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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?