Okiro is corrupt, a chronic political jobber- Ribadu

Our attention has been drawn to the shameless lies a former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro recklessly spewed to the media yesterday. The cause of Mr. Okiro's anger, the statement, in a London court, by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu that James Ibori was instrumental to his emergence as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) needs no further equivocation as it was an open secret to everybody in the government circle then. If Okiro is now denying this in public, there is no way he can deny this open secret to a number of people including an influential governor from the North-Central then, and a couple of other people who helped facilitate his selection by Ibori. It was this same shameless method of desperate lobbying that Okiro, a chronic political jobber and sycophant  of the first order would use in getting subsequent appointments as Chief Security Officer to the PDP national chairman and later, regrettably, as the chairman of the Police Service Commission.
The assertion by Okiro that Ribadu wanted to be the IGP further underlines the former IGP as a perennial peddler of falsehood. The truth is Nuhu Ribadu's focus then was consolidating on his modest efforts at the EFCC, especially at a time when he was working on high-profile cases, including that of Okiro's godfather, James Ibori. We therefore challenge Okiro to name those people he called Ribadu's friends that narrated the fictitious story of Ribadu's interest in becoming the IGP to him.
The highest distortion in Okiro's statement, however, is his attempt to rewrite the well-known and widely documented assassination attempts on the former EFCC chairman, and Okiro's hand in it all. It is ridiculous that Okiro is now desperately trying to paint himself in another colour after all the schemings he orchestrated. It beats our imagination that Okiro would want a Nuhu Ribadu he was fighting to destroy to report those incidences to him. It would have been a case of having a culprit to be a judge in his own case. At the time, the trio of Micheal Aondoakaa, the former Attorney General of the Federation, Okiro and Mrs Farida Waziri, the former EFCc chairman, had created a hell out of the world for Ribadu. The only sensible thing to do was to avoid these characters and seek solace somewhere else. This notwithstanding, it is a blatant lie that Okiro telephoned Ribadu "several times" but that he did not answer his calls. What Ribadu and other Nigerians easily recall was an elated Okiro rushing to address the press to deny something he knew nothing about. The bullet-riddled car Ribadu drove during that unfortunate life threatening incident is still there, if Okiro or any other person would want further proof.
On the issue of withdrawal of Ribadu's personal security, if Okiro is suffering from selective amnesia, let him be reminded that that was exactly what he did. He also redeployed Ibrahim Lamorde out of EFCC, to Bauchi State Police Command as Area Commander in Ningi. He did the same thing to other top EFCC operatives that Nigeria spent a fortune to train as investigators. One of them suspected to be close to Ribadu was even locked up for months in police custody. This also belie his statement that as IGP he could not have altered the postings of police within the EFCC.
As for Okiro's corruption credentials, we would like to alert the retired IGP that he is dancing naked in the gallery as his nasty record is something known to a lot of people. A man who clearly reeks of corruption, is Okiro denying that he is corrupt when we all know he cannot account for the source of the wealth he used in building a shopping mall in Jabi, a hotel with casino in Lugbe and a private school, all in Abuja? This is not to mention his property in Lagos and Port Harcourt, while he was still serving in the police. If a public servant, one tasked with the responsibility of protecting the lives of Nigerians and instilling discipline in the police, managed to amass such wealth, what gut does he have to talk of corruption?  It is a national tragedy that a man of such flawed character has now been appointed to head an important institution like the Police Service Commission. May God rescue Nigeria
Abdulaziz Abdulaziz
Media Assistant to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

 Waziri is a liar; I trained her- Ribadu

Waziri is a liar; I trained her- Ribadu

Former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has hit out at her successor, Mrs.Farida Waziri, claiming she is a liar who seek undue relevance and importance. Ribadu disclosed this in a press release, following Waziri's defense of her integrity, following former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s allegation that ex-Governor James Ibori head-hunted her to lead the commission. It will also be recalled that Ribadu has also maintained that he prosecuted Obasanjo 'boys' during his tenure against widespread belief that he was Obasanjo attack dog.

Below is the Press statement from Nuhu Ribadu

My attention has been drawn to the press statement issued by the immediate past chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mrs Farida Waziri, in a reaction to statements credited to former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
While I had tried not to comment on the activities of the EFCC or my successors in office to avoid subjectivism, I however find it expedient to clear my name of careless and mischievous references made by Mrs Waziri. I am therefore writing this with utmost reluctance,  public debate having been polluted with deliberate tincture of amnesia, necessitating umpteenth repetition of a simple fact that should have sank once and for all. It is sad that merchants of falsehood keep recycling crooked statements to the point of cliche, in spite of attempts at clarifications.
Firstly, it is not correct that I worked under Mrs Waziri, as she always claim.This is a naked lie that she keeps flaunting to seek undue relevance and validate her own appointment. At no time in my career did I work under the same section or unit as her. In fact, contrary to the Waziri's claim that She "trained" me, it was I that actually lectured her and others, on fraud investigation and prosecution, when she was newly posted as Head of Special Fraud Unit, even though she was my senior in rank. I was then the Head of Prosecution at the Tribunals under the leadership of Mr Sunday Ehindero, then CP Legal.
On the issue that EFCC under my leadership was used to push through the aborted third term agenda, it is evident that Mrs Waziri, who was nowhere near EFCC at the time, is ignorant of what transpired. It is saddening that after all the damage inflicted on the operations and credibility of the EFCC by Mrs Waziri, she turns back to abuse the young men and women who had put in all their energy in cleaning up our country especially during that critical time, by dismissing their work and sacrifice.
As I had cause to state in a recent article on my stewardship of the EFCC, we almost deliberately avoided going after governors and public servants from the opposition to avoid the charges of bias or doing the bidding of the government. Moreover, we halted our works on the politically exposed persons throughout the period of the third term debacle, to insulate and protect the integrity of the Commission.

EFCC was not about Nuhu Ribadu. Rubbishing its work, therefore, is like insulting all the thousands of its operatives across the country who put their lives in the line to make Nigeria a better country. If Mrs Waziri has a personal score to settle with anybody, she should direct her attack at the person but not the organization.
Nuhu Ribadu