The public presentation of a book: “One Step Ahead-Life As A Spy, Detective And Anti-Graft Czar,” written by former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Farida Waziri, has been scheduled for 10am on February 11, 2020 at the Ladi Kwali Halls and Conference Centre, Sheraton Hotels, Abuja.
Top on the list of eminent Nigerians expected at the occasion are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as the special guest of honour; former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, who is the Chairman of the event; and former First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, as mother of the day, while state governors, ministers, top security chiefs, captains of industries and other distinguished Nigerians are expected as guests of honour.
Listed as royal fathers of the day are the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar; Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris; Emir of Gombe, Dr. Abubakar Shehu Abubakar; Emir of Daura, Alhaji Farouk Umar Farouk; Tor Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse; and Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, among others.
Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr. Mathew Kukah, who is the Guest Speaker at the occasion, will deliver a lecture on: “Is corruption a biological necessity or a political invention?”
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, is the book reviewer, while the Chairman of Caverton Group, Remi Makanjuola, is the chief presenter.
According to the author: “Through this book, I am rendering my account by presenting my mosaic experience – as Special Branch operative, as pioneer head of the Special Fraud Unit (SFU), as a detective at CID, as commissioner of police, as former chair of EFCC, as wife of Nigeria’s ambassador to Turkey, and as a lawyer that sat through one of the stormy moments of this country and witnessed first-hand behind-the-scene happenings that form part of Nigeria’s development history.
“Myths and mythologies about Nigeria’s endemic corruption are due to the chameleonic forms of the scourge. I had the privilege to dissect the problem from the vantage position of being at the helm of SFU and EFCC and I have simplified the anatomy of fraud and public office corruption in Nigeria. The trove of facts in the book belongs to the public. I have simply held them in trust for so long. I have no right to covet them. And having held them for so long, I have decided it is time to declassify them by putting them into a book form. This is the main motivation for the memoir.”
Gowon, Sultan, Kukah, Turai Yar’Adua for Farida Waziri’s book launch
