Abdulrasheed Bawa, the fourth Executive Chairman of the EFCC was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on February 16, 2021, and confirmed by the Senate on February 24, 2021. He was suspended from office on June 14, 2023.

His ascent to the exalted office holds much significance. He is the first regular EFCC personnel to have the privilege to mount the saddle.Others before him were either serving or retired police officers.

Bawa’s emergence as EFCC boss is not fortuitous. The EFCC Chairman received his education at the Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, where he earned a Second Class Honours (Upper Division) Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy. He was recruited into the EFCC in 2004 as a member of the Cadet Officer Course 1, and trained at the Nigeria Police College Ikeja, Lagos.

He worked in various sections of the Operations Department in the Lagos Command. Bawa was first appointed Team Leader and later Head of the Advance Fee Fraud Section, Lagos Command in May 2008. The appointment, no doubt, was significant as he became the first regular Detective to be appointed a Team Lead in the annals of the Commission. Later years saw Bawa’s appointment into other key positions, including Head of the Ibadan, Port Harcourt and later, Lagos Commands. Bawa has the personal distinction of being the only regular Operative to head three Commands of the Commission.

Bawa was trained in a number of world-class institutions including the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank, the United States Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), KPMG and the State Security Service (SSS) among others.

The EFCC Chairman is a member of several professional bodies, including the America-based Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS).