May 21, 2008
Fresh controversies continue to dog the nomination of Mrs. Farida Waziri as the new chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Today in Abuja, Mrs. Waziri’s nomination stirred a drama both in the Senate as well as at EFCC headquarters. At a charged session, senators approved a motion directing Mrs. Waziri to cease and desist from resuming office in any capacity until her appointment is fully confirmed by the legislative body.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Waziri had to hurriedly scamper away from the EFCC headquarters in Abuja where she had gone to receive handing over notes from Ibrahim Lamorde, the agency’s outgoing acting chairman. It was her second visit to the agency’s offices since last week’s announcement of her appointment as head of the EFCC.
Mrs. Waziri’s nomination has been trailed with widespread condemnation after Umar Yar'adua named her to head the anti-corruption agency, succumbing to pressure from corrupt former and serving governors who picked her. Sources familiar with the backroom deals that forced Yar’adua to accept her told Saharareporters that the corrupt governors know Mrs. Waziri “to be a pliable candidate, a willing tool in their campaign to sabotage the EFCC and free the governors from serious prosecution.”
A day after Mrs. Waziri was named to the top EFCC post, Attorney General Michael Kaase Andoakaa and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara, arranged to have her chauffeur-driven to the EFCC headquarters. She met with EFCC officials in the absence of Mr. Lamorde who had to cut short his participation in a two-week cyber crime conference in Australia.
Shortly after Saharareporters released a detailed report on the circumstances that led to Mrs. Waziri’s nomination by corrupt elements within Yar'adua's kitchen cabinet, a flurry of activities started among Nigerian lawmakers. The chairman of the Senate committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Anti-corruption, Senator Sola Akinyede, fired a letter to Mr. Aondoakaa to register his protest over her appointment. Mr. Aondoakaa reportedly wrote back citing the constitutional powers of the "president" to appoint her to the acting position.
The Justice Minister’s response did not convince the lawmakers, hence their statement that Mrs. Waziri should not resume in office until her nomination is cleared.
But Attorney General Aondoakaa, working with Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mike Okiro and Governor Saraki, encouraged Mrs. Waziri, who had stayed away from the EFCC all along, to resume this morning.
About 11 AM, she was seen entering the EFCC headquarters where she reportedly met with Mr. Lamorde and Steve Akomaye, the EFCC secretary. However, in the midst of receiving briefings, Mrs. Waziri hastily packed her things and left the building at 12 Noon to the surprise of staff members. She did not receive any handover notes before departing.
A source has told Saharareporters that Mrs. Waziri had apparently received word, while still meeting with EFCC officials, that angry senators had demanded that she not resume work until they approve her nomination. The Senate today passed a resolution that due process was not followed in her appointment.
In a related development, there is a snag in the expected resumption of Tunde Ogunshakin, the former head of Investigations at the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) who was seconded to the EFCC. His appointment is stalled over disagreement between the EFCC and the IG of police, who appointed Mr. Ogunshakin to the position of "Director of Operations" at the EFCC. A source at the anti-corruption agency told us that the police boss has no constitutional power to dictate the specific designation of any EFCC officer.
An anonymous source told Saharareporters that it is the duty of the EFCC chairperson, with the ratification of the board, to assign portfolio to its staff members drawn from different agencies of the Federal Government. The Senate has yet to confirm the board members or the chairperson as required by law. The source explained that it was not the duty of the Inspector General of Police to assign titles to police officers seconded to the EFCC.
A similar attempt by Okiro to impose a "Director of Operations" on the ICPC to take Ogunshakin's place has been repudiated, according to reports in several Nigerian newspapers. An ICPC spokesperson disclosed that the IG overreached himself by assigning an officer to a position that does not exist within the ICPC. The ICPC only has a provision for a "Head of Investigations," but Okiro had posted to it a "Director of Operations".
As Saharareporters revealed earlier, Okiro is part of the group working to take over and emasculate the EFCC. The desperation to fulfill his part of the bargain had led him to engage in a series of poorly executed operations. Okiro had earlier handed Mrs. Waziri a list of police officers to be posted to the EFCC, but the Senate rebuke against her the shoddy manner of her appointment stopped her from acting upon the list. The Nigerian Police Force has over 300 police officers attached to the EFCC. The agency’s 1300 work force is drawn from several security agencies.
Even as the Senate’s initial resistance to the planting of Mrs. Waziri has put Mr. Yar'adua in an uncomfortable spotlight, the elements who conspired to plant her are said to be basking in the agency’s rudderless lack of focus. “Governor Bukola Saraki, former Governor James Ibori, Attorney General Aondoakaa as well as controversial London-based socialite Terry Waya, are having a hearty laugh,” a source close to them told us. “As long as the EFCC doesn’t have a credible leader, their plan has succeeded.”
The EFCC is without a substantive head, since IGP Mike Okiro has hurriedly transferred Lamorde to Bauchi as an Area Commander at a police Zone in Ningi. “The team of corrupt ex-governors and their serving collaborators in the Yar'adua kitchen cabinet had always wanted to liquidate the EFCC and they must be relishing their victory so far,” volunteered a lawyer familiar with EFCC operations.
“The entire agency is paralyzed,” one EFCC agent told Saharareporters. “No operations or investigations are going on at the EFCC at the moment. Morale is very low.”
Yesterday, during a meeting between a "repackaged" Yar'adua and publishers of Nigerian newspapers, Yar’adua beamed as former Governor Ibori introduced himself as the publisher of Daily Independent newspaper. A source in Aso Rock told Saharareporters that Ibori was behind the recruitment of the publishers who attended the event. Saharareporters had earlier reported the fresh plans by Yar'adua to get cozier with the already compromised local media in Nigeria as he plans to carry out more controversial appointments in the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), where his wife, Turai, is fighting for complete control. Yar’adua is close to staffing other sectors with persons of shady background to be picked up mostly from Katsina State and a few other parts of Northern Nigeria.
Yesterday, former Senator Mohammed Abba Aji from Borno State was appointed as presidential liaison to the National Assembly. The new legislative liaison, who hails from the home state of the Secretary to the Federal Government, Baba Gana Kingibe, was instrumental in facilitating the bribe of Justice Uwani Abba Aji, a member of the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal which gave a bizarre verdict upholding Yar’adua’s “election.” Justice Abba Aji was the last member of the tribunal to accept financial inducement in exchange for the controversial ruling. The appointment of Senator Abba Aji, the justice’s brother-in-law, is seen as compensation for his effort in persuading her to go along with the validation of Yar’adua’s widely flawed “election.”
Today in Abuja, Mrs. Waziri’s nomination stirred a drama both in the Senate as well as at EFCC headquarters. At a charged session, senators approved a motion directing Mrs. Waziri to cease and desist from resuming office in any capacity until her appointment is fully confirmed by the legislative body.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Waziri had to hurriedly scamper away from the EFCC headquarters in Abuja where she had gone to receive handing over notes from Ibrahim Lamorde, the agency’s outgoing acting chairman. It was her second visit to the agency’s offices since last week’s announcement of her appointment as head of the EFCC.
Mrs. Waziri’s nomination has been trailed with widespread condemnation after Umar Yar'adua named her to head the anti-corruption agency, succumbing to pressure from corrupt former and serving governors who picked her. Sources familiar with the backroom deals that forced Yar’adua to accept her told Saharareporters that the corrupt governors know Mrs. Waziri “to be a pliable candidate, a willing tool in their campaign to sabotage the EFCC and free the governors from serious prosecution.”
A day after Mrs. Waziri was named to the top EFCC post, Attorney General Michael Kaase Andoakaa and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara, arranged to have her chauffeur-driven to the EFCC headquarters. She met with EFCC officials in the absence of Mr. Lamorde who had to cut short his participation in a two-week cyber crime conference in Australia.
Shortly after Saharareporters released a detailed report on the circumstances that led to Mrs. Waziri’s nomination by corrupt elements within Yar'adua's kitchen cabinet, a flurry of activities started among Nigerian lawmakers. The chairman of the Senate committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Anti-corruption, Senator Sola Akinyede, fired a letter to Mr. Aondoakaa to register his protest over her appointment. Mr. Aondoakaa reportedly wrote back citing the constitutional powers of the "president" to appoint her to the acting position.
The Justice Minister’s response did not convince the lawmakers, hence their statement that Mrs. Waziri should not resume in office until her nomination is cleared.
But Attorney General Aondoakaa, working with Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mike Okiro and Governor Saraki, encouraged Mrs. Waziri, who had stayed away from the EFCC all along, to resume this morning.
About 11 AM, she was seen entering the EFCC headquarters where she reportedly met with Mr. Lamorde and Steve Akomaye, the EFCC secretary. However, in the midst of receiving briefings, Mrs. Waziri hastily packed her things and left the building at 12 Noon to the surprise of staff members. She did not receive any handover notes before departing.
A source has told Saharareporters that Mrs. Waziri had apparently received word, while still meeting with EFCC officials, that angry senators had demanded that she not resume work until they approve her nomination. The Senate today passed a resolution that due process was not followed in her appointment.
In a related development, there is a snag in the expected resumption of Tunde Ogunshakin, the former head of Investigations at the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) who was seconded to the EFCC. His appointment is stalled over disagreement between the EFCC and the IG of police, who appointed Mr. Ogunshakin to the position of "Director of Operations" at the EFCC. A source at the anti-corruption agency told us that the police boss has no constitutional power to dictate the specific designation of any EFCC officer.
An anonymous source told Saharareporters that it is the duty of the EFCC chairperson, with the ratification of the board, to assign portfolio to its staff members drawn from different agencies of the Federal Government. The Senate has yet to confirm the board members or the chairperson as required by law. The source explained that it was not the duty of the Inspector General of Police to assign titles to police officers seconded to the EFCC.
A similar attempt by Okiro to impose a "Director of Operations" on the ICPC to take Ogunshakin's place has been repudiated, according to reports in several Nigerian newspapers. An ICPC spokesperson disclosed that the IG overreached himself by assigning an officer to a position that does not exist within the ICPC. The ICPC only has a provision for a "Head of Investigations," but Okiro had posted to it a "Director of Operations".
As Saharareporters revealed earlier, Okiro is part of the group working to take over and emasculate the EFCC. The desperation to fulfill his part of the bargain had led him to engage in a series of poorly executed operations. Okiro had earlier handed Mrs. Waziri a list of police officers to be posted to the EFCC, but the Senate rebuke against her the shoddy manner of her appointment stopped her from acting upon the list. The Nigerian Police Force has over 300 police officers attached to the EFCC. The agency’s 1300 work force is drawn from several security agencies.
Even as the Senate’s initial resistance to the planting of Mrs. Waziri has put Mr. Yar'adua in an uncomfortable spotlight, the elements who conspired to plant her are said to be basking in the agency’s rudderless lack of focus. “Governor Bukola Saraki, former Governor James Ibori, Attorney General Aondoakaa as well as controversial London-based socialite Terry Waya, are having a hearty laugh,” a source close to them told us. “As long as the EFCC doesn’t have a credible leader, their plan has succeeded.”
The EFCC is without a substantive head, since IGP Mike Okiro has hurriedly transferred Lamorde to Bauchi as an Area Commander at a police Zone in Ningi. “The team of corrupt ex-governors and their serving collaborators in the Yar'adua kitchen cabinet had always wanted to liquidate the EFCC and they must be relishing their victory so far,” volunteered a lawyer familiar with EFCC operations.
“The entire agency is paralyzed,” one EFCC agent told Saharareporters. “No operations or investigations are going on at the EFCC at the moment. Morale is very low.”
Yesterday, during a meeting between a "repackaged" Yar'adua and publishers of Nigerian newspapers, Yar’adua beamed as former Governor Ibori introduced himself as the publisher of Daily Independent newspaper. A source in Aso Rock told Saharareporters that Ibori was behind the recruitment of the publishers who attended the event. Saharareporters had earlier reported the fresh plans by Yar'adua to get cozier with the already compromised local media in Nigeria as he plans to carry out more controversial appointments in the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), where his wife, Turai, is fighting for complete control. Yar’adua is close to staffing other sectors with persons of shady background to be picked up mostly from Katsina State and a few other parts of Northern Nigeria.
Yesterday, former Senator Mohammed Abba Aji from Borno State was appointed as presidential liaison to the National Assembly. The new legislative liaison, who hails from the home state of the Secretary to the Federal Government, Baba Gana Kingibe, was instrumental in facilitating the bribe of Justice Uwani Abba Aji, a member of the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal which gave a bizarre verdict upholding Yar’adua’s “election.” Justice Abba Aji was the last member of the tribunal to accept financial inducement in exchange for the controversial ruling. The appointment of Senator Abba Aji, the justice’s brother-in-law, is seen as compensation for his effort in persuading her to go along with the validation of Yar’adua’s widely flawed “election.”
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