The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Faraday Waziri, on Monday said that the former state governors investigated by the commission were still walking about freely because files on their alleged misdeeds were either “missing or distorted.”

Waziri, who spoke at a national round table on “Millennium Development Goals and Challenges of Anti-Corruption, ”organised by the House of Representatives Faculty Board of Initiatives in Abuja, also said the commission had no evidence against a former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

Her predecessor, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, had once told the Senate in 2007 that the EFCC had concluded investigations into the corrupt activities of about 31 former and serving governors.

Only a few of the former governors – Chief James Ibori (Delta), Chief Orji Kalu (Abia), Chief Lucky Igbinedion (Edo), Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu), Mr. Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Chief Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Mr. Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Alhaji Saminu Turaki (Jigawa), Mr. Boni Haruna (Adamawa), have since been arraigned by the anti-graft agency.

But at the rountable, Waziri stunned the audience that included the Speaker of the House, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, lawmakers and some governors, when she said, “I don’t have 31 files ( on the former governors); there is no prima-facie case against them.

“It is trite law that we must hear all sides, but here we have distorted files and statements.”

She said that the commission’s predicament was worsened by the unwillingness of people to assist it with vital proof that would have hastened the effort to bring the former governors to justice.

Waziri cited one major bottleneck as the uncooperative attitude of witnesses who refuse to appear in court and testify against those under the EFCC’s watch.

The EFCC chairman also said that she neither met any petition against Obasanjo when she assumed office nor had any been sent to her since she became the head of the commission early this year.

“I am working on what I have found; I have not received any petition against Obasanjo and there is no case file there (at the EFCC’s office),” she stated.

But the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, disagreed with Waziri when it pointed out that she was merely making excuses.

The CNPP’s representative at the roundtable, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, drew her attention to three petitions the conference sent to the EFCC calling for the probe of Obasanjo’s administration.

Okechukwu said, “We sent petitions to the EFCC, Madam; they are there before you.

“The EFCC didn’t do anything about those petitions. How can you be talking about fighting corruption when you have consistently ignored the petitions we sent to your commission calling for the probe of Obasanjo’s tenure?”

Instead of admitting or denying the claim, Waziri rather spoke elaborately on the agency’s new anti-corruption “proactive” style, which she said was to prevent an act of corruption before it took place. http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=13802&z=12

With this we should be asking if EFCC is fairly combating crime in Nigeria, or is it just a political motivated organisation to fight against the politicians that are not loyal to the government?[color=#770077][/color]