FCT, Abuja – The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Olanipekun Olukoyede, has said that he turned down offers of not less than N500 million given to him by many Nigerians when his mother died in his home state of Ekiti.
Olukoyede: Why I rejected millions during my mother’s burial
Olukoyede revealed this on Thursday, February 27, at the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) 38th Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR) Conference in Abuja.
As reported by Daily Trust, Olukoyede, the fifth incumbent executive chairman of the EFCC, was secretary to the commission when he lost his mother and the family matriarch, Mrs Moroluke Marian Fakoyede, in 2019.
During the burial preparations, Olukoyede found 17 cows—including pregnant ones—delivered to his compound without prior notice.
His wife initially praised God upon seeing the large sum of money in cheques and drafts, but he insisted on returning them.
The EFCC boss said:
“I lost my mother in the year 2019 (in Ekiti State). We went for the funeral. I was secretary of the EFCC then. People came. A day before the funeral, I decided not to go on time. So I went to my place a day before the funeral service. By the time I got to my small compound, which I built several years ago before I joined the EFCC, I saw about 17 cows in my compound, including pregnant ones.”
“When I got home, my gate man presented a box to me. A carton. And inside this, I saw so many checks. And drafts. From ministers, permanent secretaries, from directors, DGs of agencies.
“And so, I went in and showed it to my wife. She said, praise God. I said, praise God for what? By the time we put all the checks together, it counted close to N500m,” Olukoyede said in his address at the event.
EFCC boss urges officials to maintain professionalism
Speaking further, Olukayode said he looked at the cheques and put them together, wrote a letter against each check and drafts and returned it to everywhere the checks came from.
He said though it can be considered a traditional gift, but wonder if it was expedient for him to take such gift as secretary of the EFCC (as at the time)?
The EFCC chairman said that had he accepted the funds, he could have faced scrutiny, especially as some of the donors were linked to agencies under investigation.
“I did the burial in September 2019. By July 2020, I was under investigation. Now, assuming all those cheques were paid into my account as traditional gifts, as people said. And some of the MDAs that we were investigating in the EFCC, some of their directors and their DGs and their ministers, sent checks to me.
“Ordinarily, I mean for burial, some 1 million, some 20 million and all of that. Even though that wouldn’t have influenced my decision if I was in a position to actually determine what would happen to their investigations, but wouldn’t it have been expedient for me> How would I have explained, before a panel. And they saw cheques paid into my account. The first thing they did when they saw the cheque was to check all my accounts.
“So, assuming they found those cheques paid into my account, wouldn’t it have been a good defence for me to say it was my mother’s burial? When they were actually looking for me to roast me. Looking for every opportunity. For me, that’s what you call integrity. When you go beyond a level of expectation.” the EFCC boss said.
Three men claiming to be EFCC chairman Olukoyede arrested
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the EFCC has arrested a four-man syndicate for impersonating its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, in a $1 million blackmail scheme.
The fraudsters targeted former Nigerian Ports Authority MD, Mohammed Bello-Koko, with false claims of an EFCC investigation.
