My attention has been drawn to the press statement issued by
the immediate past chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, Mrs Farida Waziri, in a reaction to statements credited to former
President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
While
I had tried not to comment on the activities of the EFCC or my successors in
office to avoid subjectivism, I however find it expedient to clear my name of
careless and mischievous references made by Mrs Waziri. I am therefore writing
this with utmost reluctance, public debate having been polluted with
deliberate tincture of amnesia, necessitating umpteenth repetition of a simple
fact that should have sank once and for all. It is sad that merchants of
falsehood keep recycling crooked statements to the point of cliche, in spite of
attempts at clarifications.
Firstly,
it is not correct that I worked under Mrs Waziri, as she always claim.This is a
naked lie that she keeps flaunting to seek undue relevance and validate her own
appointment. At no time in my career did I work under the same section or unit
as her. In fact, contrary to the Waziri's claim that She "trained"
me, it was I that actually lectured her and others, on fraud investigation and
prosecution, when she was newly posted as Head of Special Fraud Unit, even
though she was my senior in rank. I was then the Head of Prosecution at the
Tribunals under the leadership of Mr Sunday Ehindaro, then CP Legal.
On
the issue that EFCC under my leadership was used to push through the aborted
third term agenda, it is evident that Mrs Waziri, who was nowhere near EFCC at
the time, is ignorant of what transpired. It is saddening that after all the
damage inflicted on the operations and credibility of the EFCC by Mrs Waziri,
she turns back to abuse the young men and women who had put in all their energy
in cleaning up our country especially during that critical time, by dismissing
their work and sacrifice.
As
I had cause to state in a recent article on my stewardship of the EFCC, we
almost deliberately avoided going after governors and public servants from the
opposition to avoid the charges of bias or doing the bidding of the government.
Moreover, we halted our works on the politically exposed persons throughout the
period of the third term debacle, to insulate and protect the integrity of the
Commission.
EFCC
was not about Nuhu Ribadu. Rubbishing its work, therefore, is like insulting
all the thousands of its operatives across the country who put their lives in
the line to make Nigeria a better country. If Mrs Waziri has a personal score
to settle with anybody, she should direct her attack at the person but not the
organisation.
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