MEET MOHAMMED ABBA, THE ACTING EFCC CHAIRMAN.

President Bola Tinubu suspended the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, AbdulRasheed Bawa, on Wednesday due to serious allegations of abuse of power.

According to a statement from the SGF’s office, the suspension is to allow for a proper investigation of his conduct while in office, following some serious charges of abuse of authority leveled against him by several anti-corruption players.

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

Here’s everything you need to know about the EFCC’s acting chairman:

Mohammed Umar Abba, Commissioner of Police (CP), took over as Acting Chairman of the Commission on July 9, 2020, as the Commission’s most senior operational officer (Director of Operations).

The development came after Magu was suspended on July 6, 2020. On February 24, 2021, Abba turned over to the substantive Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, after seven months.

Abba was born on June 22, 1965 in Tudunwada Local Government Area of Kano State and received his first degree from Bayero University in Kano. Umar completed his one-year national service with the former Anambra State Police Command before joining the Nigeria Police Force.

He was commissioned in 1992 after attending the Nigeria Police Academy in Kaduna State.

In January 2016, CP Abba was seconded to the Commission to lead the Counterterrorism and General Investigations (CTGI) Section at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

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