Olanipekun Olukoyede, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), revealed on Thursday that he turned down N500 million in offers from government officials during his mother’s funeral in 2019.
The EFCC boss, speaking at the 38th Anti-Corruption Situation Room in Abuja, stated that ministers, directors, MDAs, and other high-ranking government officials sent him considerable gifts, including cheques and drafts.
Olukoyede stated that he was acting as the commission’s Secretary at the time of his mother’s burial.
Olukoyede recounted how he received the offers, stating that when he returned to his family home in Ekiti State before to the funeral, his gateman handed him the cheques.
He explained that after reviewing the cheques, he chose to return them.
The EFCC chairman explained,
“I lost my mother in 2019 (in Ekiti State). We went to the funeral. I was the EFCC’s secretary back then. People arrived. So I went to my apartment the day before the burial.
“By the time I arrived at my tiny compound, which I had built several years prior to joining the EFCC, I had seen approximately 17 cows, including pregnant ones.
“When I arrived home, my gateman presented me with a package containing numerous cheques and drafts from ministers, permanent secretaries, directors, DGs of agencies, and so on.
“So, I walked inside and showed it to my wife. She exclaimed, ‘Praise God’. I asked, ‘Praise God for what?’ When we added up all of the cheques, it came to about N500 million.
“I completed the burial in September 2019. By July 2020, I was being investigated. Assume that all of those cheques were paid into my account as traditional gifts, and that some of the MDAs under investigation by the EFCC, including their directors, DGs, and ministers, sent me cheques.
“Normally, I mean for funeral, some gave me one million, N20 million, and all that. Even if I had been able to control the outcome of their investigations, how would I have explained to a panel that they observed cheques paid into my account?