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Obj/Ex-Governors: EFCC should be probed

October 16, 2008

When I was a little boy growing up in the village, thieves were so rampart and their primary target was electricity meters. This necessitated the idea of constructing giant iron burglary proof around electricity meters to ward off would-be burglars. The issue became so disturbing that a meeting was summoned at the village square. An elderly man is his wisdom, made some comments that did not only end the meeting earlier than scheduled but put a stop to the disturbing phenomena.

When I was a little boy growing up in the village, thieves were so rampart and their primary target was electricity meters. This necessitated the idea of constructing giant iron burglary proof around electricity meters to ward off would-be burglars. The issue became so disturbing that a meeting was summoned at the village square. An elderly man is his wisdom, made some comments that did not only end the meeting earlier than scheduled but put a stop to the disturbing phenomena. According to the old man, ʽthe only thieves of meters are NEPA officials because they are the only one that allocates them to users.

If they stop receiving stolen meters from the thieves, meters would seize to be attractive.ʼ He went further, ʽif money is missing from the vault of a bank, and no case of external robbery can be established, those in custody of the vault should be called to question. If they i.e. the custodians of the vault keep quiet, it wonʼt amount to wrongful accusation if they are accused of complexity in the missing fund.ʼ Certainly, the aid of an insider is a prerequisite to the success of such an operation. It would be recalled that the former EFCC boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said times without number that he had concluded investigations on more than twenty former governors and that immunity clause was the only obstacle between the affected governors and prosecution. There are two sides to such a pronouncement i.e. true or false.

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He threatened to grab them all immediately they handed over to their successors. We are all living witnesses to how some governors vanished into thin air on the eve of their departure from office. Some of the ʽthieving governorsʼ had to relocate abroad. Mrs. Farida Waziri came on board in a controversial manner. Methinks the controversy was uncalled for. The president is free to hire and fire all his aides at will because he bears full responsibility for the success or otherwise of his government. Mrs. Waziri was accused of being brought over to protect the high and mighty, ex-governors inclusive. James Ibori was fingered to have played a prominent role in her appointment. I am not here to agree or disagree with those allegations. The facts of a matter speak for themselves. Few weeks after assuming office,

Mrs. Waziri is expected to have alerted the nation that contrary to Ribaduʼs a claim there was no mention of the ex-governors and Obasanjo in his handover note and that she could not find anything in their files. By her failure to do any of these and now coming at this late hour to make the claim she is making, only help her so called detractors to push their case. So many questions are begging for answers on this issue. At what point are the evidences against Obasanjo and the ex-governors destroyed? Did Ribadu mention any issue concerning Obasanjo and the ex-governors in his hand over note?

If he did, which department of the agency is to protect such documents? What effort has Waziri made to trace the disappeared documents? Were the documents destroyed while in the custody of the EFCC? It is only a thorough and sincere investigation of the anti graft body that answers to the above questions and many more would be gotten. The commission, has at various times, been accused of corruption. Most officials of the agency are said to be living above their means. Probably, investigation of the commission would open a can of worms that will lead to purging of bad eggs from it. Waziri too stands to be vindicated once it can be established that she has no hand in the cover-up.

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The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters

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