Posted by By OLA AGBAJE on
The outgoing Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has debunked the allegation that he owned a N200 million house in Abuja and another property in Dubai.
The outgoing Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has debunked the allegation that he owned a N200 million house in Abuja and another property in Dubai.
A statement signed by the Chief Of Staff to the executive chairman of EFCC, Dapo Olorunyomi argued that the ex-EFCC boss does not own any property either in Abuja or Dubai or anywhere in the world, other than his personal house built in his village in Yola, in the early 1990s.
The statement pointed out that the police chief owns a yet to be developed plot of land in Katampe, an undeveloped district of Abuja, which was acquired in 1998.
The statement reads in part: 'Like other Fulanis, Mr Ribadu owns cows which he rears in his village; Mr Ribadu hereby grants express permission to anyone who finds that he has assets other than those declared above, to seize them without further reference to him."
On his financial dealings, the statement noted that apart from his official EFCC account, Mr Ribadu does not operate a bank account anywhere else in the world.
The statement absolved Ribadu of any wrongdoing in the purchase of his official quarters in Abuja. The statement noted that when the then Federal Government embarked on the monetization policy, it was his father-in-law, Professor Iya Abubakar that eventually intervened and purchased the house at a public auction for N44 million through a loan raised from Fidelity Bank.
For the avoidance of doubt, the statement said all the records of the transaction were available for verification at the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Abuja.
The statement picked holes in the allegation of two lawyers that alleged that EFCC under Ribadu never rendered its account to the National Assembly contrary to the provisions of sections 35 and 36 of the EFCC Act 2004.
It says: 'The simplest check that people can carry out is to ask their representatives in both chambers of the National Assembly to find out whether the commission had ever neglected to comply with those provisions of the Act and if indeed it has been submitting details of its audited accounts and a compendium of its activities, every year since its inception," the statement said.
While noting that the alleged wild allegations against Ribadu was the handiwork of desperate enemies of the anti-corruption war, the statement says Ribadu welcomes the opportunity offered by the lawyers to deal squarely with the wild allegations that have regrettably spanned endless pepper soups joint plots for the Nigerian threatre of the absurd."
The statement however expressed no surprise at the allegation as it has always been the case since the inception of the commission in 2003.
'EFCC has faced all manners of unsubstantiated allegations, from operating torture chambers to grand corruption. Even as we made to conclude this response, we learnt that gun-running has been added to the long list of dream-up allegations against EFCC."