By Peter Salami
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has broken his silence over reports alleging that he orchestrated the arrest and forced resignation of Bayo Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), describing the claims as “damning, defamatory, and dangerously false.”
Olukoyede, through a statement issued by the EFCC, dismissed the reports as a fabrication designed to impugn his integrity and undermine public trust in the Commission. The statement was in reaction to a report by an online platform, The People’s Gazette, that alleged the EFCC Chairman, in collaboration with the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mr. Adeola Ajayi, coerced Ojulari into signing a resignation letter at a secret meeting in Abuja.
The EFCC boss has demanded a public apology and a full retraction of the story within 48 hours, describing the allegations as not only baseless but also malicious. According to the EFCC, the publication falsely claimed that Ojulari was interrogated about his alleged links to Olatimbo Ayinde, a British-Nigerian oil businesswoman purported to wield significant influence within President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The Commission further condemned a follow-up report alleging that Ojulari was later summoned to the Presidential Villa, where First Lady Remi Tinubu purportedly intervened, insisting that his resignation would not be accepted. The report also claimed that Ayinde had ordered security chiefs to compel Ojulari’s resignation, framing her as a shadowy power broker in the corridors of Aso Rock.
Olukoyede described these narratives as “a wicked distortion of facts” aimed at portraying him as a public officer who has betrayed his mandate by submitting the EFCC’s institutional authority to the dictates of private individuals. In a letter to the publishers of the report, signed by his legal counsel, Mr. Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, the EFCC Chairman stated that the imputations conveyed by the publication were too grave to be ignored or trivialised.
He demanded an unreserved public apology, a retraction of the defamatory stories, and immediate removal of the content from all platforms, including social media handles. Olukoyede’s lawyer also warned that failure to comply with these demands would result in the commencement of legal action for defamation, to afford the publishers an opportunity to substantiate their claims in court.