You’re irresponsible to say I frustrated anti-graft war, Waziri tells Ribadu

Former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, has described as reckless and irresponsible the statement credited to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, that she was among those that frustrated the fight against corruption.

Ribadu, who was succeeded by Waziri as EFCC chairman, had while presenting a paper at the 2016 annual lecture organised by the Law Chambers of Joe Kyari Gadzama in Abuja recently, accused Waziri as among Nigerians that frustrated the ant-graft war, saying that she “inflicted serious damages on the EFCC from which the commission is still struggling to recover”.

Ribadu had claimed that the appointment of Waziri as EFCC Chairman saw Nigeria witnessed widespread of corrupt practices that were unheard of in the anti-graft agency and outside the agency, adding that lawyers were brought in to handle very important cases that sometimes were turned into avenues for money making.

However, reacting to the accusation on Saturday, Waziri warned Ribadu to stop using her name to seek for public attention or sympathy, describing as lies, the accusation by Ribadu that she was part of those who frustrated anti-graft war in the country.

Waziri in a statement by her Personal Assistant in Brookfield Chambers, Ms. Omolara Oluremi, added that Ribadu must stop weeping because garrulity does not heal frustration or depression.

The statement readin part, “My attention has been drawn to a reckless and irresponsible statement credited to Nuhu Ribadu at a function on Wednesday in Abuja, where he, as has been his rhetoric since 2008 when I succeeded him as the EFCC Chairman, attempted to malign me by accusing me of being part of his imaginary enemies who frustrated the nation’s anti-graft war.

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“There is also the need to remind Ribadu that before he succumbs to another logorrhoea, he should avail himself a copy of the investigative report on recovered assets during his tenure as EFCC Chairman and use the opportunity of the next naming ceremony or birthday party, to explain to Nigerians what happened to billions of funds and assets recovered from suspects under him, with no records or documentation. He should be grateful to me that I cleaned his mess by creating an Assets Forfeiture Unit to put the records straight and do things rightly.

“If Nuhu Ribadu is yet to face the reality that EFCC is a Federal Government agency and not a personal estate of anybody eight years after, I find it compelling to remind him, otherwise one day he would wake up to blame me for his defeat in the 2011 presidential election and even his pathetic outing in the 2015 governorship election in Adamawa state despite the slush funds deployed to ensure his victory at the polls,” part of the statement read.

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