Farida Waziri and Victor Uwajeh: Tale of corruption, incompetence and betrayal at the top of the EFCC

Investigations by Saharareporters have uncovered details of the shady relationship between Farida Waziri, chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and Victor Uwajeh, one of the agency’s “investigators” who is now regarded as an enemy.

Over the last two months, the EFCC has proudly publicized its arrest and detention of Uwajeh. In various statements and pre-edited reports written by EFCC spokesman Femi Babafemi and planted in the local media and some web logs, the anti-corruption agency not only told about its arrest of Uwajeh but also offered lurid accounts of his involvement in an extortion scheme that targeted Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, former CEO of Oceanic Bank.

But Saharareporters investigations reveal that Victor Uwajeh and Mrs. Waziri have had a longstanding personal relationship that dates back to the late 2000’s when, according to impeccable sources, Mrs. Waziri was struggling to survive after retiring from the Nigerian police.

As soon as Waziri was appointed to run the EFCC, she turned to Uwajeh to serve as one of her top investigators. On November 8, 2008, Uwajeh received a letter signed by Waziri that mandated him to conduct inquiries regarding Politically Exposed Persons. Part of the letter reads: “The scope of the instruction covers inquiries in respect of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPS) and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria”.

Several professional investigators within the agency told Saharareporters that they found Mrs. Waziri’s hiring of Uwajeh “highly irregular and curious,” in the words of one of them. Another one told us that the whisper at the agency was that Uwajeh was appointed to do “Madam’s private investigations and business.” 

Several of our sources in the EFCC said the manner of Uwajeh’s appointment raised several questions. They wondered whether the agency advertised that it was looking for an external “investigator” before hiring Mr. Uwajeh. They also said Waziri has to answer whether Uwajeh received any form of training or certification as a professional investigator prior to his engagement. Another question has to do with how he was getting paid since he was not a formal employee of the agency. He also received an appointment letter for a duration of 6 months, but a board member of the agency told Saharareporters that he has seen nothing in the EFCC act that allows for such an appointment.

Armed with the letter, Uwajeh went to work. In a short time, Mrs. Waziri redefined his duty, charging him to solely target Nuhu Ribadu, the former chair of the EFCC, as well as his unspecified “friends” who were accused of giving Mrs. Waziri a nightmare. Uwajeh, who was then partly based in London, was funded to travel extensively around the globe to search out incriminating material with which to nail Ribadu.

In what EFCC insiders described as a scam, Uwajeh fed Mrs. Waziri’s obsession by passing her information he gathered from the Internet, especially on websites that offer background checks and property information on individuals for as low as $5.

 Uwajeh’s hunt for Ribadu was soon expanded to include the operators of Saharareporters, leading to a series of paid advertisements in Nigerian dailies (in 2008) in which Omoyele Sowore was alleged to own four properties worth millions of dollars in the New York area.  One of those properties, it turned out, was actually a student hostel owned by the Columbia University in New York.

 For his part, Ribadu was accused of owning houses in London through one Fatima Ribadu and several other Ribadus that once lived together as students in another apartment housing complex in California.

“Uwajeh had a habit of packaging all this useless information and handing them over to Femi Babafemi, a former Sun newspaper reporter with links to Buba Marwa. The Sun, a Nigerian tabloid, is owned by former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu. Before long, major Nigerian newspapers, including the Daily Trust, wrote headlines alleging that Ribadu owned expensive properties in several cities around the world.

Our sources revealed that Mrs. Waziri was ecstatic when a group of self-acclaimed “anti-corruption” lawyers, Charles Ogboli and Osuagwu Ugochukwu, sued Ribadu before a federal high court claiming that they had obtained concrete information about his ownership of a villa in Dubai. The fate of that case remains foggy, but the police later charged Osuagwu and his colleague with extortion.

Sources told Saharareporters that the relationship between Mrs. Waziri and Uwajeh went sour over a number of bad deals. “Uwajeh was threatened and told to shush up,” one of the sources, an EFCC agent, told us. He added that, “Madam [Waziri] wasn’t sure that Uwajeh, who knows far too, would not spill the beans, she decided to arrest and detain him.” 

Uwajeh was first held for 15 days at an underground detention cell at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, shackled to the ground. “Madam had hoped she would break him and secure his total cooperation in stopping any kind of negative publicity regarding her shenanigans,” said an EFCC source.

Uwajeh, who was recently released on bail by an Abuja High Court after spending another 30 days in Kuje Prison, “is afraid for his life and has gone underground to avoid getting killed by Mrs. Waziri’s agents,” a source told us.

One of our several EFCC sources, who participated in the investigation of Mr. Uwajeh, told Saharareporters that Mrs. Waziri’s affair with Uwajeh “is so messy that it has brought the agency to total ridicule.” In his view, shared by other agents who spoke to us, Waziri’s conduct “shows that she is totally incompetent and terribly corrupt – which was revealed in information retrieved from Uwajeh’s house when he was arrested.” The documents, including some photographs of Mrs. Waziri in Mr. Uwajeh’s house, speak of “a very close and inappropriate relationship between them,” said a source who has seen the information.

Saharareporters investigations reveal that Mr. Uwajeh was used in investigating a total of 72 cases.  Four of them were ordered directly by Yar’Adua and are regarded as classified. The four classified investigations included the discreet ones carried out against former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, former Lagos Governor, Bola Tinubu, former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, and former FCT Minister, Nasri El-Rufai. Other investigations done by Uwajeh included those of jailed PDP chieftain, Bode George’s properties in London, former Central Bank Governor Charles Soludo’s joint ownership of property in the UK with Emmanuel Ojei, and former Edo State governor, Lucky Igbinedion.

What emerged from our extensive investigations is that Mrs. Waziri used Uwajeh to help find rich targets who could be extorted for large bribes. “That’s why Uwajeh was charged with conducting specific extra-agency investigations,” said a source. “The target would soon run to meet with Mrs. Waziri, who would then extort money from them and order Uwajeh to let go.”

One source told Saharareporters that Mrs. Waziri sought and received $2 million from Charles Soludo after Mr. Uwajeh exposed his corruption in a discreet investigation and handed over the files to her.

Uwajeh’s work also forced Lucky Igbinedion to settle for a plea bargain rather than face trial, and he reportedly handed $3 million to the EFCC chairperson for the privilege. Igbinedion was subsequently hauled before the judge trying his case and let off the hook after he was fined a paltry N3.5 million, an amount he paid from his pocket in the courtroom. The uproar led Mrs. Waziri to order an “appeal” on the matter; almost a year and half later, nothing has been heard about it.

EFCC investigators also said that Uwajeh also detailed how he helped Mrs. Waziri to circumvent the agency’s structures in carrying out investigations on politicians and other targets who ran to her with offers of hefty bribes.

One of such targets is Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, who cried out when Uwajeh put her under his klieg lights following Mrs. Waziri’s instructions.  The reason for going after Akunyili was her perceived closeness to “First Lady” Turai Yar’Adua. In 2009, Mrs. Akunyili wrote a strong letter to Mrs. Waziri protesting Mr. Uwajeh’s activities, including his accusation that she owned Flat 10 Claddagh Court Kingdom Road, NW 61PH, UK. In the letter, Akunyili said she was being blackmailed. Mrs. Waziri never censured Mr. Uwajeh, nor did she publicly refute Mrs. Akunyili’s allegation of blackmail.

Our sources said Mrs. Waziri also forced Uwajeh to set up an anti-corruption group in London that ended up issuing press releases in newspapers to praise her work or recommend to the EFCC those public officials that deserved to be investigated. For instance, a group known as “Anti-Corruption Watch UK” sent out press statements claiming that it would hold a rally in Trafalgar Square London on Saturday 26th July 2008 to call for the prosecution of Liyel Imoke, the former Minister for Power and now Governor of Cross River, for his role in the mismanagement of $16 billion. In the statement signed by “Barrister Akanye,” the group claimed 2,000 Nigerians had been mobilized for the rally.

Our sources pointed out that the threat of that rally (which never took place) was a ploy used by Waziri and Uwajeh to drive Liyel Imoke, who was scared after his fraudulent “election” was reversed by the Court of Appeal on July 14 2008, into the waiting hands of Mrs. Waziri and the former Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa. Our sources said that Aondoakaa and Waziri together milked Imoke of over $10 million. That pay-off ensured that Imoke was never arrested by the EFCC despite his loss of immunity after the Court of Appeal’s ruling. The electoral commission later “re-awarded” him the court-ordered re-election and he regained his immunity from prosecution.

Our sources said that Mrs. Waziri was first introduced to Uwajeh by her friend, Mrs. Pauline Kedem Tallen, the current Deputy Governor of Plateau State, when her husband was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Turkey and Mrs. Waziri hustled all over Abuja selling gold jewelry.
 
Uwajeh then sealed the relationship with Waziri through marriage: his current and third wife’s mother is a relative of Mrs. Waziri.

The Cecilia Ibru Case:
The arrest, detention and subsequent prosecution of Mr. Uwajeh was founded on allegations that he tried to obtain a bribe of $2 million from Mrs. Ibru, the embattled former CEO of Oceanic Bank PLC, who is currently facing trial at the Federal High Court for financially gutting her bank.

In statements made to EFCC interrogators, Mr. Uwajeh admitted he forged the letter-headed paper he used to obtain information from Prince Georges County in Maryland, US in search of Mrs. Ibru’s properties, but insists he did so with Mrs. Waziri’s permission. He explained that he was already in the US and needed the information urgently, and getting an original letter from Nigeria would have wasted another week. “So Waziri agreed that he should produce a fake letter,” said one of our sources. Mrs. Waziri has not denied issuing a letter authorizing Uwajeh to investigate on EFCC's behalf. An affidavit sworn-to by Uwajeh and obtained by Saharareporters demonstrates clearly that he was one of the most important investigators used by Mrs. Waziri to institute investigations into Mrs. Ibru’s financial affairs.

Among the claims in the affidavit, Mr. Uwajeh swears:

 "On Cecilia Ibru that after I concluded Cecilia Ibru investigation I spoke with Mrs. Farida Waziri while she was on lesser hajj in Saudi in August. That she instructed me to submit the file to the director of operations, Mr. Stephen Otitioju, and when I called Bala Sanga the PSO to Mrs. Farida Waziri, he told me that director of operations was in Lagos.

That I traveled to Lagos with all the documents and submitted to Mr. Stephen Otitioju in his office on the first floor at Awolowo Road Ikoyi Lagos.

That while in London in one of my trips, my phone rang and the person on the other side introduced herself as Cecilia Ibru. She called from telephone 234 802 778 7777 to my telephone in UK 44 7856 288711.

That she Cecilia Ibru told me that she has been informed that I am the person investigating her matter.

That I queried her as to how she got my London telephone number but she declined to tell me.

That she Mrs. Cecilia Ibru pleaded with me to allow her see me on my return to Nigeria, which I obliged and gave her my Nigerian telephone number.

That when I returned to Nigeria, she came to my house at Wuse 2 in a BMW 7 series car in the company of someone who drove her.

That she asked me how I could assist her to have smooth landings with her case. I told her that I have submitted her file to the office and was not in a position to assist her.

That not quite three days after she came to my house, the list of her properties all over the world was published in virtually all the national dailies.

That thereafter she put a call across to me threatening me that I have published the list of her properties and that she was going to deal with me.

That at no time did I release to the press the properties of Cecilia Ibru."

Several top EFCC agents told Saharareporters that the crisis between Uwajeh and Mrs. Waziri is symptomatic of the general rot at the EFCC under her control. “She is paranoid in her style and she has polarized the EFCC,” said one of the agents. Upon taking over the EFCC, she kicked out most of the well-trained officers, some of them trained in the US and UK. Assassins in Abuja recently murdered one of the top officers she pushed out from the agency. Numerous EFCC agents complained that Waziri used her closest kinsmen to take effective control of the EFCC. Her own brother serves as her personal assistant while some of the most powerful lawyers at the EFCC are from her home state, Benue. One of them, Godwin Obla, has made so much money from the agency that he recently built a N1 billion house in Abuja.

Mrs. Waziri has also checkmated or neutralized the board of the agency that is charged with looking into her activities. “She has effectively paralyzed the board,” said a distraught board member.  The Secretary to the board, Emmanuel Akomaye, was at the receiving end of a series of media attacks reportedly sponsored by Mrs. Waziri. She also fought the erstwhile head of operations, Tunde Ogunsakin, accusing him of examination malpractices at the University of Abuja where he was studying law. Though he was never officially charged with a crime, Mr. Ogunsakin was dropped from the EFCC.

To keep a lid on Stephen Otitioju, she has refused to confirm him as a full-fledged “director of operations,” a ploy to ensure that he remains loyal to her.


Waziri’s intimidation of Uwajeh bears striking resemblance to her earlier mode of sacrificing one of her “men,” Terry Waya. Waya was similarly arrested and detained by the EFCC for alleged “extortion.” He was later transferred to the SSS to shut him up, but when he came out of detention he threatened to release text messages exchanged between him and Mrs. Waziri, some at odd hours of the night. She has not since refrained from harassing or charging him with any crimes.

“Regarding Mr. Uwajeh, I can tell you that Mrs. Waziri is again on familiar territory of using individuals to engage in criminal acts of extortion and then dumping them and even using malicious prosecution against them,” said a former EFCC official who said he speaks with many current officials who are disappointed with Mrs. Waziri’s ways. 

Apart from being engaged as an EFCC “investigator,” Mr. Uwajeh was also used to strike other EFCC deals. He was contracted to make the first badges used for the so-called “Anti Corruption Revolution” (ANCOR).  Our EFCC sources said Uwajeh also initiated, designed, paid for and delivered the badges to the EFCC for the first ANCOR launch with Yar’Adua in attendance in Abuja. Yar’Adua and other government officials were adorned with Uwajeh’s lapel pins. Uwajeh also reportedly designed, paid for and delivered from the UK the sheriff badges for senior staff of the EFCC.

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