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Against the
backdrop of rising threats and
un-provoked violence against officials
of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission,
EFCC, its Chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri,
has vowed that no measure of threat will
deter her and its operatives from
forging ahead in the investigation and
prosecution of all graft charges being
handled by the Commission.
She stated
this while receiving officials of Women
in the New
Nigeria, WINN, who were on a
courtesy call to the corporate
headquarters of the Commission.
“Because I made a comment that people
who care for Nigerians should be
elected, not those who have corruption
cases pending in court , I have been
vilified, attacked with all manner of
allegation that I am meddling in
politics. We in this Commission have to
work within the
rule of law. There is a section
in our Establishment Act that empowers
us to relate with other agencies and
bodies within and outside the country.
I am not going to sit here and say this
is the list of disqualified persons or
politicians but we are going to work
together with the INEC, the SSS,
Police and even the political parties.
We will tell the
party leaders
and advise them that, based on the
overwhelming evidence on the candidate
you are presenting, why don’t you field
another candidate? We can advise, we
have other ways too that we can take,”
she said
Waziri also
bared her mind on the insinuations being
made over her recent visit to the
United States
of America on the invitation of
the American government. She said that
she was in the United States in
furtherance of the nation’s
anti-corruption war and not to report
President
Goodluck Jonathan to the American
authorities as being insinuated. “I
was invited to the US to meet with the
Department of
Justice and the
Undersecretary
of State and the President approved
that visit in writing and I went and we
had over four sessions. The Nigerian
Ambassador was there present in the
meeting and when I came back, there were
reports that I went to report Mr.
President in the USA that he is
hampering my work. It is even
unthinkable for anyone to even think
like that. America is a sovereign
nation and
Nigeria is also a sovereign
nation. I am employed by Mr. President,
so, why will I report him to the USA ?”
In another
reaction, Waziri condemned the sponsored
protest against the works of the EFCC in
Rivers State
, saying that Governor
Rotimi Amaechi
has a penchant for making reckless
statements. She faulted the Governor for
insisting that none of his officials had
a corruption case to be investigated.
“How can he vouch for all his officials?
Whenever our Operatives are in the
state, he always shield the government
officials and we are saying that, if you
don’t have skeletons in you cupboard,
open your books, let’s do our job, we
are empowered to fight corruption,”
she posed. She assured Nigerians that
no antics of anyone would stop the EFCC
from doing its job while insisting that
the Commission was not under any
pressure by anyone.
According to
her, “The
issue that the President is using the
EFCC to haunt people is not true. I
travelled and they said we invaded anti-
Jonathan state governors. This is false
information that should be discouraged
and it is there to mislead the members
of the public. Nobody is pressuring us;
we are working under the
rule of law.
“We should never
allow a season of break for the corrupt
no matter their mischief and blackmail
otherwise they will not only loot our
generation dry but that of our children
and the generations after them. It
amazes me when some of those saddled
with the responsibility of making
things work better in our country
descend to a ridiculous level of
offering reasons why EFCC should not
investigate graft allegations against
certain persons or government.
“It becomes more
worrisome when some say that our
investigations in some states are
politically motivated or that we are
being influenced by the federal
government or the presidency. For the
benefit of you my distinguished guests
and the general public, President
Jonathan or anybody in the presidency
has never for once interferred in our
work and our investigations are
absolutely devoid of political
consideration.
“I challenge anyone
or any state we are investigating over
fraud allegations to come out and say we
don’t confront them with such
allegations during interrogation. We
can’t arrest anyone for interrogation if
there is no basis for that. Those that
have corruption charges to answer should
not hide under the fading cliché of
political persecution because elections
are around the corner. That is
deceitful, ungodly and criminal. They
must be bold enough to defend their
actions in office.
“We know it was going
to get to this diversionary tactic of
using blackmail to evade probe the
moment we announced our preparedness to
collaborate with other stakeholders to
ensure that 2011 elections are not only
credible but that the corrupt are not
allowed to pollute the process with
their baggage of corruption charges.”
Waziri also
spoke on the issue of one of the key
officials of the EFCC that was murdered
recently in Kaduna . She said that the
slain Abdulahi Muazu was assassinated
and not a victim of armed robbery. She
expressed the determination of the
Commission to un-ravel the circumstances
surrounding the murder of the official.
She urged Nigerians to continue to
support the nation’s anti-graft war to
save the country from more hardships.
In her
submissions, Dr. Esther Mangzha,
Chairman, National Planning Committee,
WINN, and leader of the six-member
delegation, commended Waziri and the
EFCC for their relentless efforts in
moving the anti-graft war forward. “The
anti-graft war is for every Nigerian. We
know the pains and groaning you are
coping with. We encourage you to
continue and we will always pray for
you,” she said. She also disclosed the
plans of her group to mobilize the
womenfolk nationwide against
corrupt
practices in the public and
private sectors
saying that women would be encouraged to
always prevail on their husbands to toe
the line of integrity all the time.
Other members of the delegation are:
Pastor Rejoice Madike, Pastor Bettye
Phebe Uzoma; Mrs Sarah Ibrahim; Mrs Bolu
Olutayo and Mrs Toyin Joe-Bassey.
Femi Babafemi,head, Media & Publicity
EFCC
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