February 14, 2007
The list of politicians you recently compiled as not suitable candidates in the coming elections has been generating controversies. One of the arguments against the list is that you just compiled names of candidates without stating the offences they have committed.
The letters we wrote are personal to the political parties. And in the letter we gave the names and we said our people were available to give them the details. It will be very unfair for us to give the details publicly because we are also trying to protect their names. We told the political parties that our people are available to give them details, to discuss with them. The list is advisory; we are not saying that you must do this or do that.
So, it does not mean that those candidates cannot stand for election?
A: We have nothing to do with that at all. What we said was look, we are investigating some of these cases; names that we saw you presented. And as a good political party that will want to present good leadership for this country, you should be mindful of the fact that those you are presenting are those who will carry out your programme properly and correctly. I am sure you will not want to bring in people of questionable integrity. So, we gave them the names. Some of the parties have already responded positively that yes, they are interested and some have already come and we have been able to provide them with some details. Others say no, we do not want to do anything with you, as if we are not Nigerians, as if we are not a creation of law, as if we do not have any responsibility to carry out our functions in our country. And I think they have got it totally wrong.
But since the investigation is still on, don’t you think writing their parties to stop them is like you are already pronouncing them guilty?
No, we have never been judges in our own cases. We take our cases to appropriate avenues for justice. In this case we are not talking about conviction. We are talking about those who are presenting themselves for election in Nigeria. Anywhere in the world, once you are a candidate for election, you are opening your cupboard for everybody to see what sort of person you are. You are going into a public office, an office of trust where you are going to be sitting and taking decisions on behalf of the people. You are going to be entrusted with responsibilities and resources of the people. So, by that you have exposed yourself. And it’s not just EFCC; every Nigerian is also entitled to know about you. That is why they are going to make the names public for people to make comments. It is the right thing. Wherever you go in the world, that is what is happening. We are only doing it for the first time in the history of this country and let me tell you, the reason things never worked in this country is that we failed to do basic things like this one. Those people who have issues, who are being investigated, who have been indicted, particularly on the issue of fraud and embezzlement, are the ones we are talking about. It’s only fair for the political parties to know, it is only fair for INEC to know and it is only fair for the government of Nigeria to know what is going on. You do not say it is until a crime is committed before you start chasing after criminals. No, prevention is the best form of cure. And wherever you go in the world, this is what is happening. In some other parts of the world, even owing somebody is enough to disqualify you from holding public office. For issues of morality, taxation and things like that, people are barred from holding public office, so why not us? Why? Look at what we have in our country. Everybody is complaining, crying about corruption. And now we are in the process of bringing in new people and we are trying to see if it is possible for us to reduce the number of those with questionable background and so on; and that’s all we want to do. There is no way for you to attack corruption unless you start getting good, honest people into public office.
But some of these people you are talking about said they are not aware that they are being investigated.
That is not true.
Somebody like Tinubu for instance is threatening to take you to court. The Vice President also.
That’s the rule of law we are talking about. If you have an issue, go to court. The courts are there for you to go and cry. It is not for us to make our case against you public. If you disagree, go to court! If you say you are not given fair hearing, go to court and then we will answer you. We have taken the VP’s statements three times. Some of them do have immunity and if you say you cannot come and talk to us, we cannot force you. But if you have an issue, go to court, we will answer you.
Some of the indicted candidates said that they are not aware you are investigating them?
Well, if that is the case, they are also entitled to go to court. But also note that the list you see in the papers may not necessarily be a reflection of the true list that we have. The people that we truly have one or two cases against are the ones we sent their names to the political parties.
There is also this five-member administrative panel set up by the federal government to investigate candidates. Was that also inspired by the EFCC?
We are not part of the panel, but we can be called to make presentations.
The President went to Ondo State the other day and he talked about Olusegun Mimiko, a candidate who is contesting the Ondo State gubernatorial position on the platform of Labor Party. He specifically said he will send the EFCC after him. Is EFCC now an attack dog of the President?
No, but the President is entitled to his opinion just like other Nigerians. You can say somebody has a case to answer and you can freely say it. Nobody can stop you from voicing your opinion. I do not think what the President said has anything to do with what we are doing. And if you look at it critically, is that name in the list that you saw?
But do you not think that statement is portraying the EFCC as a dog which can be ordered to do the bidding of the President?
Are you saying he is not entitled to his opinion? Or he cannot complain? If he has an issue with a candidate, can’t he complain? Don’t you even give him credit for being honest enough to make it public? If the genuine intention was to stop the candidate, he would not have said it in public. So, people are just capitalizing on every incident to make an unnecessary case. For your information, we don’t have anything against Mimiko.
So, what you are saying now is that Mimikko’s name is not on the list?
It is not.
So, he is not in any way being investigated?
Of course, that is it for God’s sake. As far as I know, we don’t have anything against Olusegun Mimiko. He is not in anyway being investigated.
So, you are not Obasanjo’s attack dog as some people want to believe?
I can’t be anybody’s attack dog. What I am doing is what I believe in.
Let us also look at the Rivers case. You included Rotimi Ameachi in your list but nothing is being done to Odili whom he allegedly helped to launder money?
We are not involved in what the political parties are doing. I think that question should be thrown to the parties. We have done our own work. We are not forcing the PDP to drop or not to drop anybody. We advised them and they took our advice. They wanted to clean themselves up, they want to sanitize the PDP, they want to present candidates that they will be proud of and who they can vouch for to carry out their programme. They took most of the advice that we gave. And this is the irony of this country. People are talking about us going for government’s opponents. But we ended up attacking so many of government’s people. It is unbelievable, so many of them are now victims of the work of the EFCC. Nobody seems to be recognizing that. Nobody is talking about it. It is only when you go to the other side that the skies will start falling.
What about Gbenga Daniel?
If I did not have a case against somebody, I will not mention his name.
But EFCC has been going to Ogun State.
It does not necessarily mean that we have established something against him. We are everywhere in Nigeria today.
Another person whose name is on your list is Lanre Tejuosho, the Ogun State ANPP Senatorial aspirant who has never held any public position...
The issue is that, let the parties come and we will answer them. If his name is on the list we will answer the party. He himself will be given opportunity to respond to whatever case is against him.
But what have you found out in your investigations of the Ogun State government so far?
If we are ready, you will definitely hear from us. The moment we are ready, you know us, we will not keep quiet. We will come out. You will definitely hear from us.
What about Oyo State?
The same thing.
But still on the case of Odili...
Odili is not a candidate for any election in Nigeria, and I understand that Ameachi is not a candidate either. And this is what you people used to accuse us. At one time, we were accused of working for him, Odili, is that not so?
You are saying that Odili is not in any way contesting?
Yes.
Does it mean that if anybody steals money from public office, he is free as long as he does not have any other political aspiration?
Well, what we are trying to do for our country as we go into the elections is that for the first time, we want to check those who are looking for power. We want to see if it is possible for us to fully check these candidates. That is what is happening all over the world. It is a different issue from prosecuting or bringing someone to justice. No, check it, even in some other parts of the world, if you owe a bank you will not be allowed to be a candidate. Failure to make declarations, either on your tax or anything, will also automatically disqualify you. Failure to follow simple written rules and regulations will be a stumbling block for you when you are standing for an election. We are faced with a situation where some candidates are going to stand for an election and we checked and we said these are the people we have investigated; and we have allegations against them. Some of them we have established cases against and we made it available to the political parties. And some of the parties agreed and said, yes, they do not want to sponsor a candidate that may eventually turn out to be a problem for them. Or candidates that will be perpetually going to court while he has been elected into office, or will not be able to carry out what we need in the new Nigeria we are talking about. And we checked across. PDP listened to us and as a result of that, many candidates, some very prominent, from the presidential primaries up to the period of INEC screening, they have been weeding out those they considered inappropriate to carry their flag. And we say it is only fair, since we are serving the whole of Nigeria, for the other political parties to also be availed of this opportunity so that they can know truly the sort of people contesting on their ticket. This is done everywhere. It is not a new thing. What we are doing is what will save this country. We will continue to talk fight corruption, doing things improperly, and mismanagement. We have destroyed our name and image in the whole world. And some people are boldly coming out to say yes, we can do something about it. We know that they will fight back because their lifestyle is threatened. And they think all of us as slaves must continue to work to make them remain there, and that s wrong. All of us should say no, we are no more slaves in this country, please.
Somebody came up with a publication recently that if you cannot prosecute Chief Olabode George for the corruption that took place when he was the Chairman of the Board of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, then you should stop talking about prosecuting Atiku or anybody else for the offence?
Some of these things, I consider them a compliment. I thank God that they disagree with me. I find it extremely funny that instead of Nigerians providing answers to questions about themselves, they will say no, that’s not the case. They will continue to shift it, push it to another person. Some of them will even admit that yes, I stole, but the other person is also a thief. But is that a defence? It is only in Nigeria that you will hear that kind of thing.
But what about the issue itself?
What is the issue?
The issue of the involvement of Olabode George in the NPA scam.
Olabode George was never an executive officer of NPA, he was a part-time Chairman. It is the Executive Managing Director who runs the place; it was the MD’s name that appeared in all the contract papers of NPA. Olabode George was a part-time Chairman whose name was never on any contract paper.
It is good you are coming up with this position at this time, be it for political reasons or otherwise. It is good for the public to know your position on Olabode George and the NPA contract scam.
I will never be used just simply because people out there want to nail Olabode George by all means. You can never get me to do that. If I get a good reason to take on Olabode George, I will take him on. I have taken on more powerful people than Olabode George. I have taken on Ministers, Governors and people who are my blood relations. I have taken on National Assembly members. What is it about Bode George? We have taken his statement, we have checked the accounts of NPA and we will continue to check. There are people who are disqualified from holding public office on the basis of our investigation of NPA. Former MD of NPA, Bello Gwandu, was disqualified. Nobody is talking about him.
People are also saying that there are people whose names are only read on the pages of newspapers as corrupt, yet, they have not been given fair hearing. An example is Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State.
Do not worry. We are coming out with a bombshell on Tinubu. All the accounts he operates internationally have been investigated. Tell him that he will soon hear from us.
But even when you went to the Senate last year to present your case, you did not come out with anything on Tinubu like you did on other governors
Tell him we are ready for him now. Now that we are challenged, he will get it.
Are you satisfied now that IBB has heeded discretion, which is the better part of valour, by putting aside his presidential ambition?
I do not want to talk about IBB. In the last couple of months, we have fought battles. Thank God we have won our battle.
How soon will the prosecution of Atiku and Tinubu come up?
Very, very soon. Anybody caught in corruption will be prosecuted by EFCC. We can not catch up with every thief the same time. But one thing I want to assure Nigerians is that anybody caught will be brought to justice. Whoever is caught, maybe out of his misfortune or maybe out of our luck, such a person will face justice.
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