Obasanjo, speaking after a presentation on “Illicit Financial Flow and Governance of Natural Resources,” delivered by Ribadu at the third Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa, in Badir Dar, Ethiopia, on Sunday, said the zeal of Ribadu to rid Nigeria of corruption created more enemies for him.
The former president, according to Premium Times, said Ribadu’s zeal as the pioneer head of the anti-corruption unit was ruthless enough to attract a lot of enemies for him, adding that on one occasion, he (Ribadu) was poisoned.
According to the president, “I don’t fear those enemies. It is rather them that fear me.”
Obasanjo, who was the chairman of the event, said he made it clear to Ribadu that there should be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption, adding that as president, he was investigated alongside his late wife, Stella.
He spoke about how a serving minister, who was his senior in secondary school, was indicted and prosecuted by the EFCC, adding that at that point, “there was no issue of senior again.”
The former president said the former EFCC chairman was once poisoned in the course of the assignment, adding that he considered that “a matter of life and death.”
In his remarks, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, thanked Ribadu for his presentation, which he said highlighted many good things about Nigeria, as different from what was portrayed in the media.
Earlier in his presentation, Ribadu had offered measures African countries should follow to tackle illicit financial flow and repatriate money already illegally taken out of the countries.
He said what Africa needed was honest and committed leaders who would set examples, by eschewing corruption and close avenues of illicit financial flow.
According to him, it was the seriousness demonstrated by the political leadership that would convince other foreign countries to work with them, towards recovering looted monies stashed abroad.
Source: Tribune
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