Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, implied that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was overly corrupt while in office.
Recall that Waziri was appointed by late President Umaru Yar’Adua as EFCC boss and was later relieved of it by Jonathan after three and half years in the saddle of the anti-graft agency.
The retired Assistant Inspector General of Police in a book she authored and entitled: One Step Ahead-Life as a Spy, and slated for launch next Tuesday hinted alleged favourable disposition of Jonathan to corruption while claiming his deceased successor had zero tolerance for it.
She went on to reveal how the immediate past President allegedly sacked her because she made move to arrest oil racketeers.
Quoting an excerpt from the book, The Nation wrote: “The date was November 23, 2011. It didn’t take me by surprise. There had been rumblings and maneuverings in the recent past to guess such an end was in the offing. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was an EFCC operation in Lagos.
“The agency got a tip-off about some oil racketeers who were in Nigeria for dubious dealings. People of interest were going to move money into Lagos. The tip-off came from outside the country, one of our reliable foreigner(sic) agents. We flew into Lagos and organised the operation. Detectives moved to the target office, to conduct a search and bring the suspect to Abuja. At the time they got into the office, the target was not on seat.
“I’d asked the team to invite the accountant and to bring along the computers. Few minutes after the arrival of the accountant and the machines, I got a call from Aso Rock, the Presidential Villa.
“The message was an order: ”Release the man immediately!” My calm explanation to the voice from the villa was “The person you are calling for is not arrested; it is his accountant we invited here.” “Ok, let the accountant go.”
“That put me in a dilemma. We had acted on intelligence. We spent days planning the operation. And indeed, we had on our hands a good case complete with evidence. How do I explain to my operatives that the case has to be jettisoned because of a call from Aso Rock? How do I disabuse their minds from thinking I had compromised?
“I asked the detectives to take the accountant’s statement and release him on bail. While we were at it, the caller from the Villa interrupted us again with another order: “Release the computers to him.” He tried to justify this by claiming, “he contributed so much to the campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan.”
“At that point, I asked him: “Is this instruction from Mr. President? “ Yes, the voice affirmed. I played my last card: “I can release the man on bail, but I won’t release the computers. “How did it end?” “The outcome was my sack a few weeks later. I guess this and other events contributed to my removal, although other events took place before this.”
The former EFCC chairman recalled what happened after his removal and how the late Prof. Dora Akunyili hinted her of her imminent sack.
Explaining why she rejected Mrs. Akunyili’s idea to beg Jonathan to avert her ouster, she said: “After listening to the news, I went to the office and packed my stuff. I didn’t call the President; neither did he call me. Nobody called me. I handed over to Ibrahim Lamorde, my deputy.
“The handwriting was on the wall a long time ago. My friend, the Minister for Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili, was the first person to hint me about the coming bombshell. Months earlier, she warned me of a plan to oust me from office.
“Out of concern, she advised me to go and see President Goodluck Jonathan. She told me what to say to the President. However, her advice was totally against my conscience and moral jugdement, and I rejected the idea.
“A few weeks later, Prof Akunyili called me to her office. “Sister, didn’t I advise you on what to do but you refused, now they have decided to remove you. Be prepared. Start packing your things little by little.
“Prof Akunyili had good connections to Aso Villa and couldn’t have been unsure of what she heard. I went back to my office and started packing my stuff gradually. In the meantime, the propaganda machine was still working.
“With President Yar’Adua no longer in the picture, my detractors had unfettered access to the Presidential Villa. They retooled, shifted gear and revved up.
“There was one brilliant piece of polemic in the newspaper. It was entitled the Lost Treasure. The grammar was excellent, but the logic was a red herring.
“It was an excellent article that chronicled the fight against corruption from inception. It cited efforts by each previous government, and how they cried and failed. The offensive commentary concluded: to retrieve the Lost Treasure is to get rid of that woman. “that woman” —that was what I had become.”
She added: “The tips were coming from other sources. Someone highly-placed told me what higher executives discussed about me. “They don’t like you, because you did not contribute money for elections,” he told me. “They said you are just busy arresting people all over the place. They are just managing you. ’
“Also, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (5GP), Chief Pius Anyim, phoned, to report that the President directed that my husband’s name be included in a listing for ambassadorial positions. I broke into laughter-Anyim and me were quite friendly. I told him my husband would not take such an offer.
”We were there before, and he has had enough of it.” But Anyim insisted: ‘This is a directive from Mr. President. You better go and ask him.’
“I went upstairs and informed Ajuji (her late husband) about the phone call from the SGF. His response was predictable. He told me that he wasn’t growing any younger; and as a politician, he would prefer to remain at home to serve his people. He was nonetheless very grateful to Mr. President. He asked that I should go and thank the President on my husband’s behalf.
“I went straight first to the office of the SGF to give him my husband’s response. I thought it would end there. “What about you? “Anyim asked. “I did not enjoy being an ambassador’s wife. It will be worse if I become an ambassador myself.” He tried to change my mind, but I stuck to my position. “Let’s wait and see, I said. First, I have to complete my present appointment.” “And when is your tenure going to be over?” I told him. “if we include your name, by the time you finish, it will be a seamless transition,” he suggested. “Won’t it appear questionable that the EFCC chair just finished her tenure and is going for screening for an ambassadorial position?
“The truth is-with due respect to Chief Anyim-I didn’t believe him completely. I thought they were trying to set me up. Currently I didn’t know whom to trust anymore. After the exchange, I went to deliver my husband’s response to President Jonathan. I thanked him for the great honour extended to us as worthy of being ambassadors of Nigeria. I reiterated my husband’s reasons for declining, age.
“The President agreed it was a job for younger people. I regaled him with our hardship in Turkey, the tedium of travelling from Kano to Cairo, the waiting at the airport, the cash crunch and the minutiae of the downside of living in Turkey. After our conversation, I thanked him and departed the Villa.
“I reflected over the episode and concluded that my husband was not the target of the ambassadorial posting. It was me. If I accepted, it could have been a seamless transition for me from EFCC chair to an ambassador. The government knows how to circumvent laid-down procedures. My change would have been what they called “a soft landing.”
