Chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, declares that General Ibrahim Babangida introduced economic crime popular known as 419. He also revealed that the General’s son, Mohammed, who was arrested, was being investigated for his “questionable wealth”, saying that “the son never worked in his life, so where did he get all the money”.
He also disclosed that the commission would soon clamp down on some media houses “that are owned by corrupt politicians, who use them to launder their image after making money from corrupt acts”. Ribadu, who spoke on the last day of the 5th annual economic crime summit organized by the commission in Abuja, told his audience, which included media owners, that “I don’t know how to explain to people why I have to go after criminals everyday. I have been fighting 419 since Babangida (IBB) introduced it.
“People shouted when we arrested his son. They accused us when we arrested the son who never worked in his life, and he had so much money to spend and invest. Before now, most corrupt leaders had never been questioned in their lives, not to talk of being arrested or taken to court. “If you can’t get someone who will testify against them, it will be difficult to prosecute them. That is why we have told the victims to come and testify, after we convinced them that we will not prosecute them, since ordinarily both the victim and the fraudsters should be prosecuted”
In our newspaper advertisement in The Guardian on August 17, AgainstBabangida.com wrote: "The bedrock for today's economic and financial problems in Nigeria was laid by this man, Ibrahim Babangida! He created conditions malignant to national advancement, such as the institutionalization of the culture of corruption that is now heavily entrenched in the social and moral fabric of the Nigerian society. The phenomena of the notorious thievery schemes or theft-by-deception, a.k.a "419," is largely believed to have gained undue prominence and seeming acceptance during the eight-year misrule of Ibrahim Babangida in Nigeria. Today, the nuisance of the so-called "Yahoo Boys" is believed to be a by-product or creation of the IBB era. What is the moral justification for a society to wage war on scammers when known social culprits enjoy stolen public wealth without restraint? These conditions have been almost impossible to reverse. And now, IBB is out again to try to make vain the labors of our heroes past. "
In our newspaper advertisement in The Guardian on August 17, AgainstBabangida.com wrote: "The bedrock for today's economic and financial problems in Nigeria was laid by this man, Ibrahim Babangida! He created conditions malignant to national advancement, such as the institutionalization of the culture of corruption that is now heavily entrenched in the social and moral fabric of the Nigerian society. The phenomena of the notorious thievery schemes or theft-by-deception, a.k.a "419," is largely believed to have gained undue prominence and seeming acceptance during the eight-year misrule of Ibrahim Babangida in Nigeria. Today, the nuisance of the so-called "Yahoo Boys" is believed to be a by-product or creation of the IBB era. What is the moral justification for a society to wage war on scammers when known social culprits enjoy stolen public wealth without restraint? These conditions have been almost impossible to reverse. And now, IBB is out again to try to make vain the labors of our heroes past. "
Reacting to Femi Falana’s suggestion that corrupt leaders should voluntarily surrender their loot, Ribadu said such would not happen, saying that “We have to address the problem of corruption by ourselves. Nobody will solve the problem for us. We have not got anybody who has come forward to voluntarily surrender the proceeds of his illegal act. It has never happened before. “The kind of changes we have now was not there before. Even the police, which I belong to, which is my constituency, is corrupt. Let us stop the stealing now”.
He lamented the inability of Nigerians to get national identity card for over 30 years that the project had been initiated after billions of naira had been spent on the project, due to corruption, describing it as a shame. Ribadu said he was harassed in his own village after the commission arrested the former Managing Director of the Bank of the North, Alhaji M. Bulama, over alleged fraud. He said he was accused of destroying the tradition and its custodians.
He stated that nothing would make him relent, predicting that the commission would survive the current administration which created it. Ribadu said that about 600 young Nigerians selected from all over the world were now undergoing training with the commission. Laws that would make the job of the commission easier are also said to be on the way. One of the laws will forbid the stoppage of proceedings until the determination of the case, though the accused can later go on appeal.
The Chairman of Channels Television, Mr. John Momoh, charged the commission to make more information available, while the publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka Pemu, said the corruption monster should be confronted from the source. However, General Babangida has described the anti-corruption crusade of the current administration as a mere drama sketched to achieve certain political ends. Speaking through the National Publicity Director of his campaign organisation, Venatius Ikem, General Babangida accused past regimes before his of institutionalising corruption, especially on foreign exchange and importation policies.
“It is unfortunate that we have a short memory. Before IBB regime, the import duties licence fraud had been institutionalised in the system, with manufacturers finding it difficult to have access to foreign exchange, while those who had nothing to do with importation but who were well connected in government circles possessed the licence and were making money. “It was IBB that abolished it and created access for genuine users. IBB did not dramatise his fight against corruption. What these people are doing is just drama, which is for political objectives.
“Until now, nobody heard about this intensive fight against Babangida on corruption. We don’t need microscopic eyes to unearth corruption, so all they are doing is just drama,” Ikem told the Nigerian Tribune on phone. Meanwhile, the face -off between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the 15 members of the Plateau State House of Assembly over their defection to the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) has assumed a new dimension as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday ambushed and arrested some of them on their way to the Federal High Court, Maitama, in Abuja to enforce their fundamental human rights over the threat to declare their seats vacant.
It will be recalled that the PDP in the state earlier this week submitted a petition to INEC and also instituted a suit against the commission to declare vacant the seats of the 15 legislators who defected to ACD. Nigerian Tribune gathered that the state lawmakers who got wind of the suit filed by the PDP were on their way to the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja, the venue of the case on Thursday, when they were accosted by a detachment of anti-riot policemen and some EFCC operatives.
It was gathered that the Speaker, Hon. Simon Larlong, and a few others were able to get to the court premises before the policemen could arrest them while Hononourables Sam Damlong and Victor Lapang were arrested and whisked away by the EFCC. A source close to the legislators told the Nigerian Tribune that the court could not sit as a result of the invasion. While some members held hostage inside the court were able to sneak out of the premises, the speaker, Hon. Larlong and his deputy, Hon. Musa Zumunta, were, as at the time of filling this report, still in the court premises.
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Clement Dakkas, who confirmed the development to the Nigerian Tribune on phone, expressed shock over the development, saying that the issue at stake was purely a political one and had nothing to do with corruption. Mr. Dakkas said it was high time the agency began to respect the rule of law. An elder of ACD who is also a gubernatorial aspirant, Col. John Dungs, told the Nigerian Tribune that the EFCC had no right to descend on the legislators again as a court of law had earlier ruled that the commission should stop harassing them.
Col. Dungs said the lawmakers were in Abuja to enforce their fundamental human rights over the case instituted by the PDP, urging the court to compel INEC to declare the seats of the 15 lawmakers vacant. As a result of the development, other members of the House of Assembly in Jos had gone underground. All efforts by the Nigerian Tribune to get in touch with them on phone proved abortive as all their mobile lines had been switched off and their official residences deserted.
When the Nigerian Tribune got in touch with the state PRO of PDP, Mr. Nuhu Gagara, he declined to comment on the issue with a promise to call back later, but he did not do so as at the time of filing this report. A member of ACD in the state who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Nigerian Tribune that the legislators and council chairmen crossed over to ACD to avoid any act that might lead to crisis in the state following the alleged undemocratic ways the national secretariat of PDP handled the crisis that rocked the party and consequently polarised it.
He said having realised the consequences of such defection, PDP in the state had been reading the Riot Act to the aggrieved members to coerce them into returning to the fold or lose their various elective positions by fiat. Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has stated that it is in the process of executing an order of the Federal High Court, Abuja to arrest some legislators of the Plateau House of Assembly (PLHA).
