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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 hope 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.”
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