The newly appointed boss of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Anamekwe Chukwunyere Nwabuoku, is alleged to be involved in heavy corruption and he is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
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His appointment was announced in a letter dated May 20, 2022, and signed by Permanent Secretary (Finance),. Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Aliyu Ahmed.
This followed an ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, for alleged N80 billion fraud.
The appointment is pending the outcome of the EFCC’s investigation, the letter stated.
“In this position, Mr. Anamekwe is expected to carry out his duty in strict compliance with extant rules and observe the highest sense of professionalism expected of an officer working at his level,” the statement read.
However, investigations revealed that the Overseer of OAGF has massive corruption hanging on his neck from the previous positions of responsibility he held in the course of his career.
According to credible sources familiar with his antecedents, the EFCC is investigating him for a series of graft allegations and Anamekwe is known to visit the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency on a regular basis as part of the investigation routine.
Some of the allegations against him include overpayment to himself in previous MDAs he served.
It was gathered that some of the properties he acquired fraudulently have been recovered by anti-corruption agencies.
One of the sources has it that perhaps his major financial crime was allegedly committed while he was the Director of Finance and Accounts at the Ministry of Defence where he was said to have enriched himself with internal security funds.
He was allegedly involved in other fraudulent activities and using the Government Integrated Financial Management System to steal the salaries of federal government staff.
The GIFMIS is an IT-based system for budget management and accounting. It was adopted as part of a wider Public Service Reform Strategy by the federal government of Nigeria starting in the early 2000s.
Anamekwe however allegedly compromised the system and made away with humongous amount of money.
Asked to explain why the federal government opted to appoint a man with such questionable records to oversee an office vacated by an allegedly corrupt AGF, a top official in the Presidency said Anamekwe was the most senior official in the office.
“He is not acting AGF but overseeing OAGF as the most senior director in the office,” the official declared.
Anamekwe has few months left to reach the mandatory retirement age for civil servants.
Anamekwe was born on October 15, 1962 to the family of Robert O. Anamekwe in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.
He holds Higher National Diploma in Accountancy from the Institute of Management and Technology Enugu, and Master of Science (M.Sc) in Financial Management from Commonwealth University, Belize.
He started his civil service career with the Centre for Democratic Studies and rose to the position of Principal Accountant between 1992 and 1995.
He was deployed to the Office of the AGF, Abuja, from 1996 to 2001 as Assistant Chief Accountant.
He served at the National Assembly, Office of the Senate President, from 2001 to 2003 as Special Assistant to the Senate President on Public Affairs and his duties included Advisory Services to the Senate President on Media and other issues.
He assumed duty as Chief Accountant in the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Abuja and served as Head of Accounts Administration. Following his promotion to Assistant Director, Accounts, he was placed in charge of Funds in the Ministry from 2009 to 2012.
He became a Deputy Director (Accounts) in 2012 and was deployed to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as Supervisory Officer of Ecological Funds Accounts and other related matters.
He was promoted to Director (Accounts) in 2017 and was posted to Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
He was the Director (Finance and Accounts), Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Abuja, from May 2019 to March 2021.
