EFCC And The Psychology Of National Forgetfulness: The Ngozi Olejeme Case As Nigeria’s Mirror

By Prof. John Egbeazien Oshodi

As Chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Ngozi Olejeme was entrusted with one of the nation’s most sacred responsibilities: the welfare of Nigerian workers. The NSITF’s mission was simple but solemn—collect and protect contributions from workers and employers, and ensure that when accidents, disabilities, or deaths occur, help is available.

Yet, her journey from power to prosecution has become more than a personal saga; it is a psychological portrait of a nation that remembers corruption only when it becomes convenient to forget.

Chapter One – 2015: The Faith of Power

Every political season in Nigeria has its apostles of certainty. In 2015, one of the most fervent voices was Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, then Chairman of the NSITF and Deputy Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation.

Her confidence was spiritual.
“PDP will have a resounding victory. That is very clear,” she declared to Niger Delta youths in Asaba (ScanNews, March 2015).

She promised jobs, education, youth empowerment, national unity, and “social safety nets for the vulnerable.” Yet, behind that optimism lay a tragic contradiction—those who spoke most about safety nets were often closest to the scissors.

Chapter Two – 2017: The Arrest and the Nation’s Numbness

By 2017, the voice of faith had turned into a face of controversy. The EFCC arrested Olejeme after months in hiding, alleging that ?62.3 billion had been diverted from the NSITF between 2009 and 2015.

Investigators traced millions of dollars through bureau de change operators, “consultancy” contracts, and personal accounts. Money meant for injured workers and bereaved families allegedly became political fuel.

But the nation barely blinked.
Nigeria has been scandalized so many times it has developed emotional shock absorbers. Outrage has become exhausting; cynicism, therapeutic.

By 2018, the headlines faded, and Olejeme’s “useful statements” disappeared into the archives. A new scandal had already arrived.

Chapter Three – 2021: The Medical Defense

Four years later, Olejeme resurfaced in court—frail, not fierce.

Arraigned in 2021 on a ?3 billion fraud charge, her lawyers told the court she was battling acute diabetes, hypertension, post-COVID heart failure, and had undergone multiple surgeries. The trial turned briefly into a clinic, and compassion replaced consequence.

It was the “medical defense doctrine”—a familiar Nigerian courtroom ritual where illness becomes a legal strategy and frailty a form of immunity.
It works because it speaks to the psychology of our justice system: when accountability threatens, sympathy intervenes.

Chapter Four – 2025: The Resurrection

Fast-forward to October 2025. Eight years after her first arrest, the EFCC reopened her case.

Before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Olejeme pleaded not guilty to eight counts of money laundering totaling ?1 billion. Nigerians reacted with irony and relief: “Ah, she’s back? So EFCC files can resurrect!”

For once, memory stirred. Even motion without conclusion felt like progress in a country where corruption cases die quietly.

Chapter Five – When Loyalty Replaces Law

Dr. Olejeme’s story is not merely about money—it is about morality in governance.

While serving as NSITF Chair, she simultaneously held a senior role in the PDP’s presidential campaign. She did not resign or take a leave. She operated as both public servant and political financier—one hand signing agency papers, the other funding campaign logistics.

That contradiction reveals a national disorder: institutions that serve power instead of principle.
In functioning democracies, such dual service would be scandalous. In Nigeria, it was seen as loyalty.

It is what psychologists call institutional identity fusion—where personal ambition merges with systemic corruption until the individual no longer asks, “Is this right?” but “Will my patron approve?”

Chapter Six – The Judiciary: The Captured Middleman

Between EFCC’s pursuit and the public’s pain stands the judiciary—a supposed temple of justice now perceived as a marketplace of delay.

Since Olejeme’s first arrest in 2017, the case has wandered through courts like a ghost story. A child born that year could now read the transcripts aloud. Lawyers perfect the art of adjournment; judges play the long game of discretion; justice grows old waiting.

It’s a phenomenon psychologists call institutional avoidance—a collective fear of decision-making.
Files yellow, witnesses fade, and time becomes the greatest accomplice. Justice, trapped in limbo, whispers promises it cannot deliver.

Chapter Seven – The Psychology of Forgetfulness

Nigeria’s most enduring survival skill is forgetfulness.
We forget to stay sane. We laugh to avoid despair.

This is Corruption Fatigue Disorder—a national coping mechanism where citizens detach emotionally from betrayal. Outrage is replaced by irony, and every scandal becomes just another punchline.

But each act of forgetting weakens moral muscle. It trains the young to believe that justice is negotiable and accountability optional.

Chapter Eight – The Ola Olukoyede Moment

Yet in 2025, under EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede, something quietly hopeful is unfolding.

Without fanfare, he has begun reopening dormant files and reviving long-forgotten prosecutions. His leadership marks a psychological shift from institutional denial to self-awareness.

He seems to grasp that fighting corruption is not just a legal task—it is a moral and psychological reawakening. If sustained, his tenure could redefine the EFCC as a custodian of memory in a nation addicted to forgetting.

Chapter Nine – A Nation That Laughs While Bleeding

Olejeme’s 16-year saga—2009 to 2025—is not merely the story of one woman’s fall, but of a country that laughs through its wounds.
She is not the disease; she is the symptom.

We laughed when she was arrested.
We sighed when she fell ill.
We chuckled when her case returned.
And we may weep silently if it dies again.

This is collective cognitive dissonance—the conflict between hating corruption and adapting to it.

Epilogue – Memory and Moral Resurrection

So yes, EFCC, thank you for remembering.
We had almost buried her file beside our faith in fairness.

Now that the case has resurfaced, let it not die again in the graveyard of adjournments.
Let the judiciary show courage; let the EFCC stay the course.

Because in Nigeria, corruption never dies—it only takes medical leave.

Welcome back, Madam.
And to Chairman Ola Olukoyede: keep unearthing the forgotten. In a nation that heals by remembering, each revived case is not just a legal act—it is national therapy.

About the Author

Prof. John Egbeazien Oshodi is an American-based psychologist, educator, and public affairs analyst specializing in forensic, legal, clinical, and cross-cultural psychology. Born in Uromi, Edo State, he introduced advanced forensic psychology to Nigeria through the National Universities Commission and Nasarawa State University.

He currently serves as contributing faculty at Nova Southeastern University and Walden University (USA), Professor of Leadership Studies at ISCOM University (Benin Republic), and President of the Oshodi Foundation, Center for Psychological and Forensic Services.

A Black Republican, Prof. Oshodi advocates for institutional accountability, individual responsibility, and community self-reliance. He is also the founder of Psychoafricalysis, an Africentric psychological framework that links historical memory, sociocultural realities, and moral renewal.