Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Olanipekun Olukoyede, has said that he turned down offers of not less than N500m given to him by many Nigerians when his mother died in his home state of Ekiti.

He said this on Thursday at the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) 38th Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR) Conference in Abuja.

The event was themed, ?Ethics, Integrity, Corruption Risk Assessments, and Anti-Corruption at National and Sub-National Levels in Nigeria: Sustaining the Fight Against Corruption?.

Daily Trust reports that 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.

?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.

He also said he looked at the cheques and putting 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)?

?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.

He also recalled rejecting the separate biddings by his brother-in-law and his blood elder brother for an auctioneering process, when as the EFCC Secretary, he was statutorily in charge of management of forfeited assets.

He said, ?My chairman then, we agreed that we should select a committee. So, we selected assets forfeiture committee comprising of about six directors, including myself as the chairman of the committee and a few other staff.

?We advertised for auctioneers. So, they applied. We were able to shortlist about 11 of them. My brother-in-law happens to be an international auctioneer. He applied. His application came to me. I saw it and I shredded it. So, somebody my PA who knew him, called him and told him what I did, and for six months he didn?t talk to me. So we did the auction.

?One of my elder brothers called me. ?I heard you are doing auction. I needed a draw for my business?. I said, ?Sir, go and read what we published.? Conflict of interest. No staff of EFCC or immediate members of the family is allowed. He said, no, they will use another name. Of course, they would have helped him. I knew they could do that.

?After about eight months down the line, they set up a panel to investigate activities of the EFCC. I and my chairman then were placed on suspension. Now they began to investigate what we did in the office. They investigated the particular auction I did in Port Harcourt. Now, assuming they found the name of my brother in law as one of the auctioneers. What could have been the result? Probably I may be in jail by now,? Olukoyede said.

Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, the Chairman of HEDA Resource Centre, said the event was to engage stakeholders in responding to the country?s recent corruption perception rating, addressing the pervasive issues of corruption and impunity, and fostering a culture of ethical respect, integrity, and accountability at all levels of governance. (Daily Trust)

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