Nigeria’s president suspended the head of the nation’s anti-corruption agency to allow for an investigation into his conduct while in office, the presidency said, according to Bloomberg.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa has been ordered to immediately hand over control of the agency to the director of operations, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation said in a brief statement on Wednesday.
“This follows weighty allegations of abuse of office” leveled against Bawa, President Bola Tinubu’s office said, without providing further information.
Bawa’s removal is the latest in a series of sweeping changes Tinubu has implemented since being inaugurated as president of Africa’s biggest economy on May 29.
Last week, the president suspended the governor of the central bank and initiated changes to the nation’s multiple-currency system. On Monday, he signed legislation that’s expected to set off the biggest shakeup of the West African nation’s chronically inadequate power industry since a round of privatization a decade ago.
Investors have warmed to the signs that Tinubu is resetting policies that were hobbling economic growth, with the nation’s dollar bonds and stocks rallying this week.
Nigeria ranks among the world’s most graft-ridden countries, according to a Corruption Perceptions Index published by advocacy group Transparency International. While Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, pledged to tackle graft during his two terms in office, the country’s ranking deteriorated over the past eight years.
Tinubu himself has been subject of graft allegations, including a corruption investigation referred to by Bawa himself in a newspaper interview in 2021. He didn’t specify at the time what the agency was scrutinizing.
Bawa was confirmed as head of the EFCC in February 2021. He replaced Ibrahim Magu, who served as the acting head of the agency from 2015 until his removal in 2020 when he faced a probe into alleged mismanagement.
Bawa didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and an email when Bloomberg sought comment.
