By Rotimi Ajayi
Posted to the Web: Friday, June 30, 2006

Chairman of the Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu told newsmen at an interactive session in Abuja that the country could not afford a set of leaders who would mess up the good foundation being laid by the present administration. He spoke against the backdrop of the recent removal of Nigeria’s name from the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

He said although it is the responsibility of the political parties to field candidates for the election, the EFCC would investigate, identify and name the bad ones that should not be allowed in government.

He said, “we have worked for years and the FATC de-listing is a testimony of what has been done over the years. It is more or less like an endorsement. It is like saying yes, we endorse what you are doing. It is also a justification for the establishment of EFCC. We worked hard and we got de-listed from the blacklist.
“This de-listing means so much to the country. We cannot even quantify the gains from it because daily we suffered when we were on the list. One of the biggest handicaps of these international banks coming in directly into our economy was because we were on the black list of FATF.

“One of the biggest issues that FATF insisted we must address is the issue of corruption. They believe that this is the biggest thing undermining everything in our system. This is the reason why our entire financial system is in a mess. You are going today to keep money in the bank and tomorrow you go, it is a failed bank. This is the reason why public fund goes into private pockets and end up at international financial centers.

“After delisting us, they (FATF) have insisted they are going to follow us, monitor what is going to be done. If there is going to be change they said they would not hesitate to take us back.

“They specifically said that if this war against corruption is going to be stopped they will revisit this program. They want to see that the changes that took place would be sustained.

“So we still have a lot of work ahead of us. We must sustain what we started. We must have to ensure that it continues.
“We have succeeded in turning Nigeria into a theatre of war against corruption in the world and we are showing other countries in the world how to sanitize ourselves.
“We have worked hard on the international image. There is still a lot of work to be done. It is our own country. We must fix it. We just have to hand the country back to the right track. Some people messed up. Some people turned Nigeria into “tokunboh” country, taking the remnants of the world. It is a pitiful thing. We cannot just do so much harm to ourselves and allow it to continue and say it is right.

“We thank the present leadership of this country. For the first time in the history of this country, you can see that some programmes or modalities of progress are being introduced. Let’s be serious. Let’s ensure that we carry these things forward. Let’s change our country. Let’s not allow bad people to mess us up again. It is not right. Those who mess it up please for God’s sake go. Give others chance to come and fix it.

“Nigerians must stand up and say no, enough is enough. We have to just take our country back. For the future of our country, whatever the work is we just have to do it and make sure we clean our country.

He added that his men were already studying the electoral act with a view to confirm how it applies to the workings of the Commission and other law enforcement agencies. "The law enforcement agencies do not have power to screen but law enforcement agencies have power to bring people to justice and we can charge people to court and this we intend to do.

“The law enforcement agencies will investigate and tell Nigerians. What I am talking about is how do we stop these bad people from coming back again. If the political parties will be conscious of this and also will want to rely on the findings of the law enforcement agencies on who will be their candidates or not, then we tend to weed out the bad ones.

“If the political parties want to put somebody for an election and they choose a person who will be going to court and at the same time facing elections, it is its business. EFCC does not have any right to stop anyone from becoming a candidate. EFCC is a law enforcement agency and we will go by the rules but we are also alive to our responsibility of ensuring that we expose bad people.

“I think this is fair because we are just answering the call of our people and then going by what the law says. The work we will do will be transparent and open.”
The EFCC Chairman pointed out that since the operation of the Commission, it had recovered well over five billion dollars which it returned to government, international victims and other victims of fraud and advance fee fraud.
He added that the Commission had also achieved over 76 convictions of those offenders.

Petition against Ngige real, says EFCC

Hesaid that the Commission had received a petition from the Anambra State Governor Chris Obi against the deposed Governor Chris Ngige for alleged mismanagement of the state funds.

The EFCC Chairman also challenged members of the National Assembly who raised the allegation of bribery during the consideration of the constitution review bill at the National Assembly to come out and provide evidence against those allegedly involved.

“The legislators also have a role to give us any evidence they have. I don’t know what is the difficulty in coming out to tell us.”
He also spoke on the controversy surrounding the newness or otherwise of the Presidential jet which he said the Commission would investigate.