PRESS RELEASE: I Have Never Worked Under Farida Waziri -Ribadu

Former EFCC Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu

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 Ehindero, 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 organization.

Nuhu Ribadu