N8.7 billion: Waziri Reads Riot Act to INEC

BE CAREFUL, avoid the storm on the way." That was the advice offered Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chair Prof. Attahiru Jega Monday by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss Mrs. Farida Waziri.

Mrs Waziri also said the EFCC had no time to waste in investigating the tenure of Jega’s predecessor, Prof. Maurice Iwu.

The EFCC boss spoke at the INEC headquarters Monday when she visited the electoral umpire to extend a hand of friendship to enhance Jega’s success. She also gave him a hint of likely areas where he could encounter problems in trying to spend the N87.9b INEC budgeted for its pre-election activities.

While pledging EFCC’s readiness to offer background information on the financial dealings and image of companies bidding for jobs with INEC, Mrs Waziri warned that the disbursement of INEC’s billions and the award of procurement contracts would elicit petitions, adding that Jega should watch his steps very carefully henceforth.

Said Mrs Waziri: "From my experience, once monies are released, some people will look at Prof. Jega’s face and see only N87 billion; one man has the power to appropriate that money. Some Nigerians impute to you what they would have done in a given situation, especially when you are sitting on top of that kind of money.

"For some, they won’t even believe that you are going to spend that money exactly the way you are supposed to. The second thing is that you find that everybody wants contracts, a bit of the sharing. You will begin to see all sorts of companies doing general merchandise, forwarding, importing/exporting; companies with headquarters in New York , branch offices in wherever and with very beautiful complimentary cards. You have to be very careful.

"And if they fail to get what they want, they will resort to writing petitions. In fact, some of them will insist that they are specialists in the supply of voting materials. All these have to be guarded against because whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. Therefore, lots of precautionary measures have to be taken."

To the EFCC boss, the problem in Nigeria is worsened by the desperate pursuit of power and the perception of politics as the only viable source of monetary gains.

"We are bad losers. Because many infrastructural things are not in place, industries are not working, factories are closed down; the only thing that is very much around is politics. During the time of politics, even thugs participate because it is an action game.

"Because we are bad losers, I have never seen a situation where somebody loses and pumps the hand of his victorious opponent to congratulate him, the way they do in other places," Mrs Waziri said.

According to Mrs Waziri, many Nigerians have high expectations that Jega must continue to justify, despite peculiar challenges in the Nigerian environment. She said EFCC could help INEC with classified information on candidates’ business dealings towards ensuring that the right persons enter political offices.

"It is an honour indeed to be here, this is the first time I have ever been to INEC headquarters. Your appointment came at a time we needed a man of honour and integrity at the helm of affairs in this commission. Everybody applauded the appointment and that is a very unusual thing in this country.

"Getting the right people into the helm of affairs is the only way we can get ourselves out of the position we are in. After 50 years of independence, we are busy fighting corruption. I am sure that if we have the right people at the helm of affairs, we won’t even be fighting corruption; we would have people who will come to serve and not to serve themselves.

"Ballot-snatching, thuggery, and so on must become a thing of the past. We have to encourage Prof. Jega and his team and everybody that has anything to do with voting, to ensure that we get it right. I am here to extend my hand of friendship.

"There are many things we can do to assist. For instance, in the EFCC, we have what we call the Transparency Clearance Platform. We informed all the embassies in Nigeria that for any company or anyone your people want to do business with in Nigeria, we can carry out due diligence and give basic information you need to know about who you are doing business with.

"We have given responses to thousands of enquiries from foreign partners. If you need our assistance, we can do such basic due diligence," she offered.

"Let us start what we are starting now. There is no time to waste, looking back. Let us move forward," she said on whether the EFCC would probe Prof. Iwu’s tenure.

Jega expressed interest in working with EFCC in the discharge of INEC’s responsibilities.

He said: "We shall ensure that problems are anticipated and guarded against. Obviously, the challenges ahead are quite formidable, but we are determined to succeed and we are also determined to ensure that whatever we do is done openly and transparently."

When asked about the release of the 2011 election timetable, Jega hinted that it was virtually ready, pointing out that it might be released sooner than many expected.

"Very soon, I can assure you," he said before seeing Mrs Waziri off and starting a meeting with INEC National Commissioners.

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