Africa
Yar’Adua to Name a New EFCC Head
By Saharareporters, 16/5/08
May 16, 2008 - 2:03:37 PM

Saharareporters has gathered from impeccable sources that Mr. Yar'adua today officially announced, through the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government, the name of Mrs. Farida Waziri, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, as the new helmsman at the EFCC. She will take over tomorrow from Ibrahim Lamorde, the current acting chairman who is currently at a conference in Australia.

Ibori, Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara, Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa, and several former governors including Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia, Peter Odili of Rivers and Taminu Turaki of Jigawa sponsored Mrs. Waziri’s nomination. The former AIG has promised the ex-governors that, once confirmed, she will work to sabotage their ongoing prosecution for acts of money laundering, graft and corruption.

Mrs. Waziri’s confirmation will put an end to speculations about the status of Nuhu Ribadu, the former EFCC chairman who was sent on "compulsory study leave " by the Yar'adua government.

Mrs. Waziri’s nomination has been long pushed by corrupt former governors facing trial from the Ribadu-led EFCC. They found an ally in Aondoakaa, described by one senior advocate of Nigeria as “the most corrupt, shameless and greedy attorney general and minister of justice in Nigeria’s history.” Aondoakaa has been instrumental in decimating the EFCC. He began by trying to strip the agency’s prosecutorial powers. When that failed, he designed plans to oust Ribadu and other top leaders at the commission seen as uncompromising against state governors involved in widespread graft and abuse of office. In moving against the commission, Aondoakaa also capitalized on legitimate public perception of the EFCC’s selectivity in its anti-corruption drive during the dispensation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo and his close kitchen cabinet members were left unchecked by the EFCC.

Since the removal of Ribadu, the EFCC has been effectively paralyzed by a group of powerful ex-governors led by James Ibori of Delta State who had invested close to $500 million in slush funds towards getting Yar'adua “elected” into office in the gravely rigged April 2007 elections.
Even as Yar’adua grudgingly named Ibrahim Lamorde as the acting chairman of the EFCC, he never met with him in person through his short tenure at the agency.

Mrs. Farida Waziri is a Tiv like Aondoakaa, but married to a Gombe native. She was presented to Yar'adua since February 2008, but internal disagreements within Aso Rock delayed the announcement. Aondoakaa had planned to announce her appointment shortly after Yar'adua's victory at the presidential electoral tribunal. The plan was thwarted, however, when Yar'adua, who was on a state visit to China, called it off.

However, the determined trio of Governor Saraki of Kwara, James Ibori, and Michael Aondoakaa kept the pressure on Yar'adua. They also carried out a quiet orientation of Mrs. Waziri, giving her a list of “tough” agents to fire at the agency once her appointment was facilitated.

Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, has also secretly screened “cooperative” police officers within the nation's police command to fill vacancies left by agents already identified for firing as soon as Mrs. Waziri Farida takes over.

A source from within Yar’adua’s regime told Saharareporters that Mrs. Waziri’s confirmation in the Senate is “already taken for granted by those pushing for her appointment.” He said many senators were loyal to Ibori and many ex-governors. About six former governors named in corruption investigations are also prominent member of the Nigerian senate. Two of them- Senators Saminu Turaki and Chimaroke Nnamani -are currently facing trial before Federal High Courts in Abuja and Lagos for graft, money laundering and abuse of office.

Mrs. Waziri's brief will include aggressive prosecution of persons to be indicted by the various committees of the House of Representatives currently investigating the regime of former President Obasanjo. She is also expected to ensure that former governors currently facing prosecution by the EFCC are allowed to get away through lackadaisical prosecution. Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, who prosecutes several EFCC cases, has been penciled down to be relieved of all his legal briefs.

The coalition sponsoring Mrs. Waziri have figured that if Obasanjo and his close allies undergo prosecution, it would take public attention from the former governors who are currently the targets of EFCC prosecution.

The ex-governors met Yar'adua last week when he made a brief stop in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State, to campaign for Timipre Sylva, PDP gubernatorial candidate in a court-ordered rerun of gubernatorial elections. Once cornered, Yar’adua finally gave his pledge to forward Mrs. Waziri’s name to the Senate. 

Former governors, James Ibori, Saminu Turaki and DSP Alamieyeseigha attended the PDP rally in Yenegoa with Yar'adua