June 4, 2008
On her maiden appearance at the Senate Tuesday last week, Mrs. Farida Mzamber Waziri, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police and new acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), looked matronly like a school teacher. Wearing a skirt and blouse, made of ankara fabric, she still managed to appear elegant and even beautiful in an understated way. It was a departure from what she seemed in her first stream of published images, which showed her heavily bejewelled and depicted her as the soul-of-the-party type.
Waziri was at the Senate on the invitation of the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption, which wanted her to confirm or deny whether she had assumed duty.
Her appearance was preceded by that of Ibrahim Lamorde, former acting Chairman, who came to brief the committee on the state of affairs in the commission. Waziri was appointed on 15 May by President Umar Yar’Adua and directed to resume immediately as replacement for Lamorde, who has been redeployed to the Bauchi State Police Command. Lamorde took over the running of the EFCC from Nuhu Ribadu, its substantive Chairman, who was controversially sent on a one-year course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Jos.
The directive for Waziri’s immediate assumption of office drew the ire of the Senate, which accused Yar’Adua of an attempt to usurp its powers.
The Senate further expressed its pique by ordering Waziri to stay away from the commission until the process of her appointment was completed. The decision was taken after a debate by senators over the propriety of her assuming office as acting chairman before the confirmation of her appointment by the Senate. David Mark, President of the Senate, instructed the Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption, Sola Akinyede, to carry out the Senate’s decision. “Go and find out if she has resumed because she has no business going there before this Senate confirms her. If she has resumed, my honest advice is for you to tell her not to resume until she is confirmed. In my layman understanding, if an appointment has to get our confirmation, the person cannot resume before we confirm,” Mark said.
He added that Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, had given an impression that the President can make appointments even when such are said to be subject to Senate confirmation. According to Section 2 (3) of the EFCC Act (2004), “The chairman and members of the commission other than ex-officio members shall be appointed by the President and their appointments shall be subject to the confirmation of the Senate.”
Aondoakaa had written a letter to the Senate, saying Yar’Adua’s action was covered by Chapter 123, Section 11 of the Interpretation Act, which states that where an Act confers a power to appoint a person either to an office or to exercise any functions, whether for a specified period or not, such includes: (a) power to appoint a person by name or to appoint the holder from time to time of a particular office (b) power to remove or power to suspend (c) power, exercisable in the manner as to even reinstate, re-appoint or appoint a person in acting capacity either generally or in regard to specified functions during such time as is considered expedient by the authority in whom the power of appointment in question is vested.
Of Aondoakaa’s letter, Akinyede said: “I was informed that Mr. President has appointed someone in an acting capacity. I find that worrisome and that was why I wrote a letter to the AGF. My fear is that if this is allowed to go, I am afraid, it is going to signal the end of checks and balances between the Legislature and the Executive. If you allow this to happen, we will open a floodgate of such appointments.”
The Senate then suspended Waziri’s screening and confirmation on grounds that she may have assumed duty before her name was sent to the Senate.
But the Senate’s action has attracted criticism from some quarters. Abubakar Tsav, a retired police commissioner, accused the Senate of double standards and an attempt to stunt the anti-corruption war. “How is the due process breached? If we are truly serious in our fight against corruption, then we should be more concerned with capability than procedure. There is a cabal in this country, which believes that certain appointments are their birthright and unfortunately, the Nigerian Senate seems to be supporting this cabal. Where is patriotism? Where is that democracy? Where is justice and fairness? It would seem our Senate is operating double standards. When the Accountant-General was appointed without reference to the National Assembly, the Senate kept quiet. Similarly, when Nuhu Ribadu (former EFCC Chairman) was appointed without similar reference, the Senate kept quiet. Why the fuss over the appointment of Mrs.Waziri?” he asked.
Further support for Waziri came from the House of Representatives, which disagreed with the Senate, arguing that President Yar‘Adua is right by virtue of the powers conferred on him in Section 154 (1) of the Constitution.
Speaking through Chairman, House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Dave Salako and Chairman, House Committee on Inter-Governmental Affairs, Leo Ogor, the House argued that Section 147(2) of the Constitution relied on by the Senate relates only to ministerial appointments, and is different from the meaning of Section 154 (1).
“A case to support what the President did was President Shehu Shagari’s appointment of Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey as Acting Judge and National Assembly’s opposition to it in the Second Republic. The matter went to the Supreme Court and its judgment was that the President had the right to appoint Ovie-Whiskey in an acting capacity,” said Salako. Ogor also stressed that the interpretation of Act 2004 of the Laws of the Federation should have guided the Senate in appreciating Yar’Adua’s position on Waziri’s appointment. “The Senate should differentiate the meaning of the provisions of Section 147(2) from Section 154 (1). The current disagreement between the Executive and the Senate on this matter is not in the country’s interest,” he said.
A Senate source, however, said some members are already softening their stance, while others remain opposed to Waziri. Each position is determined by the interest propelling its individual holder.Outside the National Assembly, Waziri’s appointment has also generated huge interest. The Movement Against Corruption, an advocacy group, called for its immediate revocation and accused Yar’Adua of an assault on the rule of law and due process. Abdul Rahman Ahmad, leader of the group, said the appointment of two acting chairmen for the EFCC within five months is an indication that the federal government is not serious about the anti-corruption war.
Similarly, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, CDHR, and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, jointly called on the United Nations Office of Drugs and Corruption, UNODC, to prevail on the federal government to reverse Waziri’s appointment and comply fully with its national and international anti-corruption commitments and due process.
The groups criticised the government for appointing Waziri without first submitting her name to the Nigerian Senate as required by the EFCC Act. “As a state party to the UN convention against corruption, Nigeria voluntarily assumes a clear obligation to act in good faith and to diligently strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively, and to ensure that national anti-corruption institutions are granted the necessary independence to enable them carry out their functions free of any undue influence,” the organisations said.
Apart from accusing the government of acting in bad faith, the groups also argued that the manner of Waziri’s appointment amounts to political interference in the work of the EFCC, a development capable of undermining the credibility of the agency. Waziri’s emergence is widely considered the end to the tenure of Ribadu who, technically, remains the head of EFCC despite being on course. If Ribadu is supplanted by Waziri, as is most likely, said a lawyer, it would be in contravention of Section 2 of the EFCC Act which prescribes only two conditions for the removal of the EFCC Chairman. These, he said, are ill health or if his conduct gravely affects public interest. However, neither has been adduced.
Until her appointment, only a few Nigerians outside the Police Force, from where she retired in 2000, and the upper end of the nation’s social circles, knew Waziri.
She joined the Police in 1965 with her primary school leaving certificate and later went on to bag first and second degrees in Law as well as a master’s in Strategic Studies. Waziri is described by her supporters as bright, tough and well thought of in Police circles, attributes that are being feverishly sold to local and international observers of Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade. Already, her appointment has been lauded by the International Police Organisation, Interpol; United States Homeland Security Department; and the Pro-National Conference Organisation, PRONACO. DAILY INDEPENDENT quoted one Kevin Hughes, an official of the Homeland Security Department, as saying: “Her (Waziri’s) background as a first-class police officer has equipped her for the job and we will give her all the support she needs to succeed.”
While her educational qualifications seem to confirm her as bright, police sources describe her as morally frail and see her appointment as a presidential plot to castrate the EFCC.
Since retiring in 2000, Waziri has been in private business, selling jewellery. A source described her as the nation’s biggest jewellery dealer. Given that her business is strictly for the well-heeled, she has acquired many friends among the rich, powerful and, said a source, the crooked.
On her list of friends are General Ibrahim Babangida, former military president; Chief James Ibori, former governor of Delta State; Senator George Akume, former governor of Benue State; Ahmed Sani Yerima, former governor of Zamfara State; Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State; Dr. Bukola Saraki, Kwara State governor; Aondoakaa; Chief Fred Ajudua, acclaimed fraudster; and Andy Uba, a former presidential aide.
She is also said to be familiar with the EFCC, where she regularly visited to plead on behalf of suspects detained by the commission. Presidency sources told TheNEWS an EFCC official once walked her out of his office for coming to plead on behalf of Ajudua, who was facing 419 charges. The source also disclosed that she stood as surety for Senator Akume, former Benue State governor, and signed for the release of his travel passport seized by the EFCC. Akume is currently facing corruption charges and, like many of Waziri’s friends, is no fan of Nuhu Ribadu.
Even her records in the police have been questioned. According to critics, she posted no spectacular performance while she served at the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, and in the Failed Banks Tribunal of the Sani Abacha regime. They continue to ask Waziri’s promoters to list the cases she cracked.
So what recommended her? Friendship with those who feel threatened by EFCC’s activities, said sources. The most prominent members of this clan are former and serving governors, some of whom provided financial and logistical support for Yar’Adua’s emergence as president. Chief among these is Ibori, who Yar’Adua had wanted to reward with the position of Special Adviser on Petroleum Matters; and Saraki, incumbent Kwara State governor. Though he missed out, Ibori had a big say in the choice of Aondoakaa as the Attorney-General.
To prove beyond reasonable doubt exactly where Waziri is coming from, the story of her appointment to replace Ribadu was broken, by Daily Independent, a newspaper owned by James Ibori some months ago. Initially, it was denied by elements in the Yar’Adua administration. Was it simply a case of testing the waters?
Yet, Ibori is not the only patently corrupt Nigerian who favours Waziri. She is said to be very close to Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd).Babangida is said to enjoy considerable support in the House of Representatives and it was not a surprise to observers of political trends in the country when the House of Representatives attacked the Senate over its dithering on the ratification of Farida Waziri’s appointment last week. A good number of members of the House of Representatives were reportedly sponsored into the house by General Babangida, who continues to plot his way back into the vortex of power.
Presidency sources disclosed that when Yar’Adua–a former governor himself–was forming his cabinet, he offered his former colleagues the chance to make nominations for positions. Nearly all of them, this medium gathered, suggested names for the post of Attorney-General. Yar’Adua was said to have wondered why there was no rush to suggest names for juicy ministries like the Ministry of Works. Ibori was said to have suggested the name of his finance commissioner for the headship of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE. It was gathered that preference for the BPE was informed by the desire of those who had looted public funds to buy into government corporations, thereby ‘legitimising’ their loot. But when Yar’Adua decided to retain Dr. Irene Chigbue, BPE Director-General, on Ribadu’s advice, the scheming clan turned its gaze on the anti-graft agencies. It was a well-considered strategy, given that about 15 of them had been investigated by the Ribadu-led EFCC for graft.
But the first position secured was that of the Inspector-General of Police, which went to Mike Okiro.
Though Okiro is the one shooting on behalf of the governors, the ammunition was largely supplied by Aondoakaa, who was Akume’s lawyer in the former governor’s case with the EFCC.
Just one week into his appointment in his office, the AGF supplied the first cache when he announced his readiness to strip the EFCC and its cousin, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, of prosecutorial powers. A few weeks later, he announced that all prosecutorial powers were derivable from his ministry. Coming a few weeks after Aondoakaa’s threat to clip EFCC’s wings, the government was widely viewed as planning to interfere with the workings of the agency. The AGF then announced that Yar’Adua had approved it as the direction for the new dispensation. Thus began a fractious relationship between Ribadu and the AGF. This would worsen a few weeks later during the hearing of EFCC’s case against former Governor Kalu of Abia State, who was facing money laundering charges before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
When the case was mentioned lawyers from both the EFCC and the AGF’s office turned up as prosecutors. Salihu Aliyu, Director of Public Prosecution in the Ministry of Justice, represented the AGF, while Adebisi Adeniyi represented the EFCC. A surprised Adeniyi said: “I am at loss at the representation of the DPP in this matter because we are counsel on record in this case. This matter was initiated by the EFCC. If the AGF is taking over the case, this is not tidy enough.”
The DPP, however, denied that the AGF was taking over the case, but said he (DPP) appeared to clear some “grey areas” reported to the AGF’s office. The DPP said Kalu’s lawyers had written to the AGF that their client was arrested in breach of court order restraining the commission from doing so. He argued that Kalu’s petition was written because of government’s assurance that it would abide by the rule of law and due process and that the arrest was an embarrassment to the government. Aondoakaa would later add that he risked being committed for contempt of court. The last claim was curious because the AGF was not a party to the suit and therefore could not have faced contempt charges.
On the surface, the DPP’s argument seemed valid. However, the AGF’s office, upon receipt of the petition, had failed to bring it to EFCC’s notice, even for comment, before replying that “the AGF has directed immediate compliance with all court orders, including of course, the one secured by your client.”
It was a supreme example of playing the prosecutor and the defendant, rubbishing the government’s claim of non-interference.
Of the saga, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, ICPC Chairman, said: “Although the AGF has the constitutional powers to take over any case no matter who instituted it, such a take-over must be discussed between the AGF and the agency involved. What was embarrassing was the method that was employed in the said take-over. If the AGF wants to take over any case, he must make his reasons for such a take-over public. The public deserves to know the reasons; this is not done anywhere. There is a lot of suspicion so far on the move to take over the Kalu case.”
But the biggest factor in Waziri’s emergence is Saraki, the Kwara governor. Waziri, said sources, was used by Saraki to plead with the EFCC hierarchy to lay off the matter of the now defunct Societe Generale Bank, SGBN, which died in the hands of the governor, then an executive director; his father and chairman, Dr. Olusola Saraki; and other directors. Waziri is also credited with using her EFCC contacts to stave off further investigation of the Sarakis, whose wealth in Nigeria and the United Kingdom grew bigger just as the fortunes of their bank slid. Between 1999 and 2003, the most critical period in the life of the SGBN, Governor Saraki acquired 15 luxury cars, which included a Ferrari with a price tag of N240 million. He and his wife, Toyin, also purchased houses in London worth 10 million pounds. By the end of 2003, the SGBN had overdrawn its capital base at the Central Bank of Nigeria by N11 billion. The bank’s financial dealings were so bad that it was sent out of the clearing house by June 2003, a month after Governor Saraki made frantic efforts to transfer Kwara State accounts to the bank to save it from total collapse. In 2004, the EFCC arrested Saraki senior and interrogated him. But with father and son realising how zealous Ribadu was, they moved to avoid further embarrassment by teaming up with other elements to get him out of his post first.
The first sign that Ribadu would be eased out of his seat manifested last December, when ThisDAY ran a story that said Okiro had been directed to issue a memo to Ribadu asking him to proceed to NIPSS for course. The story spawned similar ones in the nation’s media, forcing Okiro to call a press conference at which he insisted that Ribadu must go on course. However, the IG explained that it was not true, as being reported, that the government wanted to ease him out of the EFCC on the prompting of some powerful interests.
“He is not being sent on a course for any ulterior motive other than the reasons which he satisfies. He is not being sent to the NIPSS on the prompting of any external bodies. I am not a politician; I am not succumbing to whims and caprices of politicians as being speculated,” Okiro said.
But the trouble with that, writes Azubiuke Ishiekwene in The Trial Of Nuhu Ribadu, is: “Under police rules, which he (Okiro) later referred to, an officer who has reached the post of Assistant Inspector-General of Police and who wanted to move up in the force must go to the National Institute. He would be correct if the officer on secondment to the EFCC was still subject to police internal administrative rules.”
However, under Section 11 of the EFCC Act, only the agency can send its officers on course. Okiro’s citing of police rules was eventually exposed as a ruse by Aondoakaa, who said: “The IG must have sought and obtained the approval of the President. I do not know the IG to be a frivolous officer. The IG sent seven names for training and it is the President that gave approval for them to go on course.”
One of those names was Lamorde’s. But with the decibel of public criticism rising, the government beat a retreat and claimed that the Lamorde on the list was Timothy, a civil servant, and not Ibrahim of the EFCC.
Ribadu’s departure to Kuru was preceded by the arrest of Ibori on 11 December 2007 and arraignment at the Federal High Court in Kaduna two days later. The former Delta State governor and a close friend of Yar’Adua was arrested in the Abuja home of Bukola Saraki.
Before then, Aondoakaa had duelled with Ribadu over Ibori, who had been investigated in London for money laundering by the London Metropolitan Police. The clash between the two men was sparked by Ribadu’s decision to hand over documents on Ibori’s investigation by the EFCC to the London Police. Two separate teams had visited Nigeria for assistance on the case. Afterwards, a prosecutor in the Fraud Prosecution Service, David Williams, wrote to the office of the AGF, requesting supplementary information. Aondoakaa was incensed and replied that it was disrespectful for a lower officer of the British prosecution agency to write to his office requesting such information, which had not been obtained from his office in the first place.
The AGF took the matter to the Executive Council and that seemed to have provided the wrench to pull Ribadu out of his seat. Okiro’s role in the Ribadu saga won him few friends in the public arena, especially when it was discovered that he had compiled a shortlist of candidates to head the EFCC.
But among those fleeing justice, the IG was the equivalent of a smash hit. His efforts to fill the gap created by Ribadu’s redeployment and lately, of Lamorde, was a contravention of Section 8 (3) of the EFCC Act, which gives the commission the sole powers to appoint or request for the secondment of anybody in the private and public sectors for the realisation of its objectives. Okiro has appointed Tunde Ogunshakin, a cop with a huge reputation, as EFCC’s Director of Operations.
The same thing has been replicated at the ICPC, for which Okiro has appointed a director of operations in the person of Sentoye Leroy Wakama. The position Nwakama is asked to fill is an Okiro creation, as it is not known to the commission’s organogram. But Okiro is not finished yet. Sources told this magazine that the Police Force is already planning a review of police promotions made in the last two years. This is said to have Ribadu as one of its principal targets. TheNEWS gathered that in the planned review, Ribadu will be demoted to the post of Assistant Commissioner of Police, his position before his last promotion.
On account of the controversy spawned by Waziri’s appointment, there is a great lull in EFCC activities, as the commission’s staff remain confused. Those behind the schemes, however, remain clear in their objective of stifling the anti-corruption crusade.
Waziri was at the Senate on the invitation of the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption, which wanted her to confirm or deny whether she had assumed duty.
Her appearance was preceded by that of Ibrahim Lamorde, former acting Chairman, who came to brief the committee on the state of affairs in the commission. Waziri was appointed on 15 May by President Umar Yar’Adua and directed to resume immediately as replacement for Lamorde, who has been redeployed to the Bauchi State Police Command. Lamorde took over the running of the EFCC from Nuhu Ribadu, its substantive Chairman, who was controversially sent on a one-year course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Jos.
The directive for Waziri’s immediate assumption of office drew the ire of the Senate, which accused Yar’Adua of an attempt to usurp its powers.
The Senate further expressed its pique by ordering Waziri to stay away from the commission until the process of her appointment was completed. The decision was taken after a debate by senators over the propriety of her assuming office as acting chairman before the confirmation of her appointment by the Senate. David Mark, President of the Senate, instructed the Chairman, Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption, Sola Akinyede, to carry out the Senate’s decision. “Go and find out if she has resumed because she has no business going there before this Senate confirms her. If she has resumed, my honest advice is for you to tell her not to resume until she is confirmed. In my layman understanding, if an appointment has to get our confirmation, the person cannot resume before we confirm,” Mark said.
He added that Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, had given an impression that the President can make appointments even when such are said to be subject to Senate confirmation. According to Section 2 (3) of the EFCC Act (2004), “The chairman and members of the commission other than ex-officio members shall be appointed by the President and their appointments shall be subject to the confirmation of the Senate.”
Aondoakaa had written a letter to the Senate, saying Yar’Adua’s action was covered by Chapter 123, Section 11 of the Interpretation Act, which states that where an Act confers a power to appoint a person either to an office or to exercise any functions, whether for a specified period or not, such includes: (a) power to appoint a person by name or to appoint the holder from time to time of a particular office (b) power to remove or power to suspend (c) power, exercisable in the manner as to even reinstate, re-appoint or appoint a person in acting capacity either generally or in regard to specified functions during such time as is considered expedient by the authority in whom the power of appointment in question is vested.
Of Aondoakaa’s letter, Akinyede said: “I was informed that Mr. President has appointed someone in an acting capacity. I find that worrisome and that was why I wrote a letter to the AGF. My fear is that if this is allowed to go, I am afraid, it is going to signal the end of checks and balances between the Legislature and the Executive. If you allow this to happen, we will open a floodgate of such appointments.”
The Senate then suspended Waziri’s screening and confirmation on grounds that she may have assumed duty before her name was sent to the Senate.
But the Senate’s action has attracted criticism from some quarters. Abubakar Tsav, a retired police commissioner, accused the Senate of double standards and an attempt to stunt the anti-corruption war. “How is the due process breached? If we are truly serious in our fight against corruption, then we should be more concerned with capability than procedure. There is a cabal in this country, which believes that certain appointments are their birthright and unfortunately, the Nigerian Senate seems to be supporting this cabal. Where is patriotism? Where is that democracy? Where is justice and fairness? It would seem our Senate is operating double standards. When the Accountant-General was appointed without reference to the National Assembly, the Senate kept quiet. Similarly, when Nuhu Ribadu (former EFCC Chairman) was appointed without similar reference, the Senate kept quiet. Why the fuss over the appointment of Mrs.Waziri?” he asked.
Further support for Waziri came from the House of Representatives, which disagreed with the Senate, arguing that President Yar‘Adua is right by virtue of the powers conferred on him in Section 154 (1) of the Constitution.
Speaking through Chairman, House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Dave Salako and Chairman, House Committee on Inter-Governmental Affairs, Leo Ogor, the House argued that Section 147(2) of the Constitution relied on by the Senate relates only to ministerial appointments, and is different from the meaning of Section 154 (1).
“A case to support what the President did was President Shehu Shagari’s appointment of Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey as Acting Judge and National Assembly’s opposition to it in the Second Republic. The matter went to the Supreme Court and its judgment was that the President had the right to appoint Ovie-Whiskey in an acting capacity,” said Salako. Ogor also stressed that the interpretation of Act 2004 of the Laws of the Federation should have guided the Senate in appreciating Yar’Adua’s position on Waziri’s appointment. “The Senate should differentiate the meaning of the provisions of Section 147(2) from Section 154 (1). The current disagreement between the Executive and the Senate on this matter is not in the country’s interest,” he said.
A Senate source, however, said some members are already softening their stance, while others remain opposed to Waziri. Each position is determined by the interest propelling its individual holder.Outside the National Assembly, Waziri’s appointment has also generated huge interest. The Movement Against Corruption, an advocacy group, called for its immediate revocation and accused Yar’Adua of an assault on the rule of law and due process. Abdul Rahman Ahmad, leader of the group, said the appointment of two acting chairmen for the EFCC within five months is an indication that the federal government is not serious about the anti-corruption war.
Similarly, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, CDHR, and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, jointly called on the United Nations Office of Drugs and Corruption, UNODC, to prevail on the federal government to reverse Waziri’s appointment and comply fully with its national and international anti-corruption commitments and due process.
The groups criticised the government for appointing Waziri without first submitting her name to the Nigerian Senate as required by the EFCC Act. “As a state party to the UN convention against corruption, Nigeria voluntarily assumes a clear obligation to act in good faith and to diligently strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively, and to ensure that national anti-corruption institutions are granted the necessary independence to enable them carry out their functions free of any undue influence,” the organisations said.
Apart from accusing the government of acting in bad faith, the groups also argued that the manner of Waziri’s appointment amounts to political interference in the work of the EFCC, a development capable of undermining the credibility of the agency. Waziri’s emergence is widely considered the end to the tenure of Ribadu who, technically, remains the head of EFCC despite being on course. If Ribadu is supplanted by Waziri, as is most likely, said a lawyer, it would be in contravention of Section 2 of the EFCC Act which prescribes only two conditions for the removal of the EFCC Chairman. These, he said, are ill health or if his conduct gravely affects public interest. However, neither has been adduced.
Until her appointment, only a few Nigerians outside the Police Force, from where she retired in 2000, and the upper end of the nation’s social circles, knew Waziri.
She joined the Police in 1965 with her primary school leaving certificate and later went on to bag first and second degrees in Law as well as a master’s in Strategic Studies. Waziri is described by her supporters as bright, tough and well thought of in Police circles, attributes that are being feverishly sold to local and international observers of Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade. Already, her appointment has been lauded by the International Police Organisation, Interpol; United States Homeland Security Department; and the Pro-National Conference Organisation, PRONACO. DAILY INDEPENDENT quoted one Kevin Hughes, an official of the Homeland Security Department, as saying: “Her (Waziri’s) background as a first-class police officer has equipped her for the job and we will give her all the support she needs to succeed.”
While her educational qualifications seem to confirm her as bright, police sources describe her as morally frail and see her appointment as a presidential plot to castrate the EFCC.
Since retiring in 2000, Waziri has been in private business, selling jewellery. A source described her as the nation’s biggest jewellery dealer. Given that her business is strictly for the well-heeled, she has acquired many friends among the rich, powerful and, said a source, the crooked.
On her list of friends are General Ibrahim Babangida, former military president; Chief James Ibori, former governor of Delta State; Senator George Akume, former governor of Benue State; Ahmed Sani Yerima, former governor of Zamfara State; Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State; Dr. Bukola Saraki, Kwara State governor; Aondoakaa; Chief Fred Ajudua, acclaimed fraudster; and Andy Uba, a former presidential aide.
She is also said to be familiar with the EFCC, where she regularly visited to plead on behalf of suspects detained by the commission. Presidency sources told TheNEWS an EFCC official once walked her out of his office for coming to plead on behalf of Ajudua, who was facing 419 charges. The source also disclosed that she stood as surety for Senator Akume, former Benue State governor, and signed for the release of his travel passport seized by the EFCC. Akume is currently facing corruption charges and, like many of Waziri’s friends, is no fan of Nuhu Ribadu.
Even her records in the police have been questioned. According to critics, she posted no spectacular performance while she served at the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, and in the Failed Banks Tribunal of the Sani Abacha regime. They continue to ask Waziri’s promoters to list the cases she cracked.
So what recommended her? Friendship with those who feel threatened by EFCC’s activities, said sources. The most prominent members of this clan are former and serving governors, some of whom provided financial and logistical support for Yar’Adua’s emergence as president. Chief among these is Ibori, who Yar’Adua had wanted to reward with the position of Special Adviser on Petroleum Matters; and Saraki, incumbent Kwara State governor. Though he missed out, Ibori had a big say in the choice of Aondoakaa as the Attorney-General.
To prove beyond reasonable doubt exactly where Waziri is coming from, the story of her appointment to replace Ribadu was broken, by Daily Independent, a newspaper owned by James Ibori some months ago. Initially, it was denied by elements in the Yar’Adua administration. Was it simply a case of testing the waters?
Yet, Ibori is not the only patently corrupt Nigerian who favours Waziri. She is said to be very close to Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd).Babangida is said to enjoy considerable support in the House of Representatives and it was not a surprise to observers of political trends in the country when the House of Representatives attacked the Senate over its dithering on the ratification of Farida Waziri’s appointment last week. A good number of members of the House of Representatives were reportedly sponsored into the house by General Babangida, who continues to plot his way back into the vortex of power.
Presidency sources disclosed that when Yar’Adua–a former governor himself–was forming his cabinet, he offered his former colleagues the chance to make nominations for positions. Nearly all of them, this medium gathered, suggested names for the post of Attorney-General. Yar’Adua was said to have wondered why there was no rush to suggest names for juicy ministries like the Ministry of Works. Ibori was said to have suggested the name of his finance commissioner for the headship of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE. It was gathered that preference for the BPE was informed by the desire of those who had looted public funds to buy into government corporations, thereby ‘legitimising’ their loot. But when Yar’Adua decided to retain Dr. Irene Chigbue, BPE Director-General, on Ribadu’s advice, the scheming clan turned its gaze on the anti-graft agencies. It was a well-considered strategy, given that about 15 of them had been investigated by the Ribadu-led EFCC for graft.
But the first position secured was that of the Inspector-General of Police, which went to Mike Okiro.
Though Okiro is the one shooting on behalf of the governors, the ammunition was largely supplied by Aondoakaa, who was Akume’s lawyer in the former governor’s case with the EFCC.
Just one week into his appointment in his office, the AGF supplied the first cache when he announced his readiness to strip the EFCC and its cousin, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, of prosecutorial powers. A few weeks later, he announced that all prosecutorial powers were derivable from his ministry. Coming a few weeks after Aondoakaa’s threat to clip EFCC’s wings, the government was widely viewed as planning to interfere with the workings of the agency. The AGF then announced that Yar’Adua had approved it as the direction for the new dispensation. Thus began a fractious relationship between Ribadu and the AGF. This would worsen a few weeks later during the hearing of EFCC’s case against former Governor Kalu of Abia State, who was facing money laundering charges before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
When the case was mentioned lawyers from both the EFCC and the AGF’s office turned up as prosecutors. Salihu Aliyu, Director of Public Prosecution in the Ministry of Justice, represented the AGF, while Adebisi Adeniyi represented the EFCC. A surprised Adeniyi said: “I am at loss at the representation of the DPP in this matter because we are counsel on record in this case. This matter was initiated by the EFCC. If the AGF is taking over the case, this is not tidy enough.”
The DPP, however, denied that the AGF was taking over the case, but said he (DPP) appeared to clear some “grey areas” reported to the AGF’s office. The DPP said Kalu’s lawyers had written to the AGF that their client was arrested in breach of court order restraining the commission from doing so. He argued that Kalu’s petition was written because of government’s assurance that it would abide by the rule of law and due process and that the arrest was an embarrassment to the government. Aondoakaa would later add that he risked being committed for contempt of court. The last claim was curious because the AGF was not a party to the suit and therefore could not have faced contempt charges.
On the surface, the DPP’s argument seemed valid. However, the AGF’s office, upon receipt of the petition, had failed to bring it to EFCC’s notice, even for comment, before replying that “the AGF has directed immediate compliance with all court orders, including of course, the one secured by your client.”
It was a supreme example of playing the prosecutor and the defendant, rubbishing the government’s claim of non-interference.
Of the saga, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, ICPC Chairman, said: “Although the AGF has the constitutional powers to take over any case no matter who instituted it, such a take-over must be discussed between the AGF and the agency involved. What was embarrassing was the method that was employed in the said take-over. If the AGF wants to take over any case, he must make his reasons for such a take-over public. The public deserves to know the reasons; this is not done anywhere. There is a lot of suspicion so far on the move to take over the Kalu case.”
But the biggest factor in Waziri’s emergence is Saraki, the Kwara governor. Waziri, said sources, was used by Saraki to plead with the EFCC hierarchy to lay off the matter of the now defunct Societe Generale Bank, SGBN, which died in the hands of the governor, then an executive director; his father and chairman, Dr. Olusola Saraki; and other directors. Waziri is also credited with using her EFCC contacts to stave off further investigation of the Sarakis, whose wealth in Nigeria and the United Kingdom grew bigger just as the fortunes of their bank slid. Between 1999 and 2003, the most critical period in the life of the SGBN, Governor Saraki acquired 15 luxury cars, which included a Ferrari with a price tag of N240 million. He and his wife, Toyin, also purchased houses in London worth 10 million pounds. By the end of 2003, the SGBN had overdrawn its capital base at the Central Bank of Nigeria by N11 billion. The bank’s financial dealings were so bad that it was sent out of the clearing house by June 2003, a month after Governor Saraki made frantic efforts to transfer Kwara State accounts to the bank to save it from total collapse. In 2004, the EFCC arrested Saraki senior and interrogated him. But with father and son realising how zealous Ribadu was, they moved to avoid further embarrassment by teaming up with other elements to get him out of his post first.
The first sign that Ribadu would be eased out of his seat manifested last December, when ThisDAY ran a story that said Okiro had been directed to issue a memo to Ribadu asking him to proceed to NIPSS for course. The story spawned similar ones in the nation’s media, forcing Okiro to call a press conference at which he insisted that Ribadu must go on course. However, the IG explained that it was not true, as being reported, that the government wanted to ease him out of the EFCC on the prompting of some powerful interests.
“He is not being sent on a course for any ulterior motive other than the reasons which he satisfies. He is not being sent to the NIPSS on the prompting of any external bodies. I am not a politician; I am not succumbing to whims and caprices of politicians as being speculated,” Okiro said.
But the trouble with that, writes Azubiuke Ishiekwene in The Trial Of Nuhu Ribadu, is: “Under police rules, which he (Okiro) later referred to, an officer who has reached the post of Assistant Inspector-General of Police and who wanted to move up in the force must go to the National Institute. He would be correct if the officer on secondment to the EFCC was still subject to police internal administrative rules.”
However, under Section 11 of the EFCC Act, only the agency can send its officers on course. Okiro’s citing of police rules was eventually exposed as a ruse by Aondoakaa, who said: “The IG must have sought and obtained the approval of the President. I do not know the IG to be a frivolous officer. The IG sent seven names for training and it is the President that gave approval for them to go on course.”
One of those names was Lamorde’s. But with the decibel of public criticism rising, the government beat a retreat and claimed that the Lamorde on the list was Timothy, a civil servant, and not Ibrahim of the EFCC.
Ribadu’s departure to Kuru was preceded by the arrest of Ibori on 11 December 2007 and arraignment at the Federal High Court in Kaduna two days later. The former Delta State governor and a close friend of Yar’Adua was arrested in the Abuja home of Bukola Saraki.
Before then, Aondoakaa had duelled with Ribadu over Ibori, who had been investigated in London for money laundering by the London Metropolitan Police. The clash between the two men was sparked by Ribadu’s decision to hand over documents on Ibori’s investigation by the EFCC to the London Police. Two separate teams had visited Nigeria for assistance on the case. Afterwards, a prosecutor in the Fraud Prosecution Service, David Williams, wrote to the office of the AGF, requesting supplementary information. Aondoakaa was incensed and replied that it was disrespectful for a lower officer of the British prosecution agency to write to his office requesting such information, which had not been obtained from his office in the first place.
The AGF took the matter to the Executive Council and that seemed to have provided the wrench to pull Ribadu out of his seat. Okiro’s role in the Ribadu saga won him few friends in the public arena, especially when it was discovered that he had compiled a shortlist of candidates to head the EFCC.
But among those fleeing justice, the IG was the equivalent of a smash hit. His efforts to fill the gap created by Ribadu’s redeployment and lately, of Lamorde, was a contravention of Section 8 (3) of the EFCC Act, which gives the commission the sole powers to appoint or request for the secondment of anybody in the private and public sectors for the realisation of its objectives. Okiro has appointed Tunde Ogunshakin, a cop with a huge reputation, as EFCC’s Director of Operations.
The same thing has been replicated at the ICPC, for which Okiro has appointed a director of operations in the person of Sentoye Leroy Wakama. The position Nwakama is asked to fill is an Okiro creation, as it is not known to the commission’s organogram. But Okiro is not finished yet. Sources told this magazine that the Police Force is already planning a review of police promotions made in the last two years. This is said to have Ribadu as one of its principal targets. TheNEWS gathered that in the planned review, Ribadu will be demoted to the post of Assistant Commissioner of Police, his position before his last promotion.
On account of the controversy spawned by Waziri’s appointment, there is a great lull in EFCC activities, as the commission’s staff remain confused. Those behind the schemes, however, remain clear in their objective of stifling the anti-corruption crusade.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });