May 16, 2010
When I first encountered Mr. Farida Waziri, the current chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC in a photograph in a newspaper, there was one particular thing about her that caught my attention. It was neither her signature wrap-around head-tie nor her prescription reading glasses that sit askance somewhere between her nose bridge and the tip.
When I first encountered Mr. Farida Waziri, the current chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC in a photograph in a newspaper, there was one particular thing about her that caught my attention. It was neither her signature wrap-around head-tie nor her prescription reading glasses that sit askance somewhere between her nose bridge and the tip.
It wasn’t even the quite prominent ear-rings that she seems fond of wearing. I quickly noticed that the burgundy-color nail polish on one of her finger nails was chipped. From the way she rested her clasped hands on the desk in the photograph, I inferred that she was furtively trying to hide her clinched finger nails including the one with chipped nail polish. But the camera wasn’t fooled. Photographs they say, don’t tell lies, even though they could and do sometimes deceive. In this case, my eyes were not deceived: I inferred from that finger nail with chipped nail polish which she tried to hide from view in that photograph that she lacks class. By extrapolation, that said quite a lot about who she is and may be her integrity.
Ever since that encounter, I have talked to someone who is sufficiently informed about Mrs. Waziri who filled me in some more about who she is. That was how I got to know that she was a career policewoman. That, in itself speaks volumes about her. I have also followed some of the warts on her in the print media including this one—SaharaReporters.com. Well, as unsavory as almost everything that I have read about her is I felt that there might still be one or more things that I needed to make a definitive character assessment of her. Not until last week.
Right after SaharaReporters.com broke the news of Mr. James O. Ibori’s arrest, in the United Arab Emirate, UAR by the Dubai police, Mrs. Waziri wasted no time before she stepped out and proclaimed to the Press: “My initial reaction when I heard of Ibori’s arrest was that of excitement, and surprise too. Surprise because somebody said he had gone to Ghana. Some people also said he is still somewhere in Delta, some say in his village in Warri. My mind never went to Dubai. But the MET police have a relationship with Dubai police. They told me that if he is in Dubai they will get him; that it will be easier to track him down. If he had gone to places like China or Japan, and then it would have been difficult. I was very excited.”
The hide and seek between Mr. Ibori, the former governor of Delta state and officialdom in Nigeria has been long-winded. His documented run-in with the law in Nigeria and in the UK pre-dated his governorship aspiration in Delta state. All of that has been front-page news in the Nigerian Press. In spite of all that he still became governor. It was as governor that he robbed the state he was supposed to be governing blind. In Britain, his wife and close associates are on trial for crimes that involves him. Yet in Nigeria, officialdom has left no stone unturned to shield, protect, and defend him.
Yes, it’s true that Mrs. Waziri’s EFCC declared him wanted. It’s also true that neither Mrs. Waziri’s EFCC nor the Nigeria Police was willing at all to apprehend him. James O. Ibori’s arrest in Dubai last week will be the gentle breeze, which will expose the hidden anus of the chicken. In this case, the chicken is Nigeria’s officialdom and the chicken’s anus is the impunity it has flagrantly invoked to protect Ibori’s ardent criminality before, during and after he governed Delta state.
When Mrs. Waziri stood in front of the Press last week and waxed lyrical about her excitement over Ibori’s arrest, there are some people who may have bought into some or all she said. On my part, that act made me to wonder: Is this the same Mrs. Waziri who this writer was reliably told was with Ibori in Abuja two days before he left Nigeria? One of her insinuations last week during that encounter with the Press is that she wants to have Ibori extradited to Nigeria. Even as a wish, that is not going to happen because there is no extradition pact between Nigeria and the UAE. Moreover, his arrest has got nothing to do with Mrs. Waziri, her EFCC, or Nigeria.
I will say without equivocation therefore that it is not only that Mrs. Waziri lacks class; she is also a bloody liar.
●E. C. Ejiogu, PhD, is a political sociologist.
It wasn’t even the quite prominent ear-rings that she seems fond of wearing. I quickly noticed that the burgundy-color nail polish on one of her finger nails was chipped. From the way she rested her clasped hands on the desk in the photograph, I inferred that she was furtively trying to hide her clinched finger nails including the one with chipped nail polish. But the camera wasn’t fooled. Photographs they say, don’t tell lies, even though they could and do sometimes deceive. In this case, my eyes were not deceived: I inferred from that finger nail with chipped nail polish which she tried to hide from view in that photograph that she lacks class. By extrapolation, that said quite a lot about who she is and may be her integrity.
Ever since that encounter, I have talked to someone who is sufficiently informed about Mrs. Waziri who filled me in some more about who she is. That was how I got to know that she was a career policewoman. That, in itself speaks volumes about her. I have also followed some of the warts on her in the print media including this one—SaharaReporters.com. Well, as unsavory as almost everything that I have read about her is I felt that there might still be one or more things that I needed to make a definitive character assessment of her. Not until last week.
Right after SaharaReporters.com broke the news of Mr. James O. Ibori’s arrest, in the United Arab Emirate, UAR by the Dubai police, Mrs. Waziri wasted no time before she stepped out and proclaimed to the Press: “My initial reaction when I heard of Ibori’s arrest was that of excitement, and surprise too. Surprise because somebody said he had gone to Ghana. Some people also said he is still somewhere in Delta, some say in his village in Warri. My mind never went to Dubai. But the MET police have a relationship with Dubai police. They told me that if he is in Dubai they will get him; that it will be easier to track him down. If he had gone to places like China or Japan, and then it would have been difficult. I was very excited.”
The hide and seek between Mr. Ibori, the former governor of Delta state and officialdom in Nigeria has been long-winded. His documented run-in with the law in Nigeria and in the UK pre-dated his governorship aspiration in Delta state. All of that has been front-page news in the Nigerian Press. In spite of all that he still became governor. It was as governor that he robbed the state he was supposed to be governing blind. In Britain, his wife and close associates are on trial for crimes that involves him. Yet in Nigeria, officialdom has left no stone unturned to shield, protect, and defend him.
Yes, it’s true that Mrs. Waziri’s EFCC declared him wanted. It’s also true that neither Mrs. Waziri’s EFCC nor the Nigeria Police was willing at all to apprehend him. James O. Ibori’s arrest in Dubai last week will be the gentle breeze, which will expose the hidden anus of the chicken. In this case, the chicken is Nigeria’s officialdom and the chicken’s anus is the impunity it has flagrantly invoked to protect Ibori’s ardent criminality before, during and after he governed Delta state.
When Mrs. Waziri stood in front of the Press last week and waxed lyrical about her excitement over Ibori’s arrest, there are some people who may have bought into some or all she said. On my part, that act made me to wonder: Is this the same Mrs. Waziri who this writer was reliably told was with Ibori in Abuja two days before he left Nigeria? One of her insinuations last week during that encounter with the Press is that she wants to have Ibori extradited to Nigeria. Even as a wish, that is not going to happen because there is no extradition pact between Nigeria and the UAE. Moreover, his arrest has got nothing to do with Mrs. Waziri, her EFCC, or Nigeria.
I will say without equivocation therefore that it is not only that Mrs. Waziri lacks class; she is also a bloody liar.
●E. C. Ejiogu, PhD, is a political sociologist.
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