Two former chairmen of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri and Malam Nuhu Ribadu have engaged in mudslinging.
With the former believing that the latter may be having psychogenic problems.
Waziri had warned her predecessor, Ribadu, against using her name any time he needed public’s attention or sympathy.
A statement by her personal assistant, Ms Omolara Oluremi, on Saturday in Abuja, accused Ribadu of `reckless and irresponsible’ statements concerning Waziri.
“My attention has been drawn to a reckless and irresponsible statement credited to Nuhu Ribadu at a function on Wednesday in Abuja, where he, as has been his rhetoric since 2008 when I succeeded him, 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 Nuhu Ribadu since I know he is always obsessed with dropping my name into his script any time 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.
She said that Ribadu needed help elsewhere, but not from her.
She reminded Ribadu that EFCC was a Federal Government’s agency and not a personal estate of anybody.
“I find it compelling to remind him, otherwise one day he would 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 another party like a political prostitute; from the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to PDP and now to All Progressives Congress (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 yesteryears.
“He can’t hold me responsible for his double face, lack of principle and complex contradictions in his character.’’
Ribadu, had on December 1, accused the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa and Waziri of trying during his tenure to destroy the commission by inflicting “serious damage”on it.
He also insisted that lawyers were equally doing “serious damage” to the war against corruption in the country.
Ribadu revealed that while he was in charge of the anti-graft agency, some senior legal practitioners made frantic efforts to compromise him.
He said the erstwhile AGF “later found a partner in Mrs. Farida Waziri,” who he said “inflicted serious damage on the EFCC from which the commission is still struggling to recover.”
Ribadu made the allegations in a paper presented at the 2016 Annual Lecture organised by the Law Chambers of Chief Joe Kyari Gadzama, SAN.
The theme is “Corruption and the nation’s economy: Lawyers as change agents”.
