The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has announced the removal and subsequent redeployment of Mrs. Juliet Ibebaku the head of its intelligence unit known as the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU.

This was disclosed in a statement by the commission’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, on Thursday night.

According to the statement Mrs. Juliet Ibebaku has been re-deployed to the legal directorate of the agency while Francis Usani, formerly of the legal directorate, has been named her replacement.

Mr. Usani, who was appointed in acting capacity, is a veteran prosecutor and seasoned lawyer, having been part of the prosecution team that has prosecuted money laundering and other grand corruption cases.

Mrs. Ibekaku, who previously served in the External Cooperation Unit and the commission’s Training and Research Institute (now EFCC Academy) before her redeployment to the NFIU, has since resumed at her new duty post, the statement said.

Although Mr. Uwujaren said the former NFIU’s boss removal was part of the EFCC’s routine administrative activity of moving its staff around, it was gathered that Mrs. Ibekaku was redeployed after investigators and other top officials of the agency accused her of “inefficiency and non-cooperative attitude”.

A staff, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said the EFCC management had suspected that Mrs. Ibekaku had been using the sensitive information at her disposal to advance her political interest.

It was also revealed that after she was instructed to report at her new duty post in Lagos, with effect from last Monday, Mrs. Ibekaku tried to resist her redeployment.

She was said to have tapped her contacts in government and security agencies to pressure, EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, not to remove her.

After Mr. Lamorde insisted on her redeployment, Mrs. Ibekaku reportedly insisted on sitting tight in office, even after her successor had assumed duties, officials said.

She also allegedly masterminded reports in the media suggesting she was being victimised.

When she again showed up on Wednesday, the EFCC reportedly tried to scare her away by deploying extra security to the NFIU premises in the Asokoro district of Abuja.

But the EFCC quickly responded to reports of the heightened security around the complex, saying the situation at the NFIU was “far from the drama being peddled by some section of the media alleging intimidation”.