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12072020 - Uzodinma, Ngige, Nnamani others meet, vow Igbo united front

Vanguard Newspaper 12 July 2020

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 12, 2020, PAGE 9<br />

'System that produced suspended<br />

EFCC boss is weak'<br />

By Chris Onuoha<br />

r. Ivie Richard, an activist, is<br />

MExecutive Director of<br />

Corruption Observatory. Richard, in<br />

this interview, analyses the Ibrahim<br />

Magu probe. Excerpts:<br />

Some people have described what<br />

happened as power play. What do you<br />

make out of it?<br />

I have no doubt that a lot of<br />

Nigerians may have been<br />

jolted by the seeming arrest of<br />

Magu. But so many other<br />

Nigerians would not be that<br />

surprised, judging from what<br />

has been going on for a while<br />

now. Magu as the Chairman<br />

of EFCC has done quite some<br />

good work while in office by<br />

convicting some high profile<br />

politicians, and he is also an<br />

ardent expert in anti-fraud and<br />

anti-money laundering issues.<br />

Magu was the team leader of<br />

the Special Finance Unit of the<br />

Nigeria Police. He was<br />

promoted as Chief<br />

Superintendent of Police in<br />

2003 and appointed the<br />

Chairman of EFCC in 2015.<br />

In 2010, Magu had an<br />

altercation with the Police<br />

Service Commission. He was<br />

The primary<br />

agencies that<br />

ought to fight<br />

corruption are<br />

not doing their<br />

job<br />

warned because he was withholding some<br />

EFCC files. Curiously, the 8th Senate refused<br />

to confirm the appointment of Magu based<br />

on intelligence report from the DSS. Part of<br />

the intelligence report from the DSS said<br />

Magu was occupying a residence rented for<br />

N20million per annum, and paid for by one<br />

Retired Air Commodore Umar Mohammed<br />

and not the EFCC as would be expected. And<br />

this same residence was furnished at the cost<br />

of N43million by the FCTA through a contract<br />

awarded to Messrs Africa Energy allegedly<br />

owned by the same Umar Muhammed. Magu<br />

is also said to have travelled for official duties<br />

in a private jet owned by this same retired Air<br />

Commodore. And that in one of those trips to<br />

Maiduguri, both of them were in the company<br />

of the MD of a bank allegedly complicit in the<br />

case of the money allegedly traced to Diezani<br />

Alison Madueke. And the icing on the cake of<br />

By Emma Nnadozie<br />

He was the National Coordinator of<br />

‘I believe in President Buhari’, a<br />

group that sprang up during<br />

Buhari's first campaign for the presidency<br />

and he waxed so strong that he was able to<br />

garner huge followers from almost all the<br />

states of the federation. Frank Ramsey<br />

Ezike, who also prides himself as an activist,<br />

in this interview, says he remains undaunted<br />

in his belief in Buhari, stating that his anger<br />

is that enemies are casting the <strong>Igbo</strong> in bad<br />

light before the President.<br />

Buhari’s 5th anniversary<br />

During the campaign of President Buhari<br />

in 2019, it was very tough being on his side,<br />

because I am <strong>Igbo</strong>; and<br />

most <strong>Igbo</strong> were made to<br />

see him as very harsh. We<br />

knew that we will have a<br />

herculean task and we<br />

went to a great extent to<br />

correct that erroneous<br />

impression of Buhari. We<br />

chose the slogan, ‘I believe<br />

in Buhari 2019’, with a<br />

view to correcting that<br />

impression and we are<br />

happy to say that, at the<br />

end of the day, we were<br />

vindicated. I know that he<br />

is working hard, only that<br />

those who surround him<br />

blocked a lot of things for<br />

us the citizens to see the<br />

benefits of his regime.<br />

Achievements<br />

He has achieved a lot.<br />

Let me start from the<br />

South-East because what<br />

President Buhari has achieved in the<br />

region, no President has ever done that. His<br />

achievements are glaring and<br />

unquantifiable to discerning Nigerians. For<br />

the 16 years that PDP ruled Nigeria, the<br />

South-East did not benefit anything in spite<br />

of the fact that they dominated almost all<br />

the key positions under Goodluck<br />

Jonathan. For instance, Obasanjo<br />

the saga is that the AGF had also come out to<br />

say that Magu diverted part of the recovered<br />

loot which Nigerians have been questioning<br />

for a long time about what is happening to the<br />

loot. Another story is that he has recklessly<br />

and fraudulently engaged the sale of the seized<br />

assets. Now, the case of Magu has to be<br />

approached with a lot of caution because of<br />

all these allegations are at the realm of<br />

speculation. Yes, a lot of people say it is power<br />

play. But for me, Magu is a close friend of the<br />

Presidency and so is Malami. I<br />

think it is a good that a high<br />

profile panel is finally put in<br />

place to unravel all of these<br />

allegations and see if there is<br />

any iota of truth.<br />

When you say finally,<br />

were you expecting<br />

something like this before<br />

now?<br />

That is what I am telling you.<br />

Imagine that Magu was<br />

appointed in 2015, and he has<br />

not been confirmed. At that<br />

time, it was speculated that<br />

then-Senate President did not<br />

have good rapport with the<br />

Presidency. But now, we have a<br />

Senate that has good rapport<br />

with the Presidency, and his<br />

name has not been submitted<br />

for confirmation even though<br />

several high profile appointees<br />

have been confirmed since the<br />

9th Senate came into office.<br />

What does this mean for the fight<br />

against corruption?<br />

The anti-corruption commission head has<br />

to have an impeccable character and should<br />

undergo a lot of sting operations before being<br />

appointed and confirmed. And if you confirm<br />

an appointee that has not passed those stings<br />

operations, it means that you are putting the<br />

country at risk. That is not in any way to say<br />

that Magu is guilty. But I know that when you<br />

go against people, people will certainly come<br />

after you. But my point is that this issue must<br />

be scrutinized and the truth unraveled, so that<br />

Nigerians would know exactly what is at play<br />

if it is just power play or if there is truth that<br />

Magu is corrupt. Larmode (a former EFCC<br />

Chairman) had similar experience, so also<br />

was Waziri (another EFCC Chairman). In far<br />

promised to repair the<br />

Second Niger Bridge, but<br />

we did not see anything.<br />

Under Jonathan, the<br />

situation was the same.<br />

But, behold, it is a reality<br />

today, almost 80 per cent<br />

completed, courtesy of<br />

Buhari. Talk about all<br />

South-East roads or are<br />

we going to talk about the<br />

agricultural aspect?<br />

Buhari developed the<br />

attitude of investing in<br />

agriculture, because, if<br />

not for it, during the<br />

outbreak of Covid-19,<br />

Nigerians<br />

would have<br />

perished.<br />

Had it been<br />

that we<br />

depended on<br />

importation<br />

of rice and<br />

some other<br />

things in<br />

Nigeria, it<br />

would have •Ramsey<br />

b e e n<br />

disastrous,<br />

but the reason the masses are<br />

eating today is because many<br />

people are investing in local<br />

production in agriculture. We<br />

have been able to patronize our<br />

local farmers; without that, a<br />

bag of rice would have been sold<br />

for N100, 000 during this Covid-<br />

19 era. So, what I am saying is<br />

that the <strong>Igbo</strong> love Buhari, and I<br />

know that he loves us. But, the<br />

problem is that the communication link we<br />

are supposed to have is not there. It is so<br />

yawning that it has created doubts. They<br />

should make him accessible to most of us<br />

who worked for him. I started the campaign<br />

in 2018 before electioneering campaigns<br />

even started. I inaugurated my state and<br />

zonal coordinators for all the 36 states of<br />

Nigeria. The event took place in a hotel at<br />

Anthony village, Lagos, where I brought all<br />

•Richard<br />

away America, the head of FBI had similar<br />

experience. So, in all of these things, it is always<br />

proper to investigate if there was truth or it<br />

was just power play or somebody was just<br />

trying to be mischievous somewhere.<br />

At this point, if Magu comes out of<br />

this episode unscathed, could it still<br />

be business as usual thereafter?<br />

It will be an embarrassment to the country<br />

if any of the allegations, no matter how small,<br />

is proven to be correct. The truth of the matter<br />

is that a commission like EFCC needs a<br />

character that has impeccable integrity. But<br />

my major worry is not this investigation that<br />

is at play, it is the fact that the foundation of<br />

our anti-corruption drive, the system is weak.<br />

Now, imagine that Waziri also had this<br />

problem, Larmode had it too, and a myriad of<br />

Nigerians in public service have the same<br />

problem; it all tells us that the systems are not<br />

strong. I have been close to a committee of<br />

this government and have opened up to them<br />

that this government is not fighting corruption<br />

the way it should be fought. There is no harm<br />

in pursuing people who steal money and<br />

making them to return the money and you jail<br />

them, but if that’s what the government is<br />

going to do, they have to jail about the three<br />

quarter of Nigerians.<br />

I understand that the EFCC does not<br />

need petitions to swing into action.<br />

the 36 states coordinators<br />

and took care of their flight<br />

tickets,<br />

hotel<br />

accommodation and their<br />

welfare. We had all<br />

coordinators, down to the<br />

grassroots across all the 774<br />

local governments and<br />

powered by ‘Savers<br />

E m p o w e r m e n t<br />

Ambassadors Initiative’,<br />

which I happened to be the<br />

coordinator. I still believe in<br />

President Muhammadu<br />

Buhari, knowing full well<br />

that Nigeria will not be good<br />

overnight. They say that a<br />

journey of a thousand miles<br />

begins with a bold step.<br />

Allegations of<br />

marginalization<br />

What I am saying is that<br />

all the six geo-political<br />

zones should be given a<br />

clear sense of belonging<br />

and nobody should feel<br />

marginalized. We the <strong>Igbo</strong><br />

love him, there were lots of<br />

people that voted President<br />

Buhari in the South-East.<br />

So, the erroneous<br />

impression being created that easterners<br />

hate Buhari is not true. There is something<br />

I want to tell you, during the presidential<br />

election, one political party offered me one<br />

billion naira to sell my structure through<br />

one of my zonal coordinators from the<br />

North, and I rejected it, without even getting<br />

a dime from Buhari or APC as a<br />

government, but, because I love Buhari, I<br />

refused to sell that structure to them, and I<br />

thank God he won after everything, and I<br />

know he will do a lot.<br />

The structure<br />

‘I believe in Buhari’ structure is still there<br />

and intact. Any time our services are needed<br />

by Buhari, we are ready to provide it.<br />

Advice on how to carry everybody<br />

along<br />

Regarding that angle, is that an issue<br />

of shortcomings on the part of the<br />

EFCC?<br />

I think it is a part of the national problem.<br />

By the law setting up of the EFCC, if you have<br />

linkage to the tune of about N3million, EFCC<br />

is supposed to investigate it. But today, if you<br />

take the case of N30million to the EFCC, you<br />

will be wasting your time because there are<br />

cases running into billions of naira to<br />

investigate. And that is because the primary<br />

agencies that ought to fight corruption are<br />

not doing their job; anti-corruption is a proactive<br />

activity. It is not reactive. EFCC is a<br />

reactive agency and so also are the police and<br />

the DSS. The real anti-corruption agencies<br />

are the SON, the procurement body, the Code<br />

of Conduct Bureau, the Public Complaint<br />

Commission, they ought to be at the <strong>front</strong><br />

burner. But all of these are like they are<br />

comatose. So, the EFCC is overwhelmed;<br />

when every day, people come up with this case,<br />

that case, they only look at the cases that bother<br />

the country most to investigate. That’s not a<br />

pass mark on part of the EFCC. I think the<br />

administration and especially the committee<br />

advising the President should do a lot more<br />

work on how countries now battle corruption.<br />

Corruption is not fought reactively. Anticorruption<br />

is proactive; for instance, there are<br />

some frameworks that should be but we don’t<br />

have here. Number one is the framework that<br />

would make Nigerians to be able to speak out<br />

and be protected: The Whistleblowers Act. We<br />

don’t have the Act, we only have a policy.<br />

Number 2 is the service provider and receiver<br />

framework – Servicom, we don’t have. We only<br />

have a policy. We can go on and on. The most<br />

important one that most countries don’t joke<br />

with at all is the standard that the ordinary<br />

and corporate citizens willingly abide by.<br />

Talking about this investigation,<br />

perhaps something that is important<br />

is transparency. Just like the Minister<br />

of State for Labour asked ‘how can you<br />

expose corruption without cameras?’<br />

How can we ensure transparency in<br />

this case?<br />

This is just the beginning. If you bar pressmen<br />

from the primary hearing I am sure it will not<br />

end without what happened there coming out<br />

one way or the other. But ensuring<br />

transparency would have meant that at least<br />

one or two media agencies should have been<br />

allowed into the place. But in the wisdom of<br />

government, I don’t think it is all that bad; we<br />

have to watch and see what comes out of it.<br />

•Interview first aired on Channels<br />

TV<br />

Those saying the <strong>Igbo</strong> hate Buhari are enemies of progress – Ezike<br />

All the six geopolitical<br />

zones<br />

should be given<br />

a clear sense of<br />

belonging and<br />

nobody should<br />

feel marginalized<br />

I believe that Mr. President will carry<br />

everyone along, at least this outbreak of<br />

Covid-19 has taught everyone a lesson that<br />

we are one. He has been doing so, but he<br />

should put more efforts. He should put more<br />

effort into security. The police, the DSS and<br />

our soldiers are working, but more should<br />

be done on security. In terms of corruption,<br />

he deserves accolades for his steadfastness<br />

and tenacity of purpose in spite of the odds.<br />

On Boko Haram<br />

Boko Haram has been there before Mr.<br />

President came, and he has been doing<br />

everything he could to stop the threat. So,<br />

we believe that in due time, everything will<br />

return to normalcy.<br />

Convincing the <strong>Igbo</strong> on Buhari<br />

I keep talking to my people, like during<br />

the campaign time in my LGA in Nnewi<br />

South, I made sure that I explained the<br />

objectives of Buhari to our people who had<br />

not been opportune to listen to news, and<br />

many of them believed and voted for him.<br />

On northern groups fleeing to the<br />

South<br />

What I know is that some people are trying<br />

to create panic in our people, it is cheap<br />

politics. I believe that our governors are<br />

not sleeping. Do you think they will fold<br />

their arms and watch the people they are<br />

governing to just perish? We have security<br />

agencies over there, we have<br />

Commissioners of Police, we have army<br />

barracks, so I don’t think what they are<br />

saying is true.<br />

On compensation for Buhari<br />

supporters<br />

They should believe what Buhari told us,<br />

that people should vote for him based on<br />

his credibility, which was what he told us<br />

when we visited him. He doesn’t believe in<br />

giving out money to campaign for him. We<br />

should not look at the material things we<br />

would benefit from him, what we should be<br />

talking about is the infrastructures and<br />

good things we would benefit from the<br />

government.

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