speaking recently at a media parley, the irrepressible anti-graft czar made no pretence about his mission as the Chief helmsman of the anti-graft agency. He said, there is need to redirect our focus towards what we were set up to do in Nigeria which is to drive economic development.
He may not have paraded an exaggerated importance. One could see grassroot innocence about him; a populist instinct of corncern and purpose.
According to his colleagues, he had an approachable presence, the graceful affability of a devoted man. There is a stabilizing calmness about him, an unhurried articulation of the inner will.
Olaolukoyede could swing between avuncular cordiality to a stern temperament. Yet, he remains unruffled as he continued to fish and the monster-corruption.
Immediately after he was sworn-in as the new helmsman, he put his hand on the plough. From investigation of suspected criminals to arrest and prosecution of the looters of the Nigerian commonwealth.
Hence, there was a sobering relief in the departure of Mr. Mohammed Bawa his lack luster predecessor. He put paid to a rogue regime of Bawa that had nothing to cheer except memories of indifferent absenteeism while the looter reigned in the country.
Almost from the beginning, Mr. Ola Olukoyede had shown that he was coming to change the narratives of an agency that had become a shadow of her old self. In his unruffled calmness, in the un-weariness of his resolve, in the civility of his frown, no one could say he was coming to be a phenomenon.
Within the first six months of his management of the agency, Nigerians have seen the stuff he’s made of. He has suddenly become the nemesis of the roguery class.
He is a functional man, a leveler at heart and indeed. Without noise, with taciturn subtlety, he dared to be trudged by the full content of leadership.
Olukoyede was born on October 14, 1969 in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti state. He attended Lagos State University, University of Lagos, Institute of Arbitration ICC – Paris, France, and the University of Harvard (Kennedy School of Executive Education). He is a lawyer with over 22 years of experience as a regulatory compliance consultant and specialist in fraud management and corporate intelligence.
In 2008, he established Global Compliance GRC, a governance, risk and legal consulting outfit, where he served as an attorney for investigation and civil litigations of fraud and corruption in international aid projects.
The President also approved the appointment of Muhammad Hammajoda as Secretary of the EFCC on a renewable term of five years.
Olukayode takes over from Mr. Abdulkarim Chukkol who has served as the Acting Chairman of the EFCC. Before his appointment, he has previously served as Chief of Staff to the former Acting Executive Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu and Secretary to the Commission. Prior to Olanipekun’s involvement and appointment as the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, he worked as a lawyer at a law firm owned by former Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo. He served as the Chief of Staff to the Executive Chairman (2016–2018)[8] and Secretary to the Commission (2018–2023). He was nominated as Secretary to the EFCC in 2018 by the-then President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.