Corruption: Politicians should take psychiatric test – Ex-EFCC boss

Mrs. Farida Waziri

Punch    A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri, has urged the Federal Government to ensure that all politicians undertake psychiatric test before occupying any office.

Waziri said this in Abuja on Tuesday while delivering a speech at the inauguration of the Nigerian Women Against Corruption project which was organised by the EFCC and the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari.

The former EFCC boss who was in charge of the agency from 2008 to 2011, said some politicians had stolen so much that they could no longer quantify their wealth.

She said some politicians owned houses on every continent in the world because they did not know what to do with stolen funds.

Waziri said, “I sit down sometimes and wonder what corrupt Nigerians are thinking of. Somebody gets a big position and thinks he needs a big house in the United States and then jets off to buy a mansion. He comes back and then wants a house in Europe. He jets off to the UK to buy one and then thinks of the UAE, he jets off to Dubai and buys one and he is not satisfied.

“He then jets off to South Africa to buy one. I went to Pretoria and I was taken to a street which was vacated by De Boers, the white farmers who had left South Africa and I was shown houses owned by Nigerians. They looked like cathedrals to me and in fact.

They looked like haunted houses and when these Nigerians travel to South Africa, they can’t stay there so they lodge in hotels. So, what is the aim? What goes on in their minds? And that is why I said that before the government employs anyone to positions of authority, let them be medically examined. They need psychiatric tests.”