Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has denied ever working under his successor in office, Mrs. Farida Waziri.
On the contrary, he said he was the one who tutored Waziri when she was just posted even though she was his senior in the Police.
While reacting to an allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that she was a disaster as EFCC chairman, Waziri reportedly made reference to Ribadu working under her.
“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,” Ribadu said in a statement.
“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 sunk 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.”
He described as untrue, the statement that he worked under Waziri’s supervision, as she likes to 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 who 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 Head of Prosecution at the Tribunals under the leadership of Mr. Sunday Ehindero, then CP Legal.”
On the claims that the EFCC under his leadership was used to push through the aborted third term agenda, Ribadu said it was evident that Waziri, who was nowhere near EFCC at the time, was ignorant of what transpired. He expressed sadness that after all the damage that Waziri inflicted on the operations and credibility of the EFCC, she has turned back to abuse the young men and women who had put in all their energy in cleaning up the country, especially during that ‘critical’ time.
“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 on 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.”
