Senate suspends confirmation of EFCC secretary

The senate has suspended the confirmation of Olanipkekun Olukoyede as the secretary of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

President Muhammadu Buhari sent his name to the upper legislative chamber in October.

But the confirmation of the nominee was suspended on Tuesday after Isah Misau, senator representing Bauchi central, alleged that some members of the anti-corruption committee are sidelining others.

Misau said he had not seen the report on the screening of Olukoyede.

The senator protested after Chukwuka Utazi, chairman of the committee, presented the report for the consideration of his colleagues.

“Let’s step down this report so that we, the members of the committee can go through it,” the Bauchi senator said.

“I participated actively in the screening of these nominees and there are some of them that are not competent to hold that office. I’m just seeing this report.

“It has not been sent to my office and I was part of the screening and during the screening, I made objections on certain people that are not supposed to hold that office to be screened. It is necessary for us to look at the report.”

In response, Utazi said a notice was sent to members of the committee to be in attendance for the screening exercise but most of them were busy with oversight.

“Most of the committee members are busy with oversight. We wrote every member to be in attendance,” the chairman said.

“What Misau attended was the ICPC screening. He attended and participated but he did not attend this one.”

Thereafter, Senate President Bukola Saraki directed Utazi to meet with members of his committee over the matter and present a report on Wednesday.