President Bola Tinubu’s decision to turn down State Governors, politicians and others request for the removal of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss, Ola Olukoyede, was due to scorecard of the anti-graft agency under its incumbent boss since assuming office which was before him.
A section of the report which the President has not been able to get his eyes off were the number of conviction recorded by the agency under Olukoyede’s watch after assuming office October 2023.
The scorecard of the agency boss showed that 3,455 convictions were recorded within the last one year of Olukoyede’s reign as the EFCC boss, October 19th, 2023 to September 30th, 2024.
The number was confirmed by the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, through a document made available to newsmen on Monday.
The convicts were those apprehended by the agency’s 14 regional offices and it’s headquarters and found guilty by different courts for financial and other related crimes across the country.
A further breakdown of the conviction statistics revealed that legal counsel attached to both the EFCC headquarters and the 14 regional offices were in a race of sort to ensure that the anti-corruption agency is not defeated by suspects in courts.
A breakdown of the statistics showed that 826 convictions were recorded at different courts in the country between October 19th to December 31st, 2023.
Meanwhile, between January 1st to September 30th, 2024, 2,629 convictions that were gotten through various courts after the offenders were found guilty of the crimes leveled against them by the anti-graft agency.
Top among the zones where convictions was recorded is Lagos State where the agency won 684 graft cases filed before courts after thorough investigations.
Aside from Lagos, the agency’s zonal office in Ibadan, Oyo State recorded victory in 510 cases and was closely followed by the Benin office, Edo State where convictions were gotten on 413 cases within the year under review.
Through the Enugu zonal office, the anti-graft agency under the Olukoyede’s watch secured convictions on 383 cases and Uyo office in Akwa Ibom State had 296 convictions, ensuring that those linked to the financial and other related crimes serve their jail terms in prisons.
Within the period under review, the EFCC office in Kaduna State recorded convictions on 219 cases filed before courts while the headquarters in Federal Capital Territory Abuja had 163 convictions from courts.
Part of the convictions were recorded during the enforcement of laws against currency mutilation and dollarization of the economy by socialites and other distinguished citizens of the country.
The Special Task Force against the act under the agency’s boss succeeded in changing the behavioural approach of Nigerians in handling the Naira after securing convictions.
Of the total convictions, over 35 were secured on cases bothering on currency mutilation across the country.
Among the convicts, which cut across different classes of the society, includes Idris Okuneye (a.k.a Bobrisky) and a Nollywood actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, who bagged six months imprisonment topping the chart of high- profile convicts in this regard.
While the convictions had protected national currency from persistent abuse and others, the Olukoyede-led EFCC secured judgement on a 68-year-old United States citizen, Marco Ramirez, who was arraigned for engaging in $1.6M visa fraud and was sentenced to 10years imprisonment.
Also, judgement was gotten by the agency on the suit brought before the court against a graduate, Ikpaka Courage, who impersonated Chinedu Okoli popularly called Flavour, duping a United States woman, Yvette Thompson, $53,000.
Olabinjor Ajobor, a businessman, was sentenced to 7years jail after he was dragged before court by the agency for engaging in fraud worth N6 million.
The efforts of the agency’s investigation and prosecution led to the court sentencing Director of Asher Trust Investment, Daniel Ungbo, who was convicted for illegally converting property worth N128 million to 5years imprisonment.
