OpenLife reports a closely guided secret of Nigeria’s biggest 419 in the country’s anti-corruption struggle.
Nuhu Ribadu, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, has yet again, made another revelation.
He headed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC when it was formed in 2003 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
According to Ribadu, Nigeria was pressured by the international community to set up an anti-corruption agency as a result of the overwhelming pieces of evidence of fraudulent activities in Nigeria.
Incidentally, according to Ribadu, the mantle to head the agency fell on him.
In 2003, former President Obasanjo made him the Chairman of EFCC. There was no money. There was no office. He was told to put up a structure and operate from there.
Ribadu said, “In four years, I built an anti-fraud institution and it became the most credible anti-corruption agency in Africa. We worked hard. We built networks across the world. We recovered billions. We convicted suspects in hundreds.”
“What I will never forget is the case of Emmanuel Nwude, one of Nigeria’s biggest 419. It is a story that shows how difficult it is to fight financial crimes,” he said.
Continuing, Ribadu narrated what transpired between him and the late Emmanuel Nwude who defrauded a Brazilian bank of several billion dollars.
“Emmanuel Nwude’s case was that of Nigerian stealing from foreigners. Emmanuel Nwude was the most successful fraudster. He defrauded a Brazilian bank in the sum of 254 million dollars. The bank collapsed and the director died. He wanted to compromise me. He told me that the money belonged to white people. They are rich. Take half and we take half. But I refused. I got him arrested and prosecuted,” Nuhu Ribadu disclosed.
Nwude was a former Director of Union Bank of Nigeria. He was prosecuted by EFCC for defrauding Nelson Sakaguchi, a Director at Brazil’s Banco Noroeste based in São Paulo, of $242 million between 1995 and 1998.
About Author
