EFCC chairman rejected N500m gifts during mother’s burial

At his mother's 2019 funeral, Olanipekun Olukoyede, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said that he declined offers of roughly N500 million from a number of people.

With the theme "Ethics, Integrity, Corruption Risk Assessments, and Anti-Corruption at National and Sub-National levels: Sustaining the fight against corruption in Nigeria," Olukoyede addressed Thursday at the 38th Anti-Corruption Situation Room in Abuja.

In collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resource Center, Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission, ICPC, and EFCC organized the program.

He clarified that ministers, permanent secretaries, directors, and other high-ranking officials sent him the hefty gifts, which included checks and drafts.
Olukoyede was the Secretary of the EFCC at the time.

He said that when he returned to his family's house in Ekiti State, where the funeral was held, he found a carton full with checks.

He chose to return the checks after examining them, which totaled about N500 million.

"I lost my mother in the year 2019 (in Ekiti State)," the chairman explained. We attended the funeral. At the time, I served as the EFCC secretary. People showed up. Thus, a day prior to the burial service, I visited my home. When I arrived at my tiny compound, which I had constructed a few years prior to joining the EFCC, I noticed that there were roughly 17 cows there, including some that were pregnant.

When I arrived home, my gatekeeper showed me a carton, which contained numerous checks and drafts from ministers, permanent secretaries, directors, agency DGs, and others.

So I walked inside and showed my wife. "Thank God," she murmured. "Thank God for what?" I asked. When we added together all the checks, the total came to around N500 million.

After considering the circumstances, Olukoyede voiced his worries about what would have happened if he had deposited the checks into his account, especially considering his responsibility to look into who sent them.
He clarified that the checks might have been used against him during investigations and raised questions about his integrity if they had been discovered in his bank account.

He emphasized how crucial it is to uphold moral behavior and openness, particularly in his role at the EFCC.

In September 2019, I performed the funeral. I was the subject of an investigation by July 2020. Assuming that all of those checks were paid into my account as customary gifts, I also received checks from some of the MDAs whose directors, DGs, and ministers we were looking into at the EFCC.

Ordinarily, some people donated me one million, twenty million, and so on for my funeral. How would I have explained to a panel that they saw checks placed into my account, even though that would not have affected my choice if I had the authority to decide how their investigations would proceed?
Would not it have been a solid defense for me to claim it was my mother's funeral if they had discovered those checks placed into my account? as they were trying to cook me. That is what you call integrity, in my opinion. "When you surpass a certain threshold," the head of the EFCC stated.

During his time as EFCC Secretary, Olukoyede also gave an example of turning down family members' offers for auctioneering services.

He described how his older brother and his brother-in-law, who works as an international auctioneer, wanted to bid on a government auction of assets that had been forfeited. Their petitions were denied by Olukoyede, who insisted on following conflict-of-interest regulations despite the personal ties.

"Then, my chairman and I decided that we ought to form a committee," he stated. As a result, we chose an assets forfeiture committee that consists of roughly six directors, myself as the chairman, and a few other employees.
"We posted ads for auctioneers. They therefore submitted an application. We managed to shortlist roughly eleven of them. My brother-in-law is an international auctioneer by profession. He put in an application. I received his application. I tore it up as soon as I saw it. He did not speak to me for six months after my PA, who knew him, called him and informed him what I had done. Thus, we held the auction.

I received a call from one of my older brothers. You are holding an auction, I have heard. I had to get a truck for my company. "Go read what we published, sir," I said. a conflict of interest. Neither EFCC employees nor members of their close family are permitted. "No, they will use a different name," he stated. They could do that, I knew. I expressed my lack of interest to him.

Eight months or so later, they established a panel to look into the EFCC's operations. I was suspended along with my chairman. They started looking into our office activities. They looked into the specific auction I conducted in Port Harcourt. Assuming they discovered my brother-in-law's name among the auctioneers. What may the outcome have been? By now, I am probably in jail," Olukoyede remarked.