Nigeria’s President Suspends Head of Anti-Corruption Agency

(Bloomberg) -- Nigerian President Bola Tinubu suspended the head of the nation’s anti-corruption agency, the latest in a series of sweeping changes he’s made since being sworn in as the leader of Africa’s biggest economy three weeks ago.

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Tinubu ordered Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa to immediately hand over control of the agency to the director of operations to allow for an investigation into his conduct while in office, the presidency said in a statement late Wednesday.

“This follows weighty allegations of abuse of office” leveled against Bawa, it said, without providing further information. The Department of State Services, the nation’s secret police, said it invited Bawa to its offices for “some investigative activities” on Wednesday night.

Bawa’s removal comes less than a week after Tinubu suspended central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele and the secret police arrested him. He’s also initiated changes to the nation’s multiple-currency system that’s led to a devaluation of the currency, and signed legislation that’s expected to set off the biggest shakeup of the West African nation’s chronically inadequate power industry since a round of privatization a decade ago.

Investors have warmed to the signs that Tinubu is resetting policies that were hobbling economic growth, with the nation’s dollar bonds and stocks rallying this week.

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Nigeria ranks among the world’s most graft-ridden countries, according to a Corruption Perceptions Index published by advocacy group Transparency International. While Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, pledged to tackle graft during his two terms in office, the country’s ranking deteriorated over the past eight years.

Tinubu himself has been the subject of graft allegations, including a corruption investigation referred to by Bawa himself in a newspaper interview in 2021. He didn’t specify at the time what the agency was scrutinizing.

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Bawa was confirmed as head of the EFCC in February 2021. He replaced Ibrahim Magu, who served as the acting head of the agency from 2015 until his removal in 2020, when he faced a probe into alleged mismanagement.

Bawa didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and an email when Bloomberg sought comment.

(Updates with comment by secret police in third paragraph)

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