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.

Olukoyede 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 EFCC chairman narrated, “I lost my mother in the year 2019 (in Ekiti State). We went for 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.

“Ordiarily, I mean for burial, some gave me one million, N20m 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, would 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.”

Olukoyede also shared an example of rejecting bids from family members for auctioneering services during his tenure as EFCC Secretary.

He explained how both his brother-in-law, an international auctioneer, and his elder brother sought to participate in a government auction of forfeited assets. Despite the personal connections, Olukoyede insisted on adhering to conflict-of-interest rules, rejecting their applications.

He said, “My chairman then, we agreed that we should select a committee. So, we selected an assets forfeiture committee of about six directors, including myself as the chairman of the committee and a few other staff.

“We advertised for auctioneers. So, they applied. We were able to shortlist about 11 of them. My brother-in-law happens to be an international auctioneer. He applied. His application came to me. I saw it and I shredded it. So, my PA who knew him, called him and told him what I did, and for six months, he did not talk to me. So we did the auction.

“One of my elder brothers called me. ‘I heard you are doing an auction. I needed a truck for my business. I said, ‘Sir, go and read what we published.’ Conflict of interest. No staff of EFCC or immediate members of the family is allowed. He said no, they would use another name. I knew they could do that. I told him that I was not interested.

“After about eight months down the line, they set up a panel to investigate activities of the EFCC. My chairman and I were placed on suspension. They began to investigate what we did in the office. They investigated the particular auction I did in Port Harcourt. Now, assuming they found the name of my brother-in-law as one of the auctioneers. What would have been the result? Probably I may be in jail by now,” Olukoyede said.