Anamekwe Nwabuoku, the newly appointed overseer of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), has a lengthy corruption record and is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Nwabuoku was appointed to oversee the office on Sunday in the absence of the suspended AGF, Ahmed Idris, who has been in EFCC custody for more than a week while being investigated for fraud totaling 80 billion naira.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Nwabuoku will oversee the affairs of the office while Idris’ investigation is ongoing.
The Overseer of the OAGF, on the other hand, has massive corruption hanging over his head from previous positions of responsibility he held throughout his career.
According to credible sources familiar with his background, the EFCC is investigating him for a number of graft allegations, and Nwabuoku is known to regularly visit the anti-corruption agency’s headquarters as part of the investigation routine.
Overpayment to himself in previous MDAs he served is one of the allegations leveled against him.
According to one of the sources, some of the properties he obtained fraudulently have been recovered by anti-corruption agencies.
According to one of the sources, his major financial crime was allegedly committed while he was the Director of Finance and Accounts (DFA) at the Ministry of Defence, where he allegedly enriched himself with internal security funds.
He was allegedly involved in other fraudulent activities, including using the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) to steal federal government employees’ salaries.
The GIFMIS is an IT-based budget management and accounting system. Beginning in the early 2000s, the federal government of Nigeria adopted it as part of a larger Public Service Reform Strategy. Nwabuoku, on the other hand, hacked the system and stole a large sum of money.
When asked why the federal government chose a man with such questionable records to oversee an office vacated by an allegedly corrupt AGF, a top Presidency official said Nwabuoku was the most senior official in the office.
“He is not acting AGF, but the most senior director in the office,” the official stated.
Nwabuoku only has a few months until he reaches the mandatory retirement age for civil servants.
