‘ACCOUNT FOR EFCC’S RECOVERED MONEY, ASSETS’
Says Predecessor Suffering From Psychogenic Issues Accuses Him of Dining with People He Labeled Corrupt
The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, has challenged her predecessor, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, to come clean and explain the whereabouts of the billions of funds and assets the commission recovered from suspects during his tenure as chairman.
Farida said Ribadu did not leave behind any record or documentation for the said recoveries when he was removed in 2007.
She described his constant criticism of her stewardship at the EFCC as a sign of frustration, and urged him to leave her out of it and face life.
Farida was reacting to Ribadu’s allegation on Thursday that she had damaged the commision.
Ribadu, who was succeeded by Farida as the chairman of the EFCC, had accused his predecessor, alongside Prof Ben Nwabueze and former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, of truncating Nigeria’s war against corruption.
Delivering a lead paper at the 2016 annual lecture, organised by the Law Chambers of Joe Kyari Gadzama in Abuja, he said Farida had “inflicted serious damages on the EFCC, from which the commission is still struggling to recover.”
But in a statement she issued Saturday through her personal assistant, Ms Omolara Oluremi, Farida said Ribadu’s obsession for attacking her was due to his inability to move on with life, eight years after leaving the post of the EFCC chair.
She said the pioneer EFCC chairman’s lust for power, inordinate ambition and desperation for political relevance, was the reason he was hobnobbing with and enjoying the wealth of people he had previously accused of corruption.
“There is also the need to remind Nuhu that before he succumbs to another logorrhea, he should avail himself a copy of the investigative report on recovered assets during his tenure as EFCC chairman and use the opportunity of the next naming ceremony or birthday party he is invited to, to explain to Nigerians what happened to billions of funds and assets recovered from suspects under him, with no records or documentation,” she said.
Farida said she was initially not interested in joining issues with Ribadu over his recent comments, but had a change of mind due to the need to advise him take his frustrations elsewhere.
“There should be a life after the EFCC. If after eight years of being removed as the EFCC chairman, he is yet to move on with life, even after two successive chairmen had occupied the same seat and moved on with their lives, then his problem may be psychogenic. He needs help elsewhere, certainly not from me,” she said.
She also described him as having a double face, lack of principle and complex contradictions.
“If Nuhu is yet to face the reality that EFCC is a federal government agency and not a personal estate of anybody eight years after, I find it compelling to remind him, otherwise, one day he would wake up to blame me for his defeat in the 2011 presidential election and even his pathetic outing in the 2015 governorship election in Adamawa State despite the slush funds deployed to ensure his victory at the polls. I equally suspect that Nuhu may, sooner than later, blame me for his penchant to jump from one party to another like a political prostitute; from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP0 and now, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“It is his lust for power, inordinate ambition and desperation for political relevance that continue to push him to dine and wine, and even enjoy the wealth of those he had labeled as corrupt in yesteryears. He can’t hold me responsible for his double face, lack of principle and complex contradictions in his character.”
Contrary to his claims that she had wreaked havoc on the EFCC, Farida listed what she said were few of her achievements at the commission. “No matter how hard Nuhu tries to obliterate my tenure with his numerous lies, the record of over 450 convictions secured during my three-and-a-half year sojourn in the EFCC remains indelible. Though I inherited about 10 high profile cases from him in 2008, we took over 75 of such high profile cases to courts, with another 1,500 low profile cases pending in courts as at my exit in November 2011. We initiated and commenced work on the permanent office complex of the EFCC sitting on a 5.5 hectares of land along Airport Road, Abuja, in addition to setting up offices in Maiduguri, Borno State and Ibadan, Oyo State to expand the commission’s scope of operations. I can go on and on, on my achievements. I have decided to mention just a few for now to discourage Nuhu from claiming the credit for them when next he wants to make himself happy or seek political relevance.
“At this juncture, let me advise Nuhu to stop being a weeping man. Garrulity does not heal frustration or depression. He may consider vying for a local government chairmanship or councillorship position to get busy so that he can stop spewing falsehood, fables and lies to seek public sympathy and political relevance.”