JUST IN: EFCC Boss, Olukoyede Speaks On Forcing NNPC GCEO Bayo Ojulari To Resign
Naijaonpoint Nigeria reports that The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has strongly denied allegations that he coerced the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, into resigning from his position.
The denial follows a report published over the weekend alleging that Olukoyede and the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adeola Ajayi, pressured Ojulari to sign a resignation letter during a meeting in Abuja. The report further claimed that Ojulari was interrogated about his alleged ties to Olatimbo Ayinde, a British-Nigerian oil executive said to have influence within the current administration.
In a response issued Wednesday, the EFCC, through its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, stated that Olukoyede had engaged legal counsel to address what he described as a “false, defamatory, and damaging” narrative. The EFCC boss, through his lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, rejected the claims as baseless and intended to tarnish his personal and professional reputation.
“The publications and the imputations conveyed by them are so damning and cannot be ignored or treated with levity,” the letter to the media outlet read in part.
Olukoyede, in the letter addressed to the publication’s editor, demanded an unreserved public apology, a formal retraction, and the removal of the story from all online and social media platforms within 48 hours.
He said the story falsely depicted him as someone who had “betrayed and subverted public trust by submitting the authority of his office to the dictates and directives of one Olatimbo Ayinde.”