Former chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has claimed that he prosecuted “Obasanjo boys” as
against popular saying that he prosecuted only the perceived enemies of the
then president, Olusegun Obasanjo.
He said this in a reply to an article by Mahmud Jega of
Daily Trust, with the title "Gra-gra versus softly-softly". Ribadu
noted that most of the prominent names he prosecuted while in office were of
the same political party with the president.
“It is therefore amusing when I hear people these days
charge me of "selective justice". Well, perhaps those charges could
be passed as the example of what Wole Soyinka called “our collective
amnesia". Take a comprehensive list of high profile people EFCC brought to
justice, majority of them were people that could be correctly tagged
"Obasanjo boys". Even though some of them suddenly turn around the
moment they found themselves in trouble with the law, as a way of buying public
sympathy,” he said.
Ribadu also gave credit of the work done during his tenure
to the political will of President Obasanjo to fight corruption. He said,
“Success of anti-graft efforts is hinged largely at the leadership level,
especially the political leadership. We were lucky to have the cooperation of
the leadership at the time. To the credit of President Olusegun Obasanjo, he
let us do the work even at a time we were going against some elements that were
extremely close to him”.
