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EFCC: ANOTHER DANCE STEP OF DECIET AS WAZIRI MEETS RIBADU NOV 14

November 3, 2008
Though the word Waziri, an Arabic derivative, means prime minister while Farida, derived from another Arabic word, fard, means matchless, compelling, and unique, wallahi, every day that passes indicates that in Nigeria ’s anti-graft war, the waziri at the EFCC is not farida at all. Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri have willingly opted to divert the heat generated by her comments to her predecessor, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for alleged mishandling of the controversial investigations on 31 ex- governors in addition to giving the immediate past President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo a clean bill on corruption and mishandling state resources. It is pathetic that even the EFCC has joined in singing the only mantra Nigerians have heard since the inception of the Yar’Adua administration: blaming the past leadership for all their problems and having no single solution of their own. Rather than review the EFCC annual report at the floor of the Senate as she was asked to do, Mrs Waziri was quick to launch attack on her predecessor in attempt to exonerate herself from alleged blunders in strategy, pronouncements in addition to her conviction that the media has been reporting her out of context. Her words: “It is curious that Nuhu Ribadu made this statement (that 31 governors were indicted for corruption.) He told the whole world in September 2006 that he had concluded investigation on 31 serving governors but for their immunity. “But in May 2007, these governors lost their immunity. Nuhu was in office, he did not do anything up to when he left office in February 2008. It does not take a mathematician or professor to put two plus two together and get four. If you get three or five, then something must be wrong. “What went wrong that he could not prosecute? There are no missing case files whatsoever. There are no stolen case files and there are no missing case files in the EFCC. But what I found is what I am working on. I said we have to build a case file that can stand the test of time anywhere in the world. “It might interest you to note that case files were not even handed over to me. I did not meet Nuhu Ribadu there. I sent for Lamorde on two occasions because case files were many and we assigned new IPOs to take over from each IPO. Nothing has been foreclosed. “I recall just like any other Nigerian that there were petitions that Ribadu received. I do not know what happened and I also know that he even wrote clearing President Obasanjo. I never received any petition.” Nigerians are still aware that Ribadu started the prosecution of some former governors, including James Ibori, Chimaroke Nnamanni, Orji Uzo Kalu, Lucky Igbinedion amongst others. How far has the new EFCC gone in pursuing the cases already in court? Or are the case files or rather evidence in the files also missing or maybe Ribadu took them to his school? Haba! If man no see- o, God deh see! It is very curious that the EFCC should own up that the evidence in the existing case files against the accused former governors are not strong enough to prosecute them. So on what basis did the court hold some of the accused ex-governors in custody? This matter is more serious than Mrs Waziri wants us to believe. If the evidence against them were not strong enough and if there were no actual case files, then the court and the presiding judges have a strong case to answer for tramping on their fundamental human rights. The EFCC also should explain to Nigerians why the commission should unlawfully arrest and detain people of the caliber of state governors without tangible evidence of corruption and misappropriation of public funds against them. Pathetically, the EFCC leadership is making such conflicting pronouncements when most foreign anti-graft and law enforcement agencies are skeptical of her credibility, genuineness and capability. After publicly making all the offensive pronouncements against her predecessor, Mrs Waziri now will be meeting with Mallam Ribadu on November 14th, 2008 as reported in the media. The question is: What kind of treatment does the new EFCC boss expect from her predecessor- a friendly, hostile or pretentious espirit’d’corp? And what is the purpose of the meeting- to solve the mystery of the “31 missing files” on former governors? Is Mrs Waziri insinuating that Ribadu destroyed the case files by removing all the strong evidence generated on each case or took the case files to Kuru? According to the report the Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro, on the request of Mrs Waziri, has written to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru, Jos to allow Ribadu leave Kuru to attend the meeting in Abuja . “I also acted on the letter promptly by writing to the NIPPS authorities asking for Ribadu’s release. They are to meet on November 14.” Supposing Ribadu comes to the meeting and maintains that the case files he left on the investigations of the accused 31 ex-governors had enough concrete information generated as evidence against them, what would Mrs Waziri do or say? Would the new EFCC boss then accept that the information/evidence generated on the cases flew away from the files while under her custody? Or would she then shift the blame to Lamorde who sat in the office immediately after Ribadu’s exit to Kuru? You see that this is just going round in a circle without achieving anything. Interestingly, few days from the start of the missing case file controversy, the EFCC said it has commenced the probe of the former President Chief Obasanjo on the pretence that the agency was acting on a petition sent by the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL). The CACOL, whose earlier petition submitted on November 14 last year had disappeared from the EFCC. The question is: Can the same EFCC investigate and prosecute somebody it has already given clean bill after ‘full investigation’? Papa Deceive Pikin! PDPeeee! Carry go-ooo! IFEANYI IZEZE IS AN ABUJA-BASED CONSULTANT ON POLITICAL STRATEGY AND GRASSROOT CONSULTATION ([email protected])

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