By Jide Ajani
LAGOS —FOUNDING  Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has told Vanguard exclusively that his return to the country was not because he had been offered any job or because he was in search of one.

Ribadu also told Vanguard that he felt very sorry for Chief James Ibori, the former Governor of Delta State.
In addition, Ribadu said his activities during the build-up to the 2007 general elections, a period when activities of EFCC were described as political and vindictive, were borne out of genuine service, insisting that he was never used to hound anybody.

The former EFCC boss said those who forced him into exile actually marked him out as an enemy, adding that he thanked God Almighty that he was still alive.

This dialogue ensued from the interaction with the former anti-graft agency boss.

In fighting back, we were in this country when somebody said he would see to it that the authorities demoted, suspended and sacked you – we heard it and we saw all that happened to you and I know you know the person we are talking about.

Now, with the conviction of James Ibori’s sister and his associate in London, what does that say about the justification of your case against him?

Justice is being done daily. We are seeing God’s hands every day in the delivery of justice and I don’t think we should see all that as the end. We will see more and more of justice being delivered and done.

Sympathy for Ibori

As for James Ibori, I feel sorry for James, I feel really sorry for James Ibori. I feel sorry for him because it is a sad case, really, it is a sad case.

Do you really feel sorry for him or you’re just saying this for showmanship?

No!  I feel really sorry for James Ibori. I know James did many things and I know he did some bad things but I am still a human being. He was very arrogant in the way he went about doing some of the things he did but I am a human being and I feel sorry for him.

You feel sorry for him because he has come to this sorry pass or you are saying it sarcastically?

I am like that by nature. I really feel the pain of people to be honest. As much as I can do what is right, I can also courageously feel the pain of others and I know what is right to be done.”

Not home in search of job

Ribadu stressed that he was not in the country because he was in search of a job. He debunked claims in some quarters that he had been offered a job by the present administration.

On the 2007 elections, Ribadu said all he did at that time was his job without fear or favour.

He said: “You see, we thought we could change the attitude of our people in the way we went about doing our job and as I’ve said earlier, there was never a time when we refused to follow the law. We took some very difficult decisions and steps that resulted in people misunderstanding what we were doing and you can imagine because these involved the powerful and the rich in the society.

“You do not expect them to just sit down and allow you to do things that would make them disadvantaged or allow you deprive them of the resources that they already had in their hands; they would not allow that and all that noise was just about that.

They would fight back and in the course of fighting back, they would confuse members of the public and they would give an impression as if what you were doing was not the right thing, or that you were being used, or that what you were doing was not for the common good of the people of this country. That is the truth.”

On the issue of handcuffing his former boss and Police Inspector-General, Tafa Balogun, Ribadu said: “Which one is bigger? Is it the handcuff or the conviction which we got?  Why do we have difficulties for God’s sake in understanding basic universal things or as if we are not normal human beings?

“Does Tafa Balogun have four hands? Does Tafa Balogun have two heads? Does Tafa have more rights than the ordinary Nigerian? Does Tafa have more lives than the ordinary Nigerian? You see, this is the irony of the whole thing.”

Read details of the interview tomorrow.