Mohammed Umar Abba, EFCC acting Chairman
Again, Abba steps in as acting EFCC Chairman, as DSS invites Bawa
Following Wednesday’s suspension from office of Mr. AbdulRasheed Bawa, Chairman of the anti-graft agency of the Federal Government, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Director of Operations at the commission, CP Mohammed Umar Abba has assumed control on acting capacity.
It would be recalled that on July 9, 2020, Abba stepped in as the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, being the most senior operational officer when the former chairman, Ibrahim Magu, was suspended.
This is also as the Department of State Security (DSS) invited the suspended Bawa for questioning at its Abuja head office, to which he reportedly honoured almost immediately, same day.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had, Wednesday, approved the indefinite suspension from office of Mr. AbdulRasheed Bawa, as the Chairman of the ant-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ‘to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office.’
A statement confirming the development, signed by the Director, Information at the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Willie Bassey, further disclosed that Bawa’s suspension ‘follows weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.’
“Mr Bawa has been directed to immediately handover the affairs of his office to the Director, Operations in the Commission, who will oversee the affairs of the Office of the Chairman of the Commission pending the conclusion of the investigation.’
Meanwhile, the agency’s Director of Operations, Mohammed Umar Abba, has assumed office as the new chairman of the commission, nut on an acting capacity.
Born on June 22, 1965, in Tudunwada Local Government Area of Kano State, Mohammed Umar Abba bagged a first degree from the Bayero University, Kano.
He did his one-year national service at the old Anambra State Police Command and later got enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force. He attended the Nigeria Police Academy, Kaduna State, where he was commissioned in 1992.
CP Abba was seconded to the Commission in January 2016 to head the Counter-terrorism and General Investigations, CTGI, Section at the Headquarters in Abuja.
He was appointed the Director of Operations of the Commission in 2017.
In 2019, he was promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Police.
Meanwhile, the DSS, late Wednesday, invited Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, the suspended Chairman of the EFCC to its office in Abuja.
Bawa honored the invitation a few hours later.
Spokesperson of the DSS, Peter Afunanya, in a statement, Wednesday, said the ‘invitation relates to some investigative activities concerning him.’
