Meet EFCC’s New Acting Chairman, Mohammed Abba

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday suspended the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, AbdulRasheed Bawa over weighty allegations of abuse of office.

The suspension, according to a statement, by the office of the SGF, is to allow for a proper investigation into his conduct while in office following some weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him by some stakeholders in the anti-corruption fight.

Following his suspension, Bawa was directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the agency’s Director of Operations, Mohammed Umar Abba, who will oversee the affairs of the office of the EFCC Chairman.

Mohammed Umar Abba, Commissioner of Police (CP), on July 9, 2020 stepped in as the Acting Chairman of the Commission, being the most senior operational officer (Director of Operations) of the Commission.

The development followed the suspension of Magu on July 6, 2020. Seven months after, Abba handed over to the substantive Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, on February 24, 2021.

Born on June 22, 1965 in Tudunwada Local Government Area of Kano State, Abba bagged his first degree from Bayero University, Kano. Umar 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 Counterterrorism and General Investigations, CTGI, Section at the Headquarters in Abuja.

He was appointed the Director of Operations of the Commission in 2017, a position he held till 2020 when he took over from Ibrahim Magu as acting Chairman, a position he held till he returned to the Police.