Senate set to confirm Olukoyede as EFCC scribe

The Senate is set to confirm Mr Olanikekun Olukoyede as the secretary of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Olukoyede’s confirmation was slated for yesterday, but it was postponed to today following observations raised by a senator.

This is coming despite Senate’s decision to reject the nomination of the EFCC acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu, twice last year.

The nominee, an indigene of Ekiti State and current Chief of Staff to the acting EFCC chairman, was nominated in September by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe) had called for the consideration of the report of the committee on anti-corruption and financial crimes, which screened the nominee.

Shortly after, the committee’s chairman Sen Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu) told his colleagues that the committee had screened the nominee and found him worthy of being confirmed by the Senate.

However, a member of the committee, Sen Isa Hamma Misau (PDP, Bauchi) raised an objection that only three members of the committee signed the report, saying he had objected the “confirmation of some of these nominees.” But Utazi said Misau was referring to the nominees for the ICPC and not EFCC where there was only one person nominated by the president, saying his colleague did not attend the screening session for Olukoyede.

Despite the clarification, Senate President Bukola Saraki advised that the confirmation be postponed to today in order to give the committee members the opportunity to iron out things.