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...Read the full article.

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It is with a deep sense of regret and reservation that I am posting this reply. I am sick and tired and bored with all these anti-corruption claptrap.

First, I agree totally with the author's accessment of FW and her performance or lack of it. Second, I disagree totally with the author's attempt to create the impression that things changed for the worse under FW:

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Fighting corruption is just that: a fight. It is demands an intelligent, but also courageous and combative person who understands that he or she is the arrowhead for a new way of life. It demands a nationalist who is not uncomfortable waving the letter and the spirit of the law at each and all. It requires someone who sees the essential contribution of the public in this process. It requires someone who wears battle fatigues to work, figuratively speaking.

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If SO is implying that FW's predecessor met the qualities highlighted above then I say with utmost respect that SO himself lacks intelligence. Intelligence is not the same thing as writing a good prose. It is the ability to understand that which is not obvious. A nationalist is someone who can rise above self, tribe, race and region in defence of nation. Neither NR nor FW is one by my estimation. As for service, if SO does not know who Ribadu served by now, then The Guardian should replace his column with Sarah Palin's. Finally concerning battle fatigues, we might as well exume Abacha from the grave to assist.

The summary of my position is that NR and FW is like six and half a dozen.

Please see this link and all the links and sub-links therein: http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/articles-comments/26008-efcc-when-truth-confronts-half-fried-ideas-2.html

Let no one who has the priviledge of penning an op-ed in a publication like The Guardian unders-estimate the powers and reach of his opinions. Personally, I started buying and reading and contributing to The Guardian as an undegrad in the mid -80s but was totollaly turned off around 1999/2000 when they started practising "responsible and patriotic" journalism. So I do not know what SO's opinion pages said about NR and his tenure. Anyone with links to them should pls post them here for me.

SO please change topic and go and take over EFCC.

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OF AN IDÉE FIXE AND GRIPES

It is safe to say that if the current EFCC chairperson, Mrs. Waziri, were to be fired, it most certainly would not be on account of Mr. Olumhense's gripes that one has unfortunately been confronted with in the past one week or so. What has now developed into an idée fixe on the part of this man seems to have also acquired a superciliousness that is at once troubling and baffling. Let nobody be fooled by the sanctimonious whimpering. The sub-text of the anti-Waziri monologue is a thinly veiled yearning for the immediate past, a shrill but nostalgic pleading that must be seen as quite offensive for what it says or doesn't say.

It is obvious that this guy has made up his mind, blissfully cocooned in his aura of pre-conceptions, not to mention dubious certainties, and there is little anyone can do, it would appear, to change that.

Olumhense claims rather carelessly and without proof that the reported case of missing or distorted files must have happened under the watch of Mrs. Waziri. He goes on to accuse the woman of what is tantamount to unprofessional conduct , for having chosen an unorthodox manner to announce the issue of the "missing" or "distorted" files. Obviously, Olumhense has not bothered to listen to the explanation offered by the EFCC boss to the effect that she was responding to a specific question and that she was quoted out of context.

There is also the insignificant(?) matter of guilt by association. It is almost as if the mere mention of the name of the Attorney General and Mrs. Waziri in one sentence is proof enough of her supposed sins. This smacks of cheap shots on the part of the author who should know better. Fighting corruption should be the business of every Nigerian citizen and those who want to be seen in the media as the moral conscience of the nation cannot afford to pontificate in a legerdemain.

Olumhense is also not happy that there is a redeployment of staff under Mrs. Waziri. He probably would want the status quo maintained with the same personnel that was responsible for some of the worst assaults on the Nigerian democratic edifice during the medieval and tyrannical kleptocracy of Olusegun Obasanjo. Let me reiterate what I have said elsewhere. Part of the transformation that must come the way of the EFCC will involve the transfer away from the anti-corruption body of all those compromised elements who worked with Nuhu Ribadu and in the process inflicted so much lawlessness and havoc on the socio-political tapestry of the nation. Mrs. Waziri is doing a good job in that regard. There should be no tergiversation.

I will say this again: The emphasis on due process and the rule of law is the correct approach. Democracy is deepened when we all subscribe to this ethos. The law may be an ass but it is also a tenacious vehicle. Anarchy stares us in the face the moment we begin to play God by ditching this ass like was the case during the reckless interregnum of Obasanjo and his acolytes. Mrs. Waziri should continue to do what she has said she is doing, namely, pursuing a relentless but methodical campaign that is respectful of the law. Those files she says are missing or tampered with must be reconstituted.The sooner, the better.

As for those wanting to engage in barely disguised pro-Ribadu lamentations, they are free to do so but they ought to realize that Ribadu's fin de règne is not an illusion. Nigerians have moved on.

P.S. Pls. see Mrs. Waziri verbatim in my post below.

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In her own words

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ex-govs destroyed files - efcc
by philip nyam
leadership
abuja
thurs., oct. 16, 2008

reps want obasanjo, imoke, others probed

the chairman of the economic and financial crimes commission (efcc), mrs mzamber farida waziri, yesterday explained that some of the former governors indicted by the former leadership of the anti-graft commission may have destroyed their case files before leaving office.


Waziri also assured that she did not come to the efcc to protect any corrupt person, not even former president olusegun obasanjo.

The efcc boss also alleged that some of her detractors were still
working hard to discredit her and the good work she was doing at the commission.

Trouble began when the chairman of the senate committee on anti-corruption, senator shola akinyede, and other members of the panel starting throwing questions at the efcc boss concerning media reports that quoted her to have said that the commission has no case file against former president olusegun obasanjo.

Mrs waziri was before the senate committee on drugs, narcotics and anti-corruption yesterday where she took a swipe at the committee. According to her , "i was not invited here to come and take questions on any report but to meet with new members of the committee."

chairman of the committee senator shola akinyele had condemned the appointment of mrs waziri when she was nominated by president umaru yar'adua to head the efcc.

Visibly angry, the efcc chairman exploded, "i spoke to the distinguished senator yesterday and he told me that he wanted me to meet with new members. The purpose of this meeting, i was not told. So, honestly, i did not think that i was coming to be taken to task on anything. I did not prepare to meet with you. I did not even think the press would be here after having the bashing of the press three days ago with the initiatives, when i went there and made a statement which i was quoted out of context.

"i never knew that was why i just came and i went straight to the distinguished senator's office to sit there and read some papers. I think i should be told that this is what the distinguished committee wants.

"i will prepare myself. If it is based on the submission, of course, i will prepare adequately and i will come and take questions. I was not prepared."

senator akinyede interjected: "just a minute. Basically, it is an interactive session and since a report was produced by the commission, the presumption is that you are privy to information in that report; and, i do not think it is out of order to ask you a few questions."

waziri responded:" i want to just make a point that if i am coming to meet distinguished senators on something as vital as this, i should be told that we are going to discuss your report, but i am going to answer some of the questions; but it is not fair on me. I just walked in here; he has just given me a copy of the report and the press is here and i do not want to be quoted out of context. That is why i should be adequately informed."

akinyede insisted, "that report is your report..."

waziri answered, "okay, what is the problem? I will answer you back. I have made a point. I said it was not fair on me. I will answer what you want as far as i can; but if i am coming and the press is there i should be informed. Look at the incident at the initiatives : I went to present a paper there and, after that, i was asked a question: ‘your predecessors said there were 31 ex-governors…why are you not prosecuting obasanjo?’ and i said i do not have the petition before me about obasanjo and that was it.

"the second question was: ‘the operatives said that there were 31 governors that were waiting to be charged to court; that they had immunity and what are you doing about it?’ as far as i know, i am doing what i can do on the facts of the cases i met on the ground. I cannot just manufacture evidence. This is a case of ‘prove beyond all reasonable doubt.’

"secondly, if a sitting governor … you went to the air to say that i heard you are a thief and that at the end of the day, i will prosecute you; of course, the governor is not stupid, he will destroy everything that he thinks will be incriminating. In the cases that they are having they were not completed. I have often made an example of a governor that had three bundles of a case file and his statement is not in that case file; and it is trite law that you must hear both sides. I cannot take half-completed cases to court because that is the law; if not, that case is null and void ab initio. You know it. Just to get this governor to come and write his side of the story so that we would be fair, it is taking two or three weeks. These are some of the things.

"look at the screaming headlines. I know that my detractors are still working to throw brickbats at me left, right and centre. That is why i have been very careful in talking to the press and that went on and i can't tell you the stories that are emanating from this one similar statement. Even though i tried to make the correction, it is still there. It is so much that i am shielding obasanjo; that i am shielding governors; that i went there to protect governors; and, this is why i just felt that it is not fair to be called to... You know.

"you mentioned mass recruitment and this is what members of the international community have been talking about and saying all sorts of things. The things i want to say is that foreigners cannot love our country more than we love ourselves. The foreign people, some of them have their own hidden agenda. If i went to the commission ... And i always say that when george bush went to take over from president clinton, did he retain all the officers in the state house?"

the committee members began to grumble and a member, senator anthony agbo, said: She is answering the questions already."

but akinyede stepped in: "in view of what my members are saying, please, gentlemen of the press, let us have a closed session and, at the end of the day, we will invite you…..

Leadership gathered that after the closed-door session, the efcc chairman was asked to appear next wednesday.
Meanwhile, the conference of nigerian political parties (cnpp) has called on president yar’adua to relieve mrs waziri of her position.

The group said the efcc boss could not continue to remain in office after saying that she does not have the case files on former president obasanjo and 31 ex-governors.

"we are appalled to know that the patronising and rescue statement issued yesterday through the efcc spokesman, femi babafemi, after the fiasco failed to either come out clean or acknowledge the receipt of obasanjo’s petitions or name the number of ex-governors’ petitions in its custody," cnpp said.

The hon. Ndudi elumelu-led house of representatives committee on power that investigated the $16bn spent in the power sector from 1999 to 2007 without commensurate results recommended that former president olusegun obasanjo and two serving governors, senator liyel imoke of cross river and dr olusegun agagu of ondo, be investigated by both the efcc and the independent corrupt practices and other related offences commission (icpc).

According to the committee's recommendations, obasanjo and the two governors were found culpable in the handling of the power projects and it asked the anti-graft agencies to further investigate them.

The report also recommended that president yar'adua should redeploy the current minister of state, energy, hajiya fatima balaraba ibrahim, to another ministry "where she could be fitted".

According to the report, the former president with senator imoke and alhaji abdulhamid ahmed, former minister of state for power, were "the brains behind waiver of due process on nipp disbursement. The justification of that time was to 'fast-track' completion of the projects.

"but rather than fast-track or facilitate completion of the projects as envisaged, waiver of due process became the major plank that facilitated payments to contractors and consultants that have failed to perform, at the expense of the nation and the power industry".

Part 8.9 of the report entitled "persons recommended for investigation by the appropriate agencies," stated: "the following persons are recommended for investigation by the appropriate agencies for their roles in subversion of government policy on due process which gave rise to project over-scoping, project cost inflation, awarding one contract two times and general lack of performance in the power sector in spite of huge expenditures made.

"the barefaced looting of the national treasury through the nipp and phcn and other projects greatly diminished national capacity to provide electric power leading to wholesale decline in productive business activities and erosion of competitiveness of nigeria products in the world market.

"furthermore, it negatively affected the psyche of citizens. It was a cruel deprivation, at the highest possible level, of the class which george moody-stuart (1994) characterised as ‘grand corruption’, a phenomenon of developing countries usually involving senior officials and politicians.

Commenting on former president obasanjo, the committee said, "in view of the enormity of issues entailed in the findings above, it is recommended that former president olusegun obasanjo should be called to account for the recklessness in power sector during his time. The committee recommends that efcc and icpc should investigate him."

for the governor of cross river state, liyel imoke, the committee said that he "is the principal author of waiver of due process. In addition to the facts laid bare in this investigation as outlined in this report, the committee recommends that efcc and icpc should thoroughly investigate him".

As to agagu it said: "during his tenure in 2002, the committee found that numerous contracts were awarded, including huge contracts to some unregistered companies.

"up till the time of this report, all efforts to get the owners of the companies to appear in person before the committee proved abortive. Rather, the committee received some documents containing reports that the companies were registered. The true identity of the owners remained unresolved.

"in view of the huge amounts involved, the committee recommends that efcc and icpc should investigate the allegations with a view to prosecuting anyone found culpable."

it also blamed alhaji abdulhamid ahmed, former minister of state, energy, "for his patent and wilful manipulation of due process, flagrant abuse of due process, gross abuse of financial procedures in the award of contracts and payments, especially during the last weeks of the obasanjo administration, exemplified by initiation of requests to the president, and procurement of presidential approvals for huge and questionable payments in respect of papalanto phase ii, omotosho phase ii, geregu phase ii, alaoji phases ii, mambilla packages 1, zungeru hydro, omoku expansion, gbarain-ubie expansion and egbema expansion (9 additional ge frame 9 turbines to rockson international) without due process compliance for contract award and certification for payment.

"the committee recommends that he should be investigated by efcc and icpc and, if found culpable, banned from holding public office for the next 10 years and if he is already holding any he should be recalled and the appointment cancelled."

meanwhile, the committee on privatisation and commercialisation is to commence investigation into the alleged financial impropriety against the management of global infrastructure holdings limited (gihl), former concessionaires of the ajaokuta steel company and national iron ore mining company (niomco), itakpe.

Chairman of the committee hon. Njidda ahmed gella who gave the hint wednesday in abuja, said that the interim management committee of the ajaokuta steel company and niomco had discovered about n37.6bn and $35.7m fraud in the administration of the companies during the era of gihl.

He said a report submitted to the minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation as well as the ministry of finance, and mines and steel development has indicted the gihl of miscellaneous financial impropriety but regretted that the government has not taken any action against the company.

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The Yar’Adua doctrine unfolds.

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SO,

What a way to sum it all up. Indeed!

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Villager Igboamanze,

I am completely in agreement with you. There is a clear fixation on an individual here. I dont recall any such sustained focus on the EFCC's top job until FW took office. Much as one would agree that there have been inconsistencies, one wonders whether the sustained focus is really aimed at making that office better or it is aimed at demonstrating that NR was the 'best ever'. It is amazing that our dear senior journalist has conveniently forgotten how NR was the tool in the political war-bag of Obasanjo. With the way things run in this country, where there is difficulty separating office and office occupant (temporary, if I may add), why should FW be blamed for creating her own 'kitchen-cabinet' that she can work with? Especially since Ribadu's 'boys' would still be loyal to him? In fact, the way I see it, if this woman had worked with those Ribadu boys, our dear commentator might even have argued that she is not working and she is simply riding on the foundation laid by NR. In other words, if people argued that NR was the best thing to happened to anti-corruption in Nigeria, and these people were opposed to the appointment of anyone else, poor FW naturally falls in as a victim of sustained media attack if only to prove that NR remains the best thing ever. Ride on SO, FW will resign or be kicked out so that your favourite NR will be restored back to his office at the EFCC. NR is indigenous to the EFCC so it is his birth-right to head the office! If I may ask, why has SO not bothered to say anything about ICPC? Is he scared of the ICPC boss?

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=MrOneNaija;280874>OF AN IDÉE FIXE AND GRIPES

It is safe to say that if the current EFCC chairperson, Mrs. Waziri, were to be fired, it most certainly would not be on account of Mr. Olumhense's gripes that one has unfortunately been confronted with in the past one week or so. What has now developed into an idée fixe on the part of this man seems to have also acquired a superciliousness that is at once troubling and baffling. Let nobody be fooled by the sanctimonious whimpering. The sub-text of the anti-Waziri monologue is a thinly veiled yearning for the immediate past, a shrill but nostalgic pleading that must be seen as quite offensive for what is says or doesn't say.

It is obvious that this guy has made up his mind, blissfully cocooned in his aura of pre-conceptions, not to mention dubious certainties, and there is little anyone can do, it would appear, to change that.

Olumhense claims rather carelessly and without proof that the reported case of missing or distorted files must have happened under the watch of Mrs. Waziri. He goes on to accuse the woman of what is tantamount to unprofessional conduct , for having chosen an unorthodox manner to announce the issue of the "missing" or "distorted" files. Obviously, Olumhense has not bothered to listen to the explanation offered by the EFCC boss to the effect that she was responding to a specific question and that she was quoted out of context.

There is also the insignificant(?) matter of guilt by association. It is almost as if the mere mention of the name of the Attorney General and Mrs. Waziri in one sentence is proof enough of her supposed sins. This smacks of cheap shots on the part of the author who should know better. Fighting corruption should be the business of every Nigerian citizen and those who want to be seen in the media as the moral conscience of the nation cannot afford to pontificate in a legerdemain.

Olumhense is also not happy that there is a redeployment of staff under Mrs. Waziri. He probably would want the status quo maintained with the same personnel that was responsible for some of the worst assaults on the Nigerian democratic edifice during the medieval and tyrannical kleptocracy of Olusegun Obasanjo. Let me reiterate what I have said elsewhere. Part of the transformation that must come the way of the EFCC will involve the transfer away from the anti-corruption body of all those compromised elements who worked with Nuhu Ribadu and in the process inflicted so much lawlessness and havoc on the socio-political tapestry of the nation. Mrs. Waziri is doing a good job in that regard. There should be no tergiversation.

I will say this again: The emphasis on due process and the rule of law is the correct approach. Democracy is deepened when we all subscribe to this ethos. The law may be an ass but it is also a tenacious vehicle. Anarchy stares us in the face the moment we begin to play God by ditching this ass like was the case during the reckless interregnum of Obasanjo and his acolytes. Mrs. Waziri should continue to do what she has said she is doing, namely, pursuing a relentless but methodical campaign that is respectful of the law. Those files she says are missing or tampered with must be reconstituted.The sooner, the better.

As for those wanting to engage in barely disguised pro-Ribadu lamentations, they are free to do so but they ought to realize that Ribadu's fin de règne is not an illusion. Nigerians have moved on.

P.S. Pls. see Mrs. Waziri verbatim in my post below.

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I am sorry to sound like an idi0t if you 'd ever think I am but wtf are you on about ?

50-50. we all accepted Ribadu was imperfect but he gave us half-a-play: the other half-we detested and continually hammered about.

Is it not so dam n obvious to priests of amazing and eternal obfuscation like you, that every goddam thing is wrong when an investigative officer shouts about distortion ? on cases that are, for the life of me - already in motion under her watch ?

I apologise, I cant even begin to contemplate your position, despite your right to own one. Its kinda raw and off.

Did you even read these piece ? Darn.

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=izonboy;280880>Villager Igboamanze,

I am completely in agreement with you. There is a clear fixation on an individual here. I dont recall any such sustained focus on the EFCC's top job until FW took office.




What planet have you been living ? SO has written in my rough estimation possibly up-to-10 commentaries about EFCC from the imperfect but progressive days of Ribadu down now to the obvious reverse-acceleration of Mrs. Waz. If you doubt do this on google "Sonala + efcc + Ribadu" then get back to this conversation....

Much as one would agree that there have been inconsistencies, one wonders whether the sustained focus is really aimed at making that office better or it is aimed at demonstrating that NR was the 'best ever'.

>Again, check up your historical facts, for goodness sake - best ever or not, obj boy or not, Ribadu did his best when all is said and done. What are we even talking about ? Ribadu's efcc docked Tafa & humiliated him ? Best ever ? I think yes when you put it into perspective. He brought it against the Ibori/Fayose and that Enugu one whats his name, and here you are wondering if he is best-ever or not ? darn. </I>


It is amazing that our dear senior journalist has conveniently forgotten how NR was the tool in the political war-bag of Obasanjo.

Fine. I think 99% of us knows this. What you should ask yourself is: how much else could you have lived & fight with the devil ? Answer that and we ll proceed....An Obasanjo that has no Qualms approving the murder of a Bola Ige - his childhood friend wouldnt give no shiite approving the slicing of a Ribadu if it has to come to that....


With the way things run in this country, where there is difficulty separating office and office occupant (temporary, if I may add), why should FW be blamed for creating her own 'kitchen-cabinet' that she can work with?


<I>What work ? really


Especially since Ribadu's 'boys' would still be loyal to him? In fact, the way I see it, if this woman had worked with those Ribadu boys, our dear commentator might even have argued that she is not working and she is simply riding on the foundation laid by NR. In other words, if people argued that NR was the best thing to happened to anti-corruption in Nigeria, and these people were opposed to the appointment of anyone else, poor FW naturally falls in as a victim of sustained media attack if only to prove that NR remains the best thing ever. Ride on SO, FW will resign or be kicked out so that your favourite NR will be restored back to his office at the EFCC. NR is indigenous to the EFCC so it is his birth-right to head the office! If I may ask, why has SO not bothered to say anything about ICPC? Is he scared of the ICPC boss?


What else do we know about ICPC ? I mean, I havent heard a single serious case that is in the news from their tables. You can only do so much

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I am just left to shake my head, too many of us dont quite get Nigeria. But I concede, we love Nigeria.... Mi

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Dear Villagers,

It will be impossible to fight corruption in Nigeria the way many commentators like SO would like. When I was younger I thought like him but now I have seen the light.
FW's psition in the whole episode is akin to that of the parable of a farmer and his cow which I shall briefly tell below. I am not original here please. And I wish villagers a glorious Sunday.

"A farmer was in a bar drinking and looking all depressed.
His friend asked him why he was looking depressed and he replied, "Some things you just can't explain. This morning I was outside milking. As soon as the bucket was fill the cow kicked it down with his left foot so I tied up his left to a pole.

I began to fill up the bucket again and he kicked it down with his right foot, so I tied his right to a pole too.

As soon as I finished milkin'' him again he knocked down the bucket with his with his tail and I took off my belt and tied up his tail with my belt.

As I was tying up his tail, my pants dropped down, then my wife came out and well, trust me, some things you just can't explain! "

The farmer is FW, the Cow is corruption in Nigeria and the wife of the farmer is SO. Icon showing Aku back from the morning service at the Cathedral Church of Advent Abuja, Nigeria.

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When I was younger I thought like him but now I have seen the light.

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GLORIA be to almighty GOD...our dear loving sista, akuluouno has seen the LIGHT..!lol!