Sunday, August 10, 2008 Printer Friendly Version

[size=16pt]Secret plot to castrate EFCC –Financial Times of London [/size]

By EMMANUEL OBE


THE Financial Times of London has revealed a secret plot by some hawks in the political circle to castrate the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.




EFCC Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri


In its August 7, 2008 issue, the authoritative publication said part of the plot was to rattle the former chairman of the commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as well as weaken the structure of the EFCC.

Quoting sources within the organisation, the publication asserted that the goal of the group of politicians behind the plot was to make the commission less potent and effective in the task of combating high profile cases of corruption in Nigeria.

Some observers say the wave of changes in the commission has further sent a dangerous signal to the international community on the commitment of President Umaru Yar’adua to the war against corruption.

In the edition under reference, the FT said that such Nigerian politicians were seeking to frustrate attempts to fight high-level corruption by weakening the main anti-graft agency and hounding Ribadu.

He is currently on a study leave at the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru near Jos, Plateau State.

But the nation was taken by surprise on Wednesday when the Police Service Commission named Ribadu as one of the top police officers demoted.

He was until the demotion an Assistant Inspector General of Police.

The Financial Times quoted some officials of the commission as saying the hawks were working desperately to derail the anti-graft war, but declined to name the culprits.

The officials, who craved anonymity for fear of reprisals, said that the current leadership of the EFCC had removed dozens of senior investigators from cases against seven former state governors charged last year with looting public funds.

“The view is that of a total takeover of the levers of control by the people who are supposed to be on trial,” said an EFCC official.

Ribadu, who led the EFCC after its establishment in 2003 under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, is regarded at home as the first Nigerian to have struck fear into a political class estimated to have stolen billions of dollars of public funds that accrued mainly from Nigeria’s oil wealth.

Abroad, he is respected for having led an unprecedented campaign to prosecute the theft of government money and for collaborating with foreign police forces to curtail the e-mail scams and fraud for which Nigeria had become infamous.

But the soft-spoken police officer, whose modest lifestyle contrasted with that of many of his targets, also attracted fierce criticism.

A widespread perception that Obasanjo was using him as a tool to persecute political opponents and exclude them from running at the polls cost Ribadu some of his credibility.

The EFCC is one of several institutions, promoted by the former government as the face of a new Nigeria, to have been shaken up since Yar’Adua became president in May, 2007.

Farida Waziri, a career police officer, who was plucked from retirement to take over the EFCC in June, replaced him.

Officials, who worked with Ribadu, until he was removed from his post by the Federal Government, said he had been subjected to increasing public harassment designed to discredit him and his operatives.

But the spokesman of the commission, Mr. Femi Babafemi, rebuffed the claims when the correspondent of the Financial Times contacted him.

He said the new leadership’s decision to charge suspects, including two former state governors, one of whom was arraigned on Tuesday, proved it was still committed to fighting corruption.

“No fewer than five or six big cases have been tackled and are already in court,” Babafemi said.

The PSC on Wednesday demoted Ribadu, along with 139 other officers, on the grounds that their promotion had contravened rules.

The police also last week detained the former Head of the Economic team of the commission, Ibrahim Magu, who led many of the investigations against state governors and is a key witness in money-laundering cases in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law has condemned the demotion of Ribadu, describing the action as an execution of political vendetta.

The chairman of the Onitsha, Anambra State-based organisation, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, said in a statement on Friday that the action was uncalled for.

He said, “Granted that under the Nigeria Police Service Commission Act of 2001, the reconstituted PSC has powers to sanction, demote, promote, retire and dismiss any senior police officer other than the Inspector-General of Police, the exercise is bereft of public interest and sound moral judgment.

“Besides, demotion connotes administrative punishment for grievous offences. This implies that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and others are deemed to have committed grievous offences. Our question is: what offences have they committed?

“There is no difference between the recent lopsided promotion exercise in the Nigeria Police Force, where the Federal Character Principle, due process and diligence were despicably discarded, and the purported demotion exercise, which was ill conceived, ethnically and politically motivated.”

He recalled that former President Obasanjo, in order to allegedly cripple the financial base of a harmless political opponent, dismantled the toll gates, and because of another, one of the leading Nigerian banks was liquidated for no justifiable reasons.

“The promotion of Charles Soludo, Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke and Dorothy Akunyili to professorship by their universities was in appreciation of their excellent performances, and it is obvious that they are not the oldest PhDs in their universities’ departments.

“The main aim of the police is to detect, combat and control crimes and if Nuhu Ribadu has excelled in these areas, he deserved commendation and encouragement in the form of promotion and awards, and not persecution and victimisation.

“All the reasons given by the retired DIG Parry Osayande-led PSC concerning the recent infamous exercise are baseless, unscientific, illogical and unconstitutional. For instance, IGP Michael Okiro surpassed his senior, Ogbonnaya Onovo, to become the IGP, yet his name was not included in the infamous list, coupled with the fact that he became the DIG from the rank of CP.”


http://odili.net/news/source/2008/aug/10/438.html

Whi is the EFCC always headed by northerners? Could it be a ploy by the northern caliphate to evade prosecution from their numerous dubious activities in our national coffers?

EFCC is just a NOISE MAKER! noting good ever comes from that direction, other than replacement of CHAIRMAN