He will be taking over from Mohammed Umar, who has been in acting capacity since July 2020, after the suspension of Ibrahim Magu over allegations of corruption.
On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari asked the Senate to confirm Abdulrasheed Bawa as the substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The appointment comes seven months after Ibrahim Magu was suspended as the acting Chairman of the EFCC by the Buhari administration amidst allegations of gross misconduct.
Magu’s travails followed a memo by Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), who accused him of grave malfeasance. He was arrested and whisked before the panel sitting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Senate to confirm Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa as substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“In a letter to President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, the President said he was acting in accordance with Paragraph 2(3) of Part1, CAP E1 of EFCC Act 2004,” a statement by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman read.
Bawa, who is 40 years old, is one of the pioneer EFCC cadet officers from 2005. He is a currently the Lagos zonal head of the anti-graft agency.
He will be taking over from Mohammed Umar, who has been in acting capacity since July 2020, after the suspension of Ibrahim Magu over allegations of corruption.
Bawa holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics, and a master’s degree in international affairs and diplomacy.
He is the chief investigator in the alleged multi-billion naira fraud case against former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
“I am a trained Economic and Financial Crimes investigator with vast experience in the investigation and being part of prosecution of Advance Fee Fraud, Official Corruption, Bank Fraud, Money Laundering and other Economic and Financial Crimes related offences. I am Certified Fraud Exerminer (CFE), Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and was also 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, the Nigeria State Security Services. The EFCC Academy and United Kingdom’s Global Training Consulting.
“Furthermore, I was part of the pioneer EFCC Cadet Officers; course one, 2005. I have successfully investigated and testified in prosecution of several cases leading to convictions and recovery of billions of naira and millions of US dollars in cash and properties across the world. I am presently Deputy Chief Detective Superindent-DCDS (since 2016),” the Kebbi State-born officer said.
The new EFCC boss likes watching football, tennis, reading, current affairs and international politics.
Below are some of the notable cases handled by Bawa as stated on his CV:
A) Supervising the biggest operations zonal office of the EFCC in Lagos having 604 officers and men and securing 227 convictions despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
B) Supervising the investigation of all cases in Port Harcourt Zonal office in which an unprecedent 215 convictions were secured in eleven months and securing Final Forfeiture of hundreds of properties to the Federal Government.
C) Supervising the investigation of all cases in the Ibadan Zonal office in which 113 were concluded and 54 are charged to court within 6 Month.
D) Diezani Alison-Madueke-2015-Date: Recovered Millions of Dollars worth of properties in Nigeria, UK., USA, and UAE including 92 properties in Nigeria.
E) Atlantic Energy Group-2014-2015: Recovered Millions of Dollars worth of properties in Nigeria, UK, USA, Switzerland, UAE and Canada.
F) Crude Oil Swaps and OPA-2014-2015: Recovered Billions of Naira.
G) Petroluem Subsidy Fraud-2012-2015: Idenfied Fraud of about N70Billion, Recovered Billions of Naira and Prosecuted several companies.
H) Former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu
I) “Operation Cyber Storm One”, across Nigeria in which over 60 Suspected Advance Fee Fraudsters and Cyber Crime Perpetrators are on prosecution- 2008
J) Participated in several other Periodic Raid on Notorious (419) Cyber-cafés.