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Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
Chairman Farida Waziri must be looking for somewhere to hide this week
following the release of confidential cables from the US Embassy in
London citing in detail UK Foreign Office assessments of the Nigerian
Government in 2008 and 2009. Michael Aondoakaa, former Federal Attorney
General and close associate of James Ibori, is cited as keeping “Waziri
on a very short leash.”

A leaked US Embassy cable dated 17 November 2008
notes, “Former UK Chargé in Abuja (and current FCO East and Central
Africa Group Head) James Tansley assesses that Waziri will not pursue
any corruption cases that are not in the government’s interests.” It
seems from the cables that “not in the government’s interests” means
contrary to the wishes of the cabal running the Yar’Adua Presidency.
This was alluded to in this column on 19 December 2010, On Watch: Soft
on Corruption, in which I stated: “The political playing is done by
Chairman Waziri deciding which reports to act on and pursue to
prosecution. And therein lies the potential for mischief.”

One of the high profile cases Waziri consistently
backed away from was the prosecution of former Delta State Governor
James Ibori who has been accused of embezzling vast amounts of Delta
State funds while he was governor and transferring it to the UK. UK
authorities have been keen to pursue legal action against Ibori through
the London courts but the EFCC and former Attorney General Aondoakaa
have been less than helpful. Aondoakaa, a close associate of Ibori, had
requested the British return evidence earlier provided for the case.

Nuhu Ribadu, while head of the EFCC had initiated
an investigation against Ibori. A successful prosecution against Ibori
had serious implications for those in the cabal around President
Yar’Adua. Pressure was brought on Ribadu to drop the investigation and
when he would not comply he was removed with a trail of manufactured
evidence sufficient to provide the necessary pretext for his dismissal.

Waziri replaced Ribudu as chairman of the EFCC and
quickly moved the case against Ibori into slow motion. In one of the
leaked US Embassy cables Tansey “noted that it is bizarre how
frequently Waziri asks for additional information on major cases,
details that she should already be familiar with if she is ‘really
digging into her portfolio”.

The leaked US Embassy cable also noted that
“Waziri would prosecute small cases” confirming the opinion that has
also been previously set out in this column on 05 December 2010, On
Watch: Criminal Protection, “Thus far the EFCC’s conviction rate of
“high profile cases” languishes in single digits.”

In a further cable labelled CONFIDENTIAL from the
US Embassy in London dated 22 May 2009 the UK’s Serious Organised Crime
Agency (SOCA) Africa programme officer Mike Davey noted “the EFCC’s
reticence to prosecute high-level political cases.” Waziri’s stifling
of the EFCC has become evident to foreign crime fighting agencies.

On 19 September 2010, On Watch: Corruption
Undermines the Peace Process, this column observed that EFCC Chairman
Waziri “is the insurance for the big men who have flaunted Nigeria’s
laws and enriched themselves from state coffers thus ensuring those in
poverty remain in poverty”.

Clearly the EFCC has been reigned in by Waziri who
holds total control on all key operations in the EFCC. In the Yar’Adua
Administration she played the role of protection for the tight cabal
that ran the Presidency. That cabal is falling apart rapidly under
President Jonathan. Waziri’s patrons are increasingly being exposed.
Ibori and Aondoakaa are both facing prosecution.

The fact that the EFCC has been become misdirected
by Waziri is clear to both the US and UK Embassy staff and in
particular the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency which interacts
frequently with the office of Nigeria’s Federal Attorney General and
Nigeria’s crime fighting agencies. In this respect the EFCC’s
reputation has taken a nose-dive under Waziri’s chairmanship and with
it has gone the view that Nigeria is serious about fighting corruption.
This is a significant set-back for the Jonathan administration which
must now work to repair the reputational damage of Nigeria’s
anti-corruption agency and demonstrate that President Jonathan is very
committed to fighting corruption at all levels of Nigerian society.

So one is drawn to ask why, after two and half
years of restraining the EFCC from carrying out its responsibilities to
the fullest extent possible and frittering away the EFCC’s hard won
reputation for fighting corruption without fear or favour, is Farida
Waziri still the chairman of the EFCC?