On what rank did the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, retire from the police force 11 years ago?
A new controversy has ensued following a petition to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, that Waziri had been wrongly claiming Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) when she was only a Commissioner of Police.
The government has now moved to ascertain the last rank she occupied before her retirement.
In a letter with reference number HAGF/PSC/2011 Vol. 2/1 dated July 20, 2011 and addressed to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Adoke had requested for clarification on the rank of Waziri at retirement from the police.
The AGF’s move was sequel to a request by a non-governmental organisation, Centre for The Rule of Law, to be furnished with Waziri’s rank at the time of her retirement from the police, citing Section 1 of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.
The group had in the letter to the AGF dated July 15, 2011 claimed that “due to our concern about the dwindling performance of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, we embarked on a due diligence check in the course of which we discovered conflicting information which resulted in confusion about the actual rank of Mrs. Farida Waziri, the current Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, as at the time of her retirement from the Nigeria Police Force.”
The group said it discovered that Waziri’s last rank was Commissioner of Police in charge of the Special Fraud Unit contrary to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) which she is referred to.

It was in an apparent reaction to the group’s request that the AGF wrote to the PSC to be furnished with the true picture.
Responding to the minister’s request, the PSC Chairman, Parry Osayande, on July 21, 2011 said Waziri enlisted into the Police as a Cadet Inspector on February 28, 1965 and rose through the ranks to become Acting Inspector General of Police (Ag. AIG) and was posted to head the ‘F’ Department, Force Headquarters on May 26, 1999 and later ‘E’ Department (Training) on July 19, 1999, in the capacity of Ag. AIG.
According to the PSC, “She was still of the rank of Ag. AIG until 28th February 2000, when she retired from the Force, having completed her mandatory 35 years of meritorious service.

“Before her retirement, she successfully completed the one-year managerial course at the National War College, as it was then called and bagged the Fellow of War College (fwc).
“Officers on Acting Rank, who are not promoted to the next substantive rank and due retirement, are retired on their substantive rank, hence she retired as Commissioner of Police (CP)."
The Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, who also got a similar request from the AGF to clear the air on Waziri’s last rank, said she corroborated Osayande’s position.