On Wednesday 23 November 2011, Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan unexpectedly sacks Mrs. Farida Waziri as the executive Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and appointed Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde who was the Commission's director of Operation, as an acting-Chairman of the anti-graft agency.
Sources said the curiosity of President Goodluck Jonathan was “aroused” sometime in 2010 when he learnt that Waziri had bought a car as gift for a top Presidency official in a desperate bid to retain her position as Nigeria's anti-graft Czar.
The official in question was said to have alerted the president, who then put Waziri under watch following some other unfavorable reports on her relationship with political exposed persons (PEPs).
Mrs. Waziri was reportedly complaining when she received the news of her sack that President does not have constitutional power to remove her from office, although it was gathered that Jonathan has relied on Section 3 (2) of the EFCC Act 2004 which states:
“A member of the Commission may at any time be removed by the President for inability to discharge the functions of his office (whether arising from infirmity of body or any other cause) or for misconduct or if the President is satisfied that it is not in the interest of the Commission or the interest of the public that the member should continue in office.”
A government official said that there were “too many damning reports against Mrs. Waziri, both locally and internationally. A recurring allegation against Waziri during her tenure was that she was “too comfortable” with politicians.
“In times past, she wrote controversial letters to British authorities to clear accused persons. In some instances, the accused persons were believed to have drafted the letters by themselves,” another government official said, attributing her removal to “a cocktail of misdeeds”.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had said during a visit to Nigeria in 2009 that “EFCC has fallen off” under Waziri’s watch and this had created credibility problems for the commission among donor countries.
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