Jonathan was reacting to a statement by Waziri in her book, ‘Farida Waziri: One Step Ahead’ in which she alleged that the former president removed her as EFCC chairman because she was going after ”oil thieves”.

In a statement issued on Monday by Ikechukwu Eze, his spokesman, the former president said Waziri’s removal was not personal and that he had retained her when he assumed office despite international call for her sacking.

”We read media reports credited to the former boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, in which she claimed in her new book that she was removed from office by ex-President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, because of her probe of some oil racketeers,” the statement read.

”We thought we had dealt with this matter, after promptly debunking similar statements she made in the past. In 2017 when she claimed that she lost her job because she ‘refused to back down from the probe of one of the masterminds of the fuel subsidy scam’, we quickly refuted and clarified the claim for the records, and even challenged her to name the individual or company in question.

”We had expected that a book from Mrs. Farida, coming years after the claim was first made, should have towed the path of honour by telling the truth for the benefit of history. Unfortunately, that still didn’t happen.

”It will be recalled that after assuming office as President on May 6, 2010, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan decided to retain Mrs. Waziri, who was appointed by his predecessor, late President Umaru Yar’Adua, as the head of the elite anti-crime agency. Despite obvious disenchantment from many Nigerians and mounting international pressure against Mrs. Waziri’s continued stay in office, the former President stood by her, in line with his conviction that every public officer should first be given the opportunity to deliver on his or her mandate.

”It must be pointed out that former President Jonathan had no personal issues with Mrs. Waziri. The former President had to eventually let her go in the national interest. Her removal therefore has a lot to do with reasons relating to Nigeria’s interest and global standing which details Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is obliged to keep as state secret in our common national interest. It is very important to note that when dealing with the interest of the nation and the performance of the functions of a public office, a determined leader cannot prioritise the interest of an individual.

”It therefore bears repeating here that Mrs Waziri’s removal as chairperson of EFCC had absolutely nothing to do with her purported refusal to desist from probing any oil individual. This claim sounds rather superficial and contradicts available evidence of the then government’s genuine efforts to combat oil subsidy racketeering.

“It is noteworthy that throughout President Jonathan’s tenure, he made practical efforts to combat the alleged oil cabals, including directing the stoppage of further payment of fuel subsidy claims to oil importers, and the setting up of the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede-led committee which had high level representation from all the intelligence agencies including the EFCC, with a mandate to thoroughly investigate the scandals in the industry. The choice of Aig-Aigboje, a man widely acclaimed for his dependability, as leader of the committee, was a clear demonstration that the President had no personal interest in the matter.”

The former president asked Waziri not continue to rue over the loss of a position that is a public trust, and not an entitlement.

Waziri also gave her own account of the 1995 coup in the book, saying Olusegun Obasanjo, former president, who was accused of complicity in the alleged putsch, was innocent of the allegations.

She was EFCC chairman from May 2008 to November 2011. Under her, the anti-graft agency investigated and prosecuted Bode George, former deputy national chairman of the PDP.

She was alleged to have compromised some cases involving former governors like Lucky Igbinedion, former governor of Edo state, who got a slap on the wrist for a $24 million corruption case.

She was replaced by Ibrahim Lamorde.

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The group, in the 65-page report it launched in Lagos, concluded that the funds were squandered under the administrations of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umar Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.

In the report titled, “From darkness to darkness: How Nigerians are paying the price for corruption in the electricity sector,” SERAP concluded that the perennial poor power supply in the country was proof of corruption in the power sector.

It called for the probe and prosecution of certain principal actors in the power sector, including a former governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, and Prof. Prof. Chinedu Nebo, for their alleged roles in the power sector scam.

The group said, “The Obasanjo’s administration spent $10bn on NIPP with no results in terms of increase in power generation. $13.278,937,409.94 was expended on the power sector in eight years while unfunded commitments amounted to $12bn.

“The Federal Government then budgeted a whopping N16bn for the various reforms under Liyel Imoke (2003- 2007) which went down the drain as it failed to generate the needed amount of electricity or meet the set goals.”

Presenting the report to journalists on Wednesday on behalf of SERAP, an associate professor of Energy/Electricity Law at the University of Lagos, Yemi Oke, said, “The country has lost more megawatts in the post-privatisation era due to corruption, impunity, among other social challenges as reflected in the report.

“The much-publicised power sector reforms in Nigeria, under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, have yet to yield desired and anticipated fruits largely due to corruption and impunity of perpetrators, regulatory lapses and policy inconsistencies. Ordinary Nigerians continue to pay the price for corruption in the electricity sector–staying in darkness, but still made to pay crazy electricity bills.”

At the event, which held in Ikeja, a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), commended SERAP for the project, vowing to ride upon the recommendations in the report to institute appropriate legal actions against the government.

Falana, who was the chairman on the occasion, said, “This report is a must read, and I promise to lead in the follow-up litigation efforts to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations of the report.”

The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, was represented on the occasion by the Director, Public Affairs, EFCC, Mr. Osita Nwajah, who promised that the anti-graft agency would look into the recommendations contained in the report.

Among other recommendations, SERAP advised that federal lawmakers must desist from manipulating the award of electricity contracts under the guise of constituency projects.

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His bid for the opposition ticket, if accepted, would pit him against Jonathan for a second time.

Addressing thousands of cheering supporters in a white traditional robe, dark glasses and a green skullcap, Buhari berated the government for failing to stamp out insecurity.

“Nearly all are in fear of their lives … due to insurgency by the godless movement called Boko Haram, by armed robbers on the highways, by kidnappers who have put whole communities to flight,” he said in his bid in the capital Abuja for the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket.

Thousands have died in Boko Haram’s increasingly bloody campaign to carve an Islamist state out of the religiously-mixed country, Africa’s biggest economic power and oil producer.

Jonathan, a Christian southerner, has yet to officially declare his intention to run, but is widely assumed to be going for another term. Abuja is festooned in smiling campaign posters touting his achievements and calling for “continuity”.

“I … present myself before you … and before God seeking to be elected as APC’s Presidential candidate,” said Buhari, a Muslim northerner.

Buhari won a rare reputation as a fighter against corruption during his timing ruling Nigeria from 1983-85. Most Nigerians agree he did not use the presidency to enrich himself and his backers. His iron-fisted administration jailed several politicians on graft charges.

He had been expected to run and faces ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar in the primaries on Dec. 2. Abubakar declared his intention to run late last month.

Jonathan’s assumed intention to run has been welcomed by elites from his powerbase in the largely Christian south but has upset many in the mostly Muslim north, who argue he tore up an unwritten rule that power rotates between north and south every two terms, when he ran in 2011.

Jonathan took over from northern leader Umaru Yar’Adua, when he died in 2009 during his first term.

At the start of this year the opposition coalition was looking stronger than any has since the end of military rule in 1999, after a wave of defections from the ruling party, including by Abubakar and several lawmakers.

But failure to agree on who should lead the party in the polls has made it look weaker and more divided. Jonathan meanwhile faces no opposition within the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which also poached some APC members.

The PDP issued a statement “welcoming” Buhari, but strongly disputing his criticisms of the government, defending its record on agriculture and power generation but not mentioning Boko Haram.

“The APC is hell-bent on using every opportunity at its disposal to discredit the PDP in its quest for political control,” PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh said.

If Buhari wins the ticket but loses the poll, he is likely to become a lightning rod for northern anger at the perception that power has become concentrated power in the oil-rich south of Africa’s leading energy producer.

More than 800 people were killed and 65,000 displaced in three days of violence in the north after Jonathan’s 2011 win.

“Nigeria in my experience has never been so divided, so polarised by an unthinking government hell-bent on ruling and stealing forever whatever befalls the country,” Buhari said.

The APC was created out of four regional parties last year. Its core support is in the north and the religiously-mixed southwest, including the commercial capital Lagos, where a formidable chunk of Africa’s biggest economy is based.

Buhari is popular in the north, as is Abubakar, but it is unclear whether the mostly ethnic Yoruba southwest would vote en masse for either of them, even while it remains majority APC at the level of lawmakers and state or local governments.

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