"Our detectives are now in Akure," EFCC chair Mrs Farida Waziri said yesterday in Abuja.

Former Governor Segun Agagu is being investigated for alleged mismanagement of N25billion belonging to the State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC).

He regained his freedom from EFCC yesterday, but the agency impounded his passport.

Agagu said last night: "They said it is a routine, if they are investigating. I’m not involved in any corrupt act.

"I don’t have the mind of traveling the next one or two weeks, contrary to what they said, that I was about going to Australia.

"If I was really going to Australia, I would have collected the visa. Anyone is free to check my passport to see whether there is an Australia visa on it.

I’ve done nothing wrong. And I don’t object to whatever step they have taken."

Mrs Waziri also spoke of threats to her life since assuming office, vowing not to succumb to the threats in order to win the anti-corruption war.

Speaking after receiving the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Abuja, Mrs Waziri said the EFCC is investigating many allegations against Agagu.

She said: "Agagu’s passport has been impounded and we are investigating a series of allegations against him.

"We felt there was no need holding him beyond the required 48 hours and, in deference to the rule of law, we allowed him to go but we said he should not travel. His passport is with us. We are still investigating him.

"We have gone to Akure to get some of the officials to throw light. There are a lot of petitions against Agagu; our detectives are right now in Akure.

"Whether there will be more arrest or invitation, we cannot say until our detectives come back."

Agagu was released on administrative bail by the EFCC to allow him have access to vital documents that could aid his defence.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: "With the administrative bail, he is expected to report weekly to the EFCC office in Abuja and whenever his attention is needed by the commission.

"Before the administrative bail, the ex-governor was asked to deposit his passport with the commission to serve as a guarantee that he would always be available for interrogation.

"With that development, the ex-governor cannot travel abroad in the course of investigation by the anti-graft commission, except otherwise directed by a court.

At press time, the EFCC had launched a manhunt for three commissioners in Agagu’s cabinet over the role they played in the alleged fund misappropriation.

The source added: "We are still on the trail of the commissioners, who we are suspecting must have gone into hiding."

On the ongoing investigation of officials of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Mrs. Waziri said the EFCC is still standing by its recommendation that NERC Chairman, Dr. Ransome Owan, and his six commissioners have a case to answer.

She added: "I would not want to comment so much on the details of our investigation because it is at the early stage.

"But I still stand by the content of our Interim Report if you read it in the paper that published it.

"We recommended the suspension because it was imperative that they had to give way because it involves a lot of paper work, money, records and when you are sitting down and being investigated, it is never the practice. You have to step aside to allow investigation to take its full course.

"At the end of the investigation, if you are indicted, the law takes its course and if you are not indicted, a report is written.

"So, we are in the middle of this investigation, I will let you know at the end of it. I don’t’ want to talk too much."

She said some disgruntled elements were blackmailing and threatening her but vowed that she would not be deterred in the anti-corruption crusade.

Mrs Waziri described as "false" the rumour that she collected a $600,000 vehicle from a governor, describing it as a ploy to tarnish her image and discredit EFCC and its fight against corruption.

She said: "For us in EFCC, we have put our hands on the plough, there is no looking back. This is one course I have committed my life to pursuing for over four decades. Along the line, I have faced threats and I am still being threatened till date by forces of evil.

"When their threats could not cow me, they resorted to peddling shameless lies and writing blackmail petitions to malign me. They are cowards and we will never be cowed by their antics.

"With the determination of people to fight corruption, we will stand up to them and defeat them because the people are in the majority.

"We have a job to do and we will do that till the last day, no matter whose ox is gored. President Umaru Yar’Adua has given a good example and has displayed an absolute commitment to the war against corruption.

"I am not a coward. As you see, I may not look like an anti-corruption Czar or 007 or James Bond or Malcom X. When I have my head-tie on my head, I sling my back and I look at the mirror, sometimes I look like a full-time housewife. But that is where the story ends. I am not a push around."

Mrs Waziri hinted that the commission may no longer entertain plea bargaining under which those accused of corruption get away with light punishment and still keep their loot.

Plea bargaining she said, "Only assures them (looters of public treasury) of soft landing." She said the court cases against some former governors are still on.

Mrs Waziri said: "When I came on board I said I did not believe in plea bargaining because I felt why would you steal something and use proceeds of that fraud to get a soft landing or get off lightly?

She said the cases against some former governors are still on but "at a very slow pace because the affected governors are busy challenging the jurisdiction of the courts to try them."

"The cases are on going but the cases are very slow. Some of those taken to court by my predecessor and some that I took to court myself are the same, in some cases trial has not even commenced, just to get the governors to say yes or no to the question of guilty or not guilty, this is not happening.

But the plea bargaining, I am not too comfortable with it and so far when I came we did only one with the former Edo State Governor but I was not satisfied with the sentence so we appealed against that.

"So far, that is the only one I have ventured into but I don’t think I will be going into plea bargaining any more except where it is clearly clear that it will benefit the Commission, the Nigerian people" Waziri said.

Earlier, NANS national president Baballe Bashir praised Mrs Waziri for being focused and committed. Bashir said gone were the days when innocent people were politically castigated, tried and jailed on the pages of newspapers.

"Your adherence to the rule of law in all your activities has been highly remarkable. The success recorded by your administration through the level of fairness and justice is quite commendable and encouraging to us as students/youths," he said.