Obasanjo Chides EFCC As ‘Toothless Bulldog ‘

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, becomes vibrant once again as it was at inception.

Describing the anti-graft agency as now “a toothless bulldog”, Obasanjo wondered how things went wrong after the removal of Nuhu Ribadu, the pioneer chairman of the EFCC.

The former President spoke on Sunday during his 79th birthday celebration, held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

He recalled how vibrant the EFCC was when it was established, saying the fear of Ribadu then, was the beginning of wisdom.

His words, “Honestly, when Nuhu was handling EFCC, he handled it in such a way that people coined the saying that ‘ the fear of Nuhu Ribadu is the beginning of wisdom ‘ and then the question you will ask is, how did we go down? How did we lose that? “Nuhu Ribadu is still here, he’s still alive.

“The institution we started together is still there, but what made the institution to become a toothless bulldog? What? And that’s the matter we have to keep looking at, so that we don’t take two steps forward, one step aside and three steps back.”

Obasanjo, also spoke on tackling insurgency, saying  “One of the things we now have to take seriously is technology because technology impacts on our daily life; it’s built in our homes; it’s in our pocket, and if there are those who want to do anything to make life unbearable for us in terms of security, then we must also use technology as the antidote and the means by which we can ward off what they may want to do against us”.

“I summarize that the solution lies in six areas: At home, the community, the church/mosque, the school/college, the state-local, state and federal government – and the international community. At each of these, we should do things and not leave undone what we should do”.