Continued from yesterday
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My Final Encounter With Farida Waziri Of The EFCC
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Most Nigerians who have known about my criticism of the EFCC and its current leadership since the past nine months might think that the chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, and I had met. However, Mrs. Waziri, and I never met until last night (Nov. 12) when she paid a surprise visit by midnight to the EFCC cell in Ikoyi, Lagos, where I have been detained for over two weeks now.
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Few minutes after Mrs. Waziri’s visit to the cell, I made a report, which I sub-titled “An incident Report” In view of the fluid nature of my circumstances in detention, I hereby prepare this statement together with my affidavit and will, which I expect to be delivered to my lawyers.
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My encounter with the Chairman of the EFCC was a surprise, not only to me and the other inmates in my cell, but also to the cell guards. She arrived at the cell by midnight. She ordered that all inmates, including me, be assembled in front of the cell block or building. All of us were brought out, including those of us that were already asleep, and we were all lined up right in front of the building.
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The yard in front of the cell building was in complete darkness as there had been power outage all evening. The only source of light were the flashlights which the EFCC staff and policemen accompanying Mrs. Waziri carried in their hands. As we stood in lines, we could make out a figure of a woman in Nigeria traditional attire sitting on a chair that was placed on the walkway across the yard. Some staff of EFCC and two armed policemen stood next to her. We could notice that the lady was holding at least two mobile phones in her hands with a large hand bag resting on her laps. The mobile phones flashed on intervals indicating that she was receiving text messages, and she regularly responded to those messages. Also she received calls on those phones. She would stand up and step away from the guards beside her to take her calls, and then she would return to resume her seat. Measured from where we stood, her chair was about 18 feet away from us. (In the incident report I had prepared right after her visit, I had given the distance between her chair where we stood as 1 feet. But upon viewing the space again later in day light, it is probably 18 feet of distance rather than the earlier estimate).
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Again, it is important to establish the date and timeline of Mrs. Waziri’s visit. She probably arrived a few minutes to midnight on Thursday, November 10. And the visit ended around 12:30AM on Friday, November 11.
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When we were all assembled, the cell guards called the name of each inmate from a list of inmates and there were 36 of us. There was a minor disagreement between the EFCC staff that accompanied Mrs. Waziri and the cell guards. While the guards maintained that there were 36 inmates in custody (35 men and 1 woman), Mrs. Waziri’s team thought the number was much less. But the truth was confirmed by the roll call and each inmate answering and raising his hand.
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After the roll call, Mrs. Waziri stood up and took a few steps towards the inmates. Standing about 12 feet from the inmates, she started talking to the inmates. She did not offer any explanations or apology or any words of courtesy for calling the inmates out in the middle of the night.
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From where I stood I observed Mrs. Waziri move toward the inmates. I noticed she wavered slightly as she moved and she could not really stand steady, but haltingly shifting from one leg to the other to maintain her balance. As she noticed her mobile phones flash, she would move back to the chair, where she left them, to inspect the call or message. She seemed to be expecting some call or message. Then she would move back towards the inmates. As she spoke to the inmates she sounded tired.
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The pitch of her voice fluctuated irregularly. She could not stay focused on any particular subject. She would ask a question to an inmate, but then seem uninterested in the answer to her question, or answer her own question herself as she did a number of times. Also on several instances she could not complete her sentences and she switched topics irrationally. She would use words and terms that conveyed different meanings from what she intended.
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For instance, she meant to ask an inmate what offense he was charged with, but she would frame her question as “what did you do?” and this led to confusion. The first inmate she asked that question replied that he didn’t do anything. Mrs. Waziri looked at the list and saw the letters “OBT” against the name of that inmate and she got upset and began to yell at the inmate. She accused him of lying to her. She insisted the inmate lied because he said he “did nothing” while “OBT” was written next to his name. Of course “OBT” means “Obtaining By Trick”, which is just one of the offenses EFCC staff throw at you when they really don’t know what offense to charge you with.
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From my observation of Mrs. Waziri and her movements and behavior, it seemed clear that she was under the influence of alcohol or some other substance. It later turned out that other inmates made similar observations and drew similar conclusion. But that would not be the greatest cause of worry about Mrs. Waziri’s midnight visit to the cell. My greatest worry was to do with her final message before she left us.
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Mrs. Waziri warned the inmates that if they did not cooperate, she would send them to either of two police detention centers or cells and that they needed to prepare their wills. The two police cells she mentioned are notorious for gross human right violations. These are known as killing spots where suspects and inmates are routinely tortured to death or simply dragged out in the middle of the night and shot. To send a person to those places amounts to ordering such person’s execution extra-judicially.
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Even without much effort, I understand that Mrs. Waziri’s threat was directed at me, even though she avoided speaking to me directly. Subsequent event this afternoon confirmed my belief in this regard. About 4pm this afternoon, one of the EFCC officials called me out. I could not recall ever meeting this person before, but he seemed to know a lot about me. This man cautioned me to be very careful. He informed me that I should be prepared to be moved from this cell very soon, and that something “bad” could happen to me. When I tried to know more specifically the dangers he was warning me about, he said he could not elaborate any further and he kept speaking in low voice. He couldn’t give me his name either. As he made to leave, he asked me to seriously consider the scenario where I would be taken from my cell ostensibly for the purpose interviewing me at the EFCC head office in another location and there would be an incident on the way to the head office. He continued, in his words, “somebody gets shot, and the reason would be that the dead suspect tried to escape”. He then said to me, “Good day, Mr. Ugwuonye”, and left in a hurry.
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Back to Mrs. Waziri’s visit, there are 35 witnesses who may not be too afraid to testify to what transpired during her visit to the cell. All the inmates have been apprehensive and have been talking about what happened. Despite my own worries, I have counseled many of the inmates, urging them to be calm. I even assured them that there was not much to fear. In an ironical sense, I believe I was the target of Mrs. Waziri’s threats. Hence, it was correct for me to tell the inmates not to worry.
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I have every reason to take Mrs. Waziri’s threats seriously. I am therefore preparing my will and last statement.
By Ephraim Emeka Ugwuonye
November 12, 2011
Concluded
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