Date Published: 04/21/10

You cant be above the law, EFCC tells Ibori

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday April 21, told former Delta state governor, James Ibori that he can’t create an impression that he is above the law and hopes to get away with it.

Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mrs. Farida Waziri gave the warning while fielding questions from journalists at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja where she addressed a group of protesters, called True Face of Lagos, who came to find out about the status of their petition against the Lagos state government.

While explaining what happened in Delta state on Tuesday between some armed youths and security agents trying to effect the arrest of Ibori, Waziri said, “We went there with the assistance of the police, the militants chased us out. Nobody should be above the laws of the land. And if you feel your hands are clean, you should come out and go to the court and clear your name. But when you make it impossible and you say you are above the law and you can’t answer to a call by a law enforcement agency to come and clear some issues, it is a pity.”

She added that with the encounter on Tuesday, the EFCC and other law enforcement agencies would need to map out fresh strategies on how to get Ibori.

“We are going back to the drawing board with the IGP, then we decide what next to do”, she stressed.

While presenting their protest letter to the EFCC boss, the leader of the group, Comrade Adesina Adebayo commended the matured approach of the Commission to all cases of corruption handled by it and the unprecedented success recorded since Waziri assumed the leadership of the anti-graft agency. “We take special note of your massive clampdown on corrupt individuals and officials of the government in Bayelsa, Kogi, Benue , Gombe and other states of the federation”.

The group however says it feels disappointed that Lagos state has been excluded from the anti-graft war  in recent times despite the widespread and comprehensive petition that the group wrote to the EFCC on the allegations of corrupt practices allegedly being committed in Lagos state.

In her response, Waziri said the commission received the said petition and has never stopped working on it. In her words, “we are working on it. We do what is called discreet investigation first, we check banks, check companies and this involves the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, to see the actual shareholders of the companies  alleged to have executed the contracts. We also check telephone numbers; and this we don’t do to the knowledge of everybody. When we get to a comfortable stage, we open up on our investigation. I can assure you that we are already working on the petition.”

She told them that they will only know about the extent of work done in respect to the petition when it gets to the stage where the Commission needs to invite people. “We don’t just arrest because we have a petition. Lagos is not the only state we are working on. My men are overworked. We work 24/7, Saturday, Sunday; we don’t have any break at all.  I can assure you that nothing is going to be swept under the carpet; nothing, not when I am here”, Waziri assured

Asked to comment on the statement credited to the National Security Adviser, Lt. Gen Aliyu Gusau that she was being selective in her investigations, arrest and prosecution, the EFCC chairman said “ well, I don’t think he said quite that. I was there at the meeting where he was quoted to have said all that. But on the issue of selectivity, I don’t think crime is committed on the basis of federal character. I cant say a Yoruba man commits a crime, I should wait for an Ibo man or an Hausa man to commit a crime before I arrest or go to court.. There is no issue of selectivity, definitely, we are not being selective. If we have no case against you, we won’t even arrest you in the first place. We get our facts before we invite the suspect. The suspect comes last in tandem with international best practices.”

Femi Babafemi

Head, Media & Publicity

Wednesday