CORRUPTION: See what Ribadu said about Obasanjo's regime

Obasanjo’s eight years worse than Abacha’s – Ribadu

Pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu allegedly described corruption under President Olusegun Obasanjo as worse than that of late General Sani Abacha, according to United States cable obtained by Wikileaks.

The report released by Wikileaks stated that a meeting which the former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders had with Mallam Ribadu to discuss his removal from the EFCC, Ribadu told the US ambassador that Obasanjo was good at covering his tracks while admitting that corruption was worse under Obasanjo. Ribadu was quoted as saying that former President Obasanjo knew how to play the game. “Although he created the EFCC and understood its importance for him with the international community, Ribadu explained, that by far and even more than the Abacha days, corruption under Obasanjo’s eight years was far worse.

See extracts of the cable below:

Classified by Ambassador Robin Sanders for Reasons 1.4 (b, c, & d).

1. (S) Summary: Ambassador had 4-hour private discussion with Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu on the evening of December 28 at her residence to hear his views on the recent announcement that he will be transferred from the EFCC to the country’s leadership school, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). Ribadu took the opportunity to cover not only the politics behind this move, but also spent several hours discussing a range of EFCC pending cases that he wanted to share, including his personal views on Yar’Adua, former President Obasanjo, recently indicted former Delta State Governor Ibori, and the illicit enrichment open cases on the Police Inspector General Mike Okiro and Attorney General Aondoakaa.a

It seemed that he wanted someone outside of the EFCC to know the details of active investigations as a possible failsafe given the current negative political climate surrounding his pending transfer.

Ribadu also said he planned to show up to his office on December 31, 2007, as usual and would continue to do so )- unless he was physically blocked — until the effective date of his transfer (February 2008). Ribadu said, without a doubt, yes, the warrant on Ibori was the seminal action that made Yar’Adua support the transfer.

He added that he was worried that Yar’Adua was not strong enough to balance the pressures on him from his inner circle — many he had already blocked from illicit enrichment The Ambassador expressed to him the U.S.’s strong concerns over the tenor of events and how unsettling this is given what appears to be a reversal of Yar’Adua’s strong anti-corruption messages while in Washington. Coming on the heels of the U.S. visit, this action has hurt our initial sense of his commitment on these key democracy pillars. The EFCC Chair was pleased to hear of the international interest in the situation and added that anything is still possible in terms of a reversal as Yar’Adua tends to respond to the last person who speaks with him. He thought pressure from the international community could be useful. Ribadu said if the transfer prevails then his Lagos deputy, Lamorde, would likely be brought up to serve as Acting. He then praised the USG training provided by Treasury’s FinCen, and said whether he was at the EFCC or not, the USG should continue its efforts to help as his team was dedicated and committed. Ribadu said that the EFCC needed a few more concrete tools such as a Crime Center, housing a data base on all criminal activity, and hoped the U.S. would help on this.

Ambassador provided the EFCC Chair with all her contact information, noted she had a pending weekend response call from the President, and told him that he had active supporters who would be following this issue, notwithstanding the Ambassador.

2. (S) Following Yar’Adua’s positive U.S. trip, fairly upbeat sentiments by Nigerians at year’s end on his tenure, and his own end of year national address calling on adherence to transparency, not only do we need to be concerned about this action, but also what appears to be other steps against the EFCC. Even if Ribadu is gone or if ours or other efforts prevail, there are potentially other possible actions on the horizon to reduce the EFCC’s prowess by such as removing others on Ribadu’s team, and merging it with other less focused and effective entities such as the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). Whatever his motives, Yar’Adua has made a major political misstep as his tribunal results loom near. End Summary