by Richard Akindele » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:30 pm
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) launched, yesterday, into a fresh tirade against the political class, saying not only are Nigerian leaders corrupt, but also visionless. It particularly picked on chief spokesman for the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who in a reaction to last week's arrest of business mogul, Otunba Mike Adenuga Jnr, said the commission's action smacked of thuggery. The EFCC denounced Alhaji Mohammed as a huge embarrassment to Nigerian democracy.
The ACD spokesman swiftly replied the commission, describing the reaction of the EFCC as crude and intemperate.
Chairman of the commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, in a paper at a seminar organised by the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria vowed that the organisation would not succumb to intimidation and blackmail from politicians.
In the paper presented on his behalf by the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Emmanuel Akomoye, Ribadu said leaders at various levels of government in the country were corrupt and criminally ingenious. The paper was entitled: "Beyond Threats, Can EFCC Stop Thieving Politicians?"Nigerian politicians are not only stealing public funds in the most brazen manner, but have anuncanny ability to deceive and blackmail their victims at the same time to cover their misdeeds, he said.
His words: "Nigeria has not been lucky with good leaders at local, state and federal levels. We havehad leaders without conviction, leaders without any sense of patriotism, leaders whose concept ofgovernance is the amassing of personal wealth, leaders without vision.
"It is indeed a misnomer to call them leaders, for they do not qualify to be so called. They were in themain, professional manipulators who pillaged and emptied the treasuries. The day we begin to instal true leadership in office, most of our problems will be solved. And so, as weapproach 2007, we have to be vigilant. We have to reject people with questionable background as politiciansseeking elective offices. "It is time to put them to shame. It is time to expose them, their agents and cronies. It is time to say noto their ill-gotten money."
He, however, warned that at a time like this when Nigerians would soon be called upon to elect theirleaders at all levels, it would be appropriate and imperative to examine in details issues of governance, particularly those that were corruption-related in a bid to address all those problems that had continuedto bedevil the nation.
"The office holder is averse to any inquiry about his sudden riches. He is quick to attribute it topolitical blackmail, jealousy or the work of enemies. No attempt, whatsoever, is made to offer concreteexplanation to the sudden wealth. How can this be when bogus assets declaration has been made in anticipation of acquisition?" he asked.
Adenuga still under probe
And, responding to ACD's statement on the recent arrest of Otunba Adenuga, the EFCC in a statement said the business mogul would be re-arrested if the Commission found anything against him.
The statement: "The EFCC has always refused to be drawn into a media battle as it would only dignify self-serving people and is an unwanted distraction from the work already cut out for the Commission to sanitise the Nigerian business and political environment.
"But certain unscrupulous individuals seem to have made a job of EFCC bashing, presenting in the process, half-truths and outright lies as genuine information about the actions, strategies, motives and vision of EFCC. The Commission is, therefore, constrained to respond to Mr. Lai Mohammed's unrelenting, ill-advised media attacks on EFCC.
"In his recent statement which is no less as pathetically uninformed and misguided as all the others and which was widely published in the Nigerian media, he is quoted among other things as calling the Commission 'a huge embarrassment to Nigeria.'
"And, this is simply because the Commission went to arrest a suspect who for over three months had refused all civil invitation by a law enforcement agency. Perhaps, Mr. Mohammed does not know, apart from the alleged crime being investigated, obstructing investigation of any law enforcement agency anywhere in the world, is a crime.
"By Mr. Mohammed's queer logic, EFCC is an 'embarrassment' because the Commission came out with a statement that notwithstanding the arrest (which generated local and international interest), the suspect was still entitled to his rights as a citizen of Nigeria and was innocent until proven otherwise.
"Of course, Chief Mike Adenuga is still under investigation and the result would be made public in due course. If it is found that he has a criminal case to answer at the end of the exercise, EFCC would not wait a single day to arrest and charge him to court. Nothing is hidden, nothing can be hidden.
"Lai Mohammed should refrain from jumping into matters he has very little information about or has questionable capacity to decipher. However, If Mr. Lai Mohammed cannot lay claim to anything, we are certain he can lay claim to some sort of clairvoyance, as he has stolen right out of our very mouths, the very same words we had always wanted to describe him by.
"Lai Mohammed may not be an 'embarrassment' to his masters, the very same people who gave Nigerians a bad name in the comity of nations. The very same people who promoted corruption and gave protection to the fraudsters and 419ers that EFCC has been successfully battling since 2003. But, Lai Mohammed, to all right thinking Nigerians, is a huge embarrassment to Nigerian democracy. "
Meanwhile, Alhaji Mohammed in a swift reaction to the EFCC statement last night said: "The rather crude and intemperate reaction of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to the appeal by the Advanced Congress of Democrats to call the Commission to order over their mafia style arrest of Otunba Mike Adenuga last week has finally exposed the EFCC as a key and partisan player in the Nigerian political arena.
"In EFCC's warped logic, any individual, political party or organisation that does not sing the praise of the EFCC is corrupt; a patron of the Advanced Fee Fraud otherwise known as 419, and must be held responsible for the debt burden of Nigeria. It is evident from the vituperations of the EFCC that the Commission is prosecuting a pro-government political agenda."
Vanguard.