The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said it dismissed 27 officers from its workforce in 2024, for various offences bordering on fraudulent activities and misconduct.
The anti-graft agency’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, said in a statement on Monday, that the dismissals were in a quest to enforce integrity and rid its fold of fraudulent elements, and followed the recommendation of the Commission’s Staff Disciplinary Committee, having been ratified by the Executive Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede.
The Commission reiterated its commitment to zero tolerance for corruption, warning that no officer is immune to disciplinary measures.
“Every modicum of allegation against any staff of the Commission would always be investigated, including a trending $400,000 claim of a yet-to-be-identified supposed staff of the EFCC against a Sectional Head. The core values of the Commission are sacrosanct and would always be held in optimal regard at all times”, it stated.
The Commission also alerted the public of the sinister activities of impersonators and blackmailers using the name of its Executive Chairman to extort money from high-profile suspects being investigated by the EFCC.
It noted specifically, two members of an alleged syndicate, Ojobo Joshua and Aliyu Hashim, were recently arraigned before Justice Jude Onwuebuzie of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Abuja for allegedly contacting a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mr. Mohammed Bello-Kaka and demanding $1m from him for “Olukoyede to give him soft landing” on a non-existing investigation.
“Such characters are still on the loose seeking victims”, the Commission said.
The EFCC emphasized that, “Olukoyede remains a man of integrity that cannot be swayed by monetary influences. The public is enjoined to always report such disreputable elements to the Commission”.
Additionally, the EFCC said it is aware of moves being hatched in some quarters to blackmail officers of the Commission through unwholesome means.
“Suspects being investigated for some economic and financial crimes who have failed to compromise their investigators would always clutch at any straw. Such blackmailers should not be accorded any form of attention”, the statement said.
