The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede on Thursday disclosed how he turned down offers from government officials amounting to N500m during his mother’s funeral in 2019.
The EFCC boss, who spoke at the 38th Anti-Corruption Situation Room in Abuja, explained that the substantial gifts, which included cheques and drafts, were sent to him by ministers, directors, MDAs and other high-ranking government officials.
Olukoyede noted that he was serving as the Secretary of the commission at the time he buried his mother.
Recounting how he received the offers, Olukoyede narrated that upon his return to his family home in Ekiti State before the burial, his gate man presented those checks to him.
According to him, after reviewing the cheques, 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 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.
“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, 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?”
