Ribadu: Soludo lied on missing N30 trillion

Ribadu: Soludo lied on missing N30 trillion

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, on
Tuesday, spoke harshly against the revelation by
former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN), Prof. Charles Soludo, that N30 trillion was lost
under the watch of Finance Minister and
Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala.

To Ribadu, the alleged missing N30 trillion was not
possible.

He said: “I was baffled and got deluded for anyone
to say that N30 trillion got lost. I think we just have
to look at what we earn as a country and what our
budget had been in these few years and see how
possible it is.

“If everything we earned is not up to that within the
period she has been the minister, which is about
three to four years, then we need to be careful.

“We need to be careful to avoid more damage to our
nation, because there are certain things that when it
comes out, it will never go back again,’’ he said
He said that while working under former president,
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Okonjo-Iweala was the
economic team leader and she coordinated the
economic policy of the administration effectively.

“I challenge anybody to say that she stole N1 at that
time; we were all there, I was in charge of EFCC and
I want to hear anybody say that she did this and
that.

“And, I followed her up till now. I think it is
somehow uncharitable for someone to come out to
say that such an amount of money was missing
under her watch,’’ he said.

Ribadu, who is the governorship candidate of
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa, said
that controversies being raised about the nation’s
economy was unfortunate, adding that Okonjo-
Iweala was of impeccable integrity and well
respected.

According to him, when I worked with her, she
exhibited a nationalistic attitude that was not
questionable and believed in any policy that could
take Nigeria and its people high.

“I am a little disturbed with what I have been
hearing in the last couple of days where many
things are being said and some are totally out of
placed with some of the result we have achieved in
the economy.

“I believe that even if people are not together
working as a team, we still exhibit honour. In our
team, she did well,’’ he said.

The former EFCC boss advised that people must
advocate for things that were geared towards the
unity of the country and avoid controversies that
would cause more harm to the system.

“ I am close to almost all of us that worked together
as a team and I know that Ngozi continues to do
what she knows how best to do, which is to serve
Nigeria.

“She managed this economy fairly in spite of all the
challenges and difficulties; it is sad for someone to
look at Ngozi and said that she has a hand in it
(alleged missing funds).

According to him, the volatility in the price of oil in
the global market is beyond anybody’s control in
Nigeria.

He urged Nigerians to help preserve the country’s
models who were globally respected, adding that
Okonjo-Iweala remained one Nigerian with global
recognition of high integrity.

“She is an extremely respected person in the world
and it doesn’t just happen like that, and I feel that it
is wrong for us to bring down our models. It is
wrong for us to pull our own down.

“This pull-down syndrome has to stop and we must
manage ourselves very well; I am not happy now
with what is going on.

“And, I think that if it is politics, I think it is
something that is hurting us as people and hurting
the economy as well,’’ he stated.

On allegation that the minister was executing World
Bank /IMF policies in Nigeria, Ribadu said that she
had in no way done such, adding that having
worked with the bank was an added advantage for
Nigeria.

He said that Nigerians should rather be proud of the
minister, having risen to the position of managing
director of the World Bank, adding that it was not
something to be condemned.

“If you look at it, what are the World Bank policies
that she is implementing? People saying it should be
able to mention the policies for it to be discussed.

“It will be useful to see what it is and people can
prove that it is typically a World Bank directive,’’ he
said.

Ribadu said that the present economic policies had
impacted on the lives of Nigerians, especially in the
area of agriculture.

This, he said, had given poor farmers less stress in
accessing fertilisers and good seedlings.

He added that though insurgency was still a big
challenge, the fact that Nigeria had not stood still
because of it was a positive indication of the health
of the economy.