Hairs standing on end, chilling fear among many, especially police officers within the anti-graft agency, the announcement of a 40 years old as the new helmsman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is the subject of discussion among many in the agency and outside it.
He is yet to resume, but the sparks have started flying. One angry director in a federal ministry pinged after his appointment became public: “So after 15 years of recruitment as a cadet, he’s now qualified for the position of Chairman of EFCC. In the civil service, he’ll be a level 13, highest 14, officer. He definitely cannot be the most senior, or most qualified person for the job.”
There are other fears, chief among which is that the anti-corruption war is about to get a new rev of engine that could claim many than Magu did.
A past petition written against him has re-surfaced. But a cursory examination of the petition shows he may have been obeying orders from above, the reason for which he may have been sheltered before a more lucrative appointment to Lagos, where he was said to have carved a niche for himself.
A top source in the know of the petition and its resolution said there was no way Bawa acted alone. “That is why he was withdrawn from Port Harcourt, taken to the training school in Karu, and promoted to the Lagos office. He was obeying superior orders when he allegedly did what he was accused of,” the source said.
The word around the headquarters is that heads are bound to roll, since as a not-too-senior staff, an “enabling environment” has to be created for him to operate.
Others are murmuring that he may have been used to nail his predecessor, because some of the materials used in a memo against Magu by the Attorney-General of the Federtion and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, were known only to both men. A source close to the panel that investigated Magu denied that Bawa was involved in nailing the Police Commissioner.
“When the issues arose over some matters, he was questioned in the presence of Magu, and when Magu was asked to respond he did not discountenance anything he said. The records are there.”
Incidentally, it is believed that the recommendation of the Justice Ayo Salami Committee that swayed in favour of the appointment of Bawa. The panel recommended for a cadet that has grown through the ranks of the commission should be considered.
There are those who think the emergence of Bawa from the home state of the supervising Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) is more than a coincidence. Supporters of Bawa did not have a response to the implied accusation of nepotism.
But a top government official, who is fascinated by President Muhammadu Buhari appointee because, according to him, his predecessor, who curiously was the poster boy of the administration’s anti-corruption fight, left the EFCC in a mess. “That man who left that place didn’t do well at all,” he said.
When told about the allegation that the appointee betrayed his former boss to the panel, the reason he was given the job as compensation. “No, no, no, that is not true, that is not true. One issue cropped up, we needed to speak with the other investigators since Magu couldn’t come up with any explanations. He mentioned their names so we had to invite them. Before him, the young man told us what happened. We asked him if what we were told was true, he said yes. So, where is the betrayal coming from. It was not the Port Harcourt matter because we had all the information on that, it was another matter entirely.
“He has been with Magu since 2015. He is so knowledgeable that he makes presentations on behalf of Nigeria abroad. Magu began to see him as ambitious, sort of, or may be his marabouts told him he was going to take over…in fact, he even said it. Magu said the young man is working to take over from him and he was going to deal with him. He moved him from one zone to the other within few months until he brought him to the training school in Abuja here. The man saw the potentials in him. He had worked as Secretary of a panel chaired by the Vice President In the past and they became very close.”
One source debunked the story of the marabout. To him, “it was just a case of adding two and two together.” “You are having issues with your boss who has an insider related to him in your organisation. Then your boss makes accusations on matters he knows his insider is privy to; do you need a marabout to tell you anything when you know the insider is brilliant, ambitious, and is close to your boss,” he said.
On how Bawa will navigate the anti-corruption war that now suffers integrity issues, the unapologetic Buhari supporter went on, “The issue is not between him and the man that left, the issue is between him and the Nigeria Police. The Police authorities are not happy at all. Before now, policemen lobby to go for peace keeping, but now the lobby is a posting to EFCC. They cannot be comfortable with this development because it will expose a lot of inadequacies. He has a lot of issues to contend with. He has a lot of seniors – seniors by enlistment, not as regular cadets. They were enlisted shortly after Ribadu came in, and they were not trained. They were now trained alongside this guy, but by enlistment they are already his seniors. They are waiting for him. You know how power is: if he knows how to use it, he can cage them; if he doesn’t know how to use it, they can mess him up
On whether his seniors will be asked to leave, the source said: “Because it is a new agency, that should not happen. When you do that to such an agency, you will kill it. He can decide to keep them in the training school the way he was kept in the training school. They will not be involved in any operation for them to sabotage him. In his own case, they can only mess him up by messing up his investigations. He has to be careful. I hope he gets good guidance because he has worked with Ribadu, Lamorde, I hope they can help him, if they do not bring him Police sentiments.
A legal practitioner, Mr. Olaniyi Adekanla, Esq, it would be recalled,.called for the removal of Bawa as Lagos Zonal Head of EFCC.
At a press conference in Lagos, Adekanla, said Bawa allegedly confiscated dozens of petrol tankers and sold to his proxies.
“Last year, under the watch of Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa in the Port-Harcourt Zonal office of EFCC, dozens of petrol tankers were confiscated from suspected looters and same were auctioned to Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa proxies at ridiculous prices.
“This irked some junior colleagues who wrote anonymous petitions and sequel to which Mr. Bawa was arrested and detained for several days in Port-Harcourt before Magu, former head of the institution who consequently ordered his transfer to the agency’s training school in Abuja.
“Mr. Bawa was accused of selling at least 244 trucks worth between N20 to N30 Million each at N100,000 or slightly more per unit to his proxies! A proxy was said to have sold one of the tankers to a businessman in Ibadan for N14.8Million. This obscene deal was said to have denied Nigeria Government about N4.88 Billion Naira, an amount which is enough to take care of the yearly overhead of the organization, conservatively put at N4.5Million per annum.
“It may interest you to know that while forfeiture proceedings are ongoing no sale of any goods that forms subject matter of the criminal allegation can be made. In contradistinction to this avowed position Mr. Bawa put those trucks that were subject matter of criminal litigation at Federal High Court for sale.
“It is therefore against this backdrop that the extant development in the Lagos Zonal office of EFCC, to wit its headship by one Abdulrasheed Bawa is considered inappropriate and a deviance to the gravity of sanitization of corruption which led to the establishment of this organisation, hence an erosion and bastadisation of its moral and functional values. For the umpteenth time, Lagos Zone of this institution is too important to be headed by any person carrying stigma of infamy either by allegation or otherwise!.”
The lawyer frowned at the fact that with the damning allegations, Bawa was rewarded with the headship of EFCC Lagos Zonal Division.
As the issues continue to find supporters on both sides, the resume of the new EFCC helmsman got leaked into the public domain. It is reproduced below:
Name = Abdulrasheed Bawa
Age = 40
Origin = Kebbi State
Bawa Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics,
Masters Degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy
TRAINING
Certified Fraud Exerminer (CFE)
Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)
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
United Kingdom’s Global Training Consulting.
NOTABLE CASES:
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.