'I was mocked when I lost my husband, daughter' – Farida Waziri

A former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] on Tuesday gave an insight into how her traducers mocked her when she lost her husband and daughter within one year.

She also said that assassination attempts were made on her life as EFCC chairperson but said she was not deterred in the fight against graft.

Waziri who stated these in Abuja during the public presentation of her memoir, “One Step Ahead-Life As A Spy, Detective And Anti-Graft Czar”, explained why she wrote the book.

The ex-EFCC boss said,

“Along the way, there were assassination attempts, face-off with cranks and officials in foreign lands, thrust and parry with criminals and personal tragedies of losing loved ones, particularly having lost my beloved husband and daughter within a period of one year, yet my traducers did not think they should sympathize.

“Some of them mocked me. I thought they wanted to add to my pain but I refused to be broken down because I know that it is only a jerk that can make fun of the inevitabilities of life such as old age, illness, death, tragedies, no sensible person can deal with it. I kept my head high and today I am standing before you.

“My experiences might be personal and subjective, they are nonetheless and inevitably parts of the larger history of Nigeria. Hence, those accounts of my life are part and parcel of the Nigerian narrative.

“Today, 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 parody of justice that was the aftermath of the so-called 1995 coup.”