The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Olanipekun Olukoyede, disclosed that he turned down offers of about N500m from various individuals during his mother’s funeral in 2019.
Olukoyede spoke at the 38th Anti-Corruption Situation Room in Abuja on Thursday with the theme: Ethics, Integrity, Corruption Risk Assessments and Anti-Corruption at National and Sub-National levels: Sustaining the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
The programme was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resource Centre, Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission, ICPC, and EFCC with the support of the MacArthur Foundation.
He explained that the substantial gifts, which included cheques and drafts, were sent to him by ministers, permanent secretaries, directors, and other high-ranking officials.
At the time, Olukoyede was serving as the Secretary of the EFCC.
He recounted that upon his return to his family home in Ekiti State, where the funeral took place, he discovered numerous cheques in a carton.
After reviewing the cheques, which amounted to nearly N500m, he decided to return them.
The chairman narrated, “I lost my mother in the year 2019 (in Ekiti State). We went to the funeral. I was the secretary of the EFCC then. People came. 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 (carton) to me and inside it, I saw so many cheques and drafts from ministers, permanent secretaries, directors, DGs of agencies, etc.
“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 cheques together, it counted close to N500m.”
Reflecting on the situation, Olukoyede expressed concern about the potential consequences if he had deposited the cheques into his account, particularly given his role in investigating the individuals who had sent them.
He explained that had the cheques been found in his bank account, it could have been used against him during investigations and cast doubt on his integrity.
He emphasised the importance of maintaining ethical conduct and transparency, especially in his position at the EFCC.
“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 and some of the MDAs that we were investigating in the EFCC, some of their directors and their DGs and their ministers sent cheques to me.
“Ordinarily, I mean for burial, some gave me one million, 20 million and all of that. Even though that would not have influenced my decision if I was in a position to determine what would happen to their investigations, how would I have explained before a panel that they saw cheques paid into my account?
“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 looking for me to roast. For me, that is what you call integrity. When you go beyond a level of expectation,” the EFCC boss said.
