Date Published: 10/25/09

Farida Waziri Interview:
I HAVE DONE BETTER THAN RIBADU!
Says:

• Nobody can push me around
• Why Ogunshakin was removed
• I have never received or been offered bribe
• We are still after Tinubu, Fani-Kayode, Attah, Ibori
• How Igbinedion got a Paltry Fine
• We have recovered over N150 Billion
• We need Special Court To Try High Profile Cases

Mrs. Farida Waziri, EFCC Boss

Mrs. Farida Waziri is a 35-year veteran of the Nigeria Police Force. She has held several key positions and rose to the position of Assistant Inspector-General of Police before she retired. Waziri, who holds a couple of Master Degrees, is also an attorney. She was, at various times, Commissioner in charge of Administration, General Investigation, Homicide and Special fraud Unit. In this interview with pointblanknews in New York City, Waziri spoke on sundry issues including the latest on some of the indicted Governors. Excerpts

Q: What are your achievements so far in the last two years?

A: We have accomplished so many things. When I got there, there was nothing on the ground. We set up several structures like the monitoring unit, assets forfeiture unit, , we had no records of assets forfeited, no welfare package for staff, officers were frustrated, . We had to bring in Price Waterhouse to come and look at the structure, they made recommendations for welfare scheme which has been approved by the Federal Govt. Insurance scheme, training,, capacity building,. When I came in there was so much controversy, mudslinging, and people were buying pages in newspapers to malign me, that I was not qualified to do the job, so I promised that I want to build an enduring structure. A legacy that can stand the test of time…in the area of arrests and prosecution, we beam our search light on all agencies of Government, we have cases involving ministers, governors, private sector, etc.We have employed the services of Senior Advocates to prosecute some of these cases, they handle most of our high profile cases. We did this because some of those being prosecuted are so rich and can afford two or three senior advocates, so Mr. President assisted us with funds. We have recovered so much money running into over N150Billion

Q: Without undermining your achievements, some Nigerians are still skeptical; they still want to judge you by Nuhu Ribadu’s standards and they say you have performed less?

A: I don’t think so, you live here in the United States, but people who know, and understand the elite, they understand what I m doing. I have done much better than Ribadu. Im not grandstanding, not going to the pages of newspaper to shout, I am not going to pick people before looking for evidence to charge them, its about the rule of law its not about grandstanding. Some Nigerians who are not so educated they want to see drama, they want to see people in handcuffs being dragged, they want to see people foaming in the mouth screaming blue murder, it doesn’t work like that. My standards are perfect and in line with international standards. You can’t judge me on the standard of Nuhu Ribadu. How many convictions did he have, three convictions based on plea bargaining. You know plea bargaining is not part of the Nigerian law. But I know that half bread is better than nothing, I also said instead of someone who looted the treasury to walk away with the money and enjoy it, because the judicial process is slow, I said yes lets take part of it. You steal your country’s money and you use part of that crime/fraud money to negotiate your soft landing. But then he had only three convictions and they were based on plea bargaining for five years. I have had much more than him in two years.

Q: what happened in the Lucky Igbinedion’s case is considered a slap on the wrist, what is your response?

A: When Lucky Igbinedion’s lawyer came to discuss with our own lawyers about plea bargaining, that he wanted to return some of the looted funds, we agreed, we worked together; he forfeited some things like houses in Edo. Lagos and Abuja. Some monies and companies. But when we got to the court, the shock was from the courts. Never got over it for a long, long time, because instead of the sentence as it was agreed, they gave him an option of fine, I think it was N3.5million; he brought the money from the boot of his car and paid there and then. It was very painful, the papers said he got away, it was the EFCC, the EFCC can’t fight corruption and all that. The cases that Nuhu Ribadu took to court from three years ago are still there. Most of the Governors cases are stalled, they are still there. Everything is EFCC. If I take someone to court, and the court grants bail, its EFCC, If I seize his passport and he exercises his fundamental human rights, and gets his passport back its EFCC,. Like I said about a bank recently, somebody took a loan of N14Billion without collateral, he was going to buy crude, sell it outside to come and pay back. How could you do this? The man sold the crude, diverted to Dubai, bought properties there. As I speak to you now he is still in Dubai. If you go to a bank as an average Nigerian to get a loan, they will give you several conditions, even the interest alone you will pay for the rest of your life.

Q: What of the cases of Ex-Govs Victor Attah and Peter Odili. Why are they not in jail? Attah issued a statement recently saying he has been cleared by EFCC.

A: I don’t know about clearing anyone. How can I clear anybody, I am not a court of law, my job is to investigate, draft charges, take it to the court, monitor trial, ensure witnesses attend hearings, and exhibits are taken and tendered. I did not clear anybody. As for the case of James Ibori, he was arraigned in Kaduna and the jurisdiction challenged in court. And the case was later transferred to Asaba. And while we were about to arraign him to take plea, there was another suspect who was sanding trial with the Metropolitan Police in London, and we requested for her to join so that he(Ibori) will be able to take the plea, the MET police sent me a document saying I should sign an undertaking . Some of the requests were ridiculous. There was one pert of it that said you must arrest her, at the tarmac; you have to keep her until the case is disposed off. I signed because it generated so much controversy. I sent it to them, but they sent it back saying it is court that should sign. Of course the judge didn’t sign. And so we amended the charges, removed her, and filled the case in Asaba. Then his lawyer the filled a motion complaining that the EFCC did shoddy job, that all the 170—count charge should be thrown out, and we entered our own defense, and the ruling is coming up November 6 2009. That’s is as far as Ibori’s case is concerned. Victor Attah, his case started before I got there. I did not clear him, if anybody wrote a letter on my behalf, im yet to see it.When I went through the case file, it was not ready. Some of these cases were in that stage. For criminal case there are statutes bar, you can continue. In the case of Bola Tinubu, I met three case files, we are investigating,. I recall that when I sent officers to Lagos to invite some of his former staff, the current Governor Fashola, who is doing very well promised to cooperate with us. I took Rasheed Ladoja to court. The case was almost completed, was not so complicated. Also we had Bonnie Haruna, of Adamawa, Botman of Plateau state, not too complicated. There is the case of the PDP chieftain that Nuhu Ribadu himself investigated and, for reasons best known to him, kept the case in the cooler, I took him to court. There is the case of the former Aviation Ministers Babalola Borishade and Femi Fani- Kayode I took them to court and I joined the foreigners. Case of rural electrification, Universal basic Education, senators Reps, are all in court, I did a lot. Because Nigerians suffered so much, they want instant justice but it doesn’t work like that. The press made it looks like in the whole of Nigeria with over 150 million people only Nuhu (Ribadu) can handle the anti-corruption agency. We have to build institutions.

Q: Did you sign surety for Ex Gov. Akume?

A: It was all part of the blackmail. As a lawyer I can sign surety for anyone, but I did not. Someone else stood surety for him (Akume), I have the documents here. Publish it for the first time. A Member of the House of Representatives signed surety for Akume. They tried to blackmail me but truth prevailed. Even Mr. President told no one can interfere with my job, he has not said don’t do this don’t do that. I’m committed I don’t care who you are; don’t look at your face but the charges and number of counts.

Q: Do you get any pressure from the Presidential Villa concerning some high profile cases, and what about this special courts you mentioned

A: Mr. President is an honest man, and a man of very few words. He means what he says, and says what he means.. If he was putting pressure on me, I would rather not talk about it than lie. He never interfered. He wants us to be ruthless with the corrupt. He was a governor, and then President therefore he knows what is going on.. I talked about the special courts when I went to the National Assembly, because that is the only way. They have it in Ghana and South Africa. It hurts when you arrest someone today, with all the evidence, and tomorrow he is free driving around in a Hummer and the people blame the EFCC .But if he is in jail his co-travelers will sit up. We need some preventive measures, which we are working on. The foreign countries that serve as havens for stolen money should help too. Here in the US you people use credit cards, but when Nigerians come here to make purchase with huge cash amounts, they look the other way, because it is serving their economy... If the havens are blocked it will minimize the looting. The first bill for special courts was a private, but they said its being modified. I even complained to the NBA President about justice delayed and just denied. Once these defense counsels see the charges and proof of evidence, that their client has a very bad case that he might go to jail, they will ensure the case doesn’t go to trial.. That is why they attack the jurisdiction, they go to court to ask for stay of execution, there is interlocutory injunction left, right and center, so the case stalls for three years. I have not advised Mr. Presidents concerning any politician because there is no need. I know he is very capable. When I approached him about hiring S.A.N’s he said we should apply for more funds. He also told me that if anyone comes to me to say Mr. President said this and that, I should always verify from him anytime.

Q: Have you had any problems or pressures from the Attorney-General, Michael Aondoakaa in the course of carrying out your official duties?

A: Constitutionally all the cases are prosecuted under the name of the AG, that’s the relationship. There are some cases which need fiat to prosecute like the bank chief executives.. If we needed AG’s fiat I will write to him, .Also when it is a matter of International Mutual Legal Assistance, we refer to him because it won’t be accepted out there. We do that and that is my relationship with him . Take a good look at me I am not a push around, I may look soft, but you can’t push me around. If I wasn’t tough I wouldn’t have risen to the position of Asst Inspector-General of Police position, and left with a clean record….i served for 35 years.

Q: Why was Tunde Ogunshakin fired as Director of Operations…Its like you two never got along?

A: Some of those I met where not loyal.When I came, those boys where those who worked under me at 13 Milverton Road, Ikoyi, in Lagos . Nuhu (Ribadu) himself, Lamorde was my second in command at the special fraud unit, Sanda was my PA, Mangu was also with me. They were picked based on my confidential progress report. I was happy. When I was in Turkey with my husband who was an Ambassador, I was always advising them. When I saw Tafa Balogun in handcuffs rolling on the floor, I told Nuhu it wasn’t appropriate. Yes, I didn’t get along with Ogunshakin. Earlier while answering a question, I mentioned loyalty. When classified documents were being sent out, our investigation report in our case file on Akala and Ladoja found its self on the front page of a national daily. Loyalty is the key here, since they won’t work with me, and were sabotaging me they had to go. Some of them detest change. There was intelligence report that some of the mobile police men were offering services to private citizens for a fee. When I came to the EFCC, Ogunshakin was quickly posted there as my director of operations. I observed that he wasn’t committed. The job is tasking, there is no Saturday no Sunday. His boys often complain that when they go out on operation, they often can’t reach Ogunshakin. Personally I couldn’t reach him. He is supposed to brief me at the weekend but you wont see him. Later I learnt he was in school. This conflicted with his job. Then there is the Fani Kayode case. When we started, I handed him the case file then left for the UK. When I came back I heard only Aborishade and an Austrian were charged, that Fani-Kayode was a witness. I said how come, because I saw the files.. I went to him and asked what happened, he said there was nothing on Fani-Kayode. . I said go and draft a charge. He came back with a 2-count charge. That he collected a jeep from a third party worth N3.5million. Of course Fani-Kayode will deny. Since I had a duplicate file, I came up with a 14-count charge for Fani-Kayode. How do you work with such people? I couldn’t travel, so I delegated some responsibilities to some other officers, and they went out to blackmail me. There were several petitions to the Senate, House, Code of Conduct, ICPC, Federal character commission and so on.

Q: Have you ever been offered money as bribe since you assumed duties?

No, never, you can’t even try it. Because I don’t expose myself to such. No one dare insult me like that. As a matter of fact when I am on a case you won’t even see me. I will cut off my phone until we get to court. So when I charge you to court are you going to give me money again?