Waziri blasts Ribadu, says she clears his mess in EFCC

TWO former heads of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are now locked in a war of words over accountability and professionalism while heading the institution.

Mrs Farida Waziri, at the weekend, went for the jugular of her immediate predecessor-in-office, Nuhu Ribadu, describing him as a frustrated fellow.

Ribadu stoked the verbal war in the week when he mentioned his successor-in-office as one of those who frustrated the anti-corruption war, while speaking at a public function in Abuja.

Reacting to the allegation, Waziri cautioned Ribadu to stop using her name anytime he needed public attention or sympathy.

A statement signed by her personal assistant, Ms Omolara Oluremi, quoted Mrs Waziri as saying that “As has been his rhetoric since 2008 when I succeeded him as the EFCC chairman, he attempted to malign me by accusing me of being part of his imaginary enemies who frustrated the nation’s anti-graft war.

“My first inclination was to ignore Ribadu since I know he is always obsessed with dropping my name into his script anytime he needs public pity or political relevance. But on a second thought, I felt I should advise him to leave me out of his frustrations and face life.

There should be a life after EFCC. If after eight years of being removed as EFCC chairman, he is yet to move on with life, even after two successive chairmen had occupied the same seat and moved on with their lives, then his problem may be psychogenic. He needs help elsewhere, certainly not from me.

“If Nuhu 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 will 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.

“I equally suspect that Nuhu may sooner than later blame me for his penchant to jump from one party to the party like a political prostitute: from ACN to PDP and now to APC.

“It is his lust for power, inordinate ambition and desperation for political relevance that continue to push him to dine and wine, and even enjoy the wealth of those he had labeled as corrupt in yesteryear.

“He can’t hold me responsible for his double face, lack of principle and complex contradictions in his character,” Mrs Waziri stated.