Nuhu Ribadu, Police And EFCC

By

Max Gbanite

maxgbanite@yahoo.com

 

 

I would not have delved into this issue at all had I not read Idang Alibi’s 2- part opinion articled title, “Ribadu and selectivity in the anti-corruption war,” published in Daily Trust, Thursday March 5th and 12th 2009.

 

The article, like that of others, suggests that Nuhu Ribadu’s problems are being tele-guided by some members of the ruling class, on whose toes he once stepped on, during his tenure as the EFCC-Chairman; now they are avenging, using the Police and same EFCC to deal with him.

 

What is lost in all these write-ups is whether the man Ribadu, as a Police Officer and former chairman of EFCC did anything wrong to warrant the gifts and awards he is receiving from his constituencies (i.e. Police and EFCC).

 

According to Nigerian Police Force (NPF) records, Nuhu Ribadu never commanded a divisional post (DPO) or a strategic command; he was however, enshrined in the legal department. There, he was instrumental in the unsuccessful prosecution of Mr. Makonjuola, nephew to the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, who was alleged to have stolen 400 million naira from the ministry of defense, where he worked as the Permanent secretary. The case crumbled overnight, the Attorney General then, Kanu Agabi (SAN), issued an order of nolle-prosequi and that ended the matter. Ribadu was also a member of the legal team that proffered charges against the former Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (Rtd), over the alleged murder of Guardian Newspaper Publisher, Chief Alex Ibru; the court found Bamaiyi Innocent.

 

Therefore, Obasanjo with his native instinct noticed a Lawyer and an ally that needed to be rewarded; one well tooled to do his (Obj,s) biddings; and he found a victim in Nuhu Ribadu. Before Ribadu assumed the position of EFCC Chairman, he was in  1999 a superintendent of Police (SP) but was promoted to Chief Superintendent before being elevated to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), without sitting for the required examinations. The Police Service Commission (PSC) led by Chief S. L, Okeke as the Chairman, was notified.

 

Again, President Obasanjo, did what is acceptable under military regime but unacceptable in a civilian-democratic government, by promoting Ribadu to the rank of Assistant Inspector of Police (AIG), jumping the ranks of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and Commissioner of Police (CP). The then Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sunday Ehindero, notified the Police Service Commission (PSC) for ratification, but it was rejected. Therefore, the rank was never approved and only existed in name. IGP-Ehindero still went ahead and promoted almost 139 other junior officers above their seniors. This illegality triggered the events we are seeing today.

 

Whether it was political or not to send Ribadu to the Prestigious National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) is insignificant. A new Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sir Mike Okiro, an alumni of NIPSS emerged, and felt that his senior officers deserves the excellent knowledge the citadel has to offer. Ribadu, as a high ranking officer of the police force is obligated to attend as a Commissioner of Police (CP), but he never did, because he was never a CP before becoming AIG; he was therefore sent on a study expedition.

 

The Police Service Commission (PSC) also experienced change in leadership. Prince Parry Osanyande DIG (Rtd), another alumnus of NIPSS, became the new Chairman. On his desk, were over 2,000 petitions ranging from irregular promotions to wrongful dismissals within the rank and file; epidemic, that ravaged the morals of the force. Being a lawyer and a former top-ranking officer of the police himself, he went to work with other competent members of his commission under the rules and regulations of the Police Service Act, and guided by rule-of-law as enshrined in the constitution of Nigeria; to restore confidence, discipline and order in the Police Force.

 

The commission on August 2008, decided to stand down all promotions deemed irregular by returning to ‘status quo ante bellum’, pending transparent reviews of such promotions.

 

The 139 police officer’s illegally promoted by Ehindero including Ribadu (AIG), were affected. Ribadu was asked to drop to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP); and was also redeployed to Benin Command. This was promptly communicated to the IGP–Okiro for onward communication to Ribadu, who by now was attending his course at NIPSS.

 

The Police Force, perhaps due to initial public sentiments allowed Ribadu to continue his studies, but under the new rank of DCP. Unfortunately for Ribadu, his ego was devastated and he sought, and received bad counsel and, after two-months of digestion went to court on October 29, 2008 against his employers; the Police, EFCC, and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF). His prayers in an exparte application before the Federal High Court in Lagos sought the following:

a)    Asked the court to protect him since his demotion and redeployment had exposed him to indignity and danger.

b)    Interim injunction to restrain the defendants from punishing, suspending, interdicting, restricting his freedom of movement, and or any of his rights or doing anything against him as a consequence of the suit, pending the final determination of the suit.

c)    An order restraining the police from stopping him from graduating from NIPSS.

 

POLICE ANGLE

The Police, on hearing of the suit instituted against them by Ribadu in the newspapers, IGP-Okiro immediately summond Ribadu to Abuja; but Ribadu failed to show up on two occasions, this is a very serious act of insubordination. The IGP, rather than ordering the immediate arrest of Ribadu for disobeying an order, sought the opinion of the Attorney General of the Federation, Michael Kaase Aondoakaa (SAN), who advised him to strictly follow the path of Rule-of-Law. That rule-of-law enabled the IGP to file a complaint against Ribadu to the proper authorities; Police Service Commission (PSC).

 

The IGP listed in his complaint the followings:

 

a)    “Institution of legal proceedings against the IGP, AGF (Attorney General of the Federation) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) on 2nd October, 2008 at the Federal High Court, Lagos, an action that contravenes sections 352 and 367 of the Police Act and against rules 030402 and 030301 of the Public Service Rules 2006; such action is prejudicial to discipline, proper administration of the Force and unbecoming of an officer.

 

b)    Institution of legal proceedings against EFCC and AGF, contrary to sections 352 and 367 of the Police Act and rules 030301 and 030402 of the Public Services Rules 2006. His action was to forestall directives given to him to meet with the request of the EFCC Chairman (Farida Waziri) with regards to handing over to her of official documents in his possession. This amounts to disobedience to lawful orders, contrary to rules 030401 and 030301(m) of the Public Service Rules 2006.” The IGP continued, “the officer flagrantly refused to obey the order and directives of the IGP to report in the office of the IGP on 24th November, 2008 along with his NIPSS course mates at the completion of their studies; others reported.”

 

c)    “Improper dressing by appearing in plain clothes, while on official courtesy visit to Mr. President on 13th November, 2008 with other NIPSS course participants, contrary to rule 030301(k) of Public Service Rules 2006.”

 

d)    “The officer also instituted legal proceedings against the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the community court of Justice of ECOWAS, Abuja on 2nd December, 2008 contrary to sections 352 and 367 of the Public Act.”

 

e)    “The officer disregarded his posting order and refused to proceed on transfer when he was posted to Zone 5, Benin as DCP in charge of Administration since 21st November, 2008, contrary to sections 349/347 of the Police Act and rules 030301, 030401(e), 030413, 030402(w) and 030428 of the Public Service Rules 2006.”

 

f)      “The officer refused to avail himself of the opportunity given to defend himself of all the above charges before a Disciplinary Committee at its 4th December 2008 sitting in Kaduna….. a second opportunity was provided and the same officer failed to report before a new committee when he was given another chance to appear at its 12th December sitting in Abuja.”

 

g)    “To date, the officer has neither reported back to Police authorities at the completion of his course, nor has he complied with the directives to report at his new duty post, in short, the officer’s whereabout has remained unknown, which amounts to desertion of the Police Force under section 398 of the Police Act…… in circumstance of desertion, the law provides that it is at the discretion of the commissioner of Police to arrest such deserter and charge him to court.”

 

After the Police Service Commission (PSC) received the above complaints from the IGP-Okiro, they deliberated on the matter with due diligence and in consideration of the Force Disciplinary Committee’s recommendation, recognizing the importance of Rule-of-Law, reached out to Ribadu for his response. None came from Ribadu, they had no choice but to do what the law dictates under such circumstances; which is, the officer must be dismissed from the force for acts of gross indiscipline, insubordination, and absence from duty, which are singularly and collectively acts punishable under Rule 030401 of Public Service Rule 2006, This was immediately communicated to IGP-Okiro, to communicate to Ribadu, the Press and the rest of the Nation. The IGP, at a press briefing said that, “a serious misconduct is a specific act of various wrong doing and improper behaviour which is inimical to the image of the service and which can be investigated and if proven, should lead to dismissal.”

 

Without equivocation, I, therefore, state that the case against Ribadu followed the proper channels guided by Rule-of-Law; therefore, sentiments should not be attributed to this matter. Let us get to the EFCC-angle.

 

EFCC ANGLE:

After Mrs. Farida Waziri (AIG-Rtd) took over the affairs of Economic, Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as Chairman, she was confronted with monumental issues that required immediate attention and solutions. She needed to see Nuhu Ribadu to discuss his hand over notes; she needed to collect all the pending case files, including that of the alleged 31 governors that Ribadu once told the world were very corrupt, and those belonging to ‘419’ kingpins, and other Sundry cases…. This augurs with continuity; she needed to know what happened to funds allegedly totaling over 100 million dollars the International Community’s (the United States, World Bank, United Nations, and European Union) contributed to the agency; what account they were lodged into, and how much was left; she needed to know how the confiscated properties were disposed of, which estate valuers valued them, what price were they sold for, and to which private bank or federal account the proceeds were deposited.

 

These questions are certainly not witch-hunting, neither were they directed by Obj/Ribadu’s enemies as some journalists influenced by Ribadu would want the world to believe; they are simply the right questions that must be answered.

 

Mrs. Waziri, immediately contacted Mr. Lamorde, the man who acted as EFCC boss after Ribadu went to NIPSS. Mr. Lamorde presented a 3-page paper to Mrs. Waziri, as hand over note given to him by Nuhu Ribadu. Thinking of it as a joke, Mrs. Waziri called upon Nuhu Ribadu severally to come and meet with her privately to discuss this very important national issue. Nuhu Ribadu was said to have agreed to show up, but never did. While waiting for Ribadu to show up, Mrs. Waziri was confronted by mountains of petitions against the Agency, and Ribadu in particular. Messers Charles Ogboli and Ugochukwu Osuagwu, both lawyers by profession and patriots by their commitment to fight corruption, had gone to court to seek an order of mandamus to compel IGP-Okiro to probe Ribadu and uncover how he (Ribadu) got the money used to allegedly acquire properties in Dubia, Abuja, United Kingdom, and Malaysia; since Ribadu is a Public Officer, Law has been broken. These houses according to papers presented to court had the names of Ribadu’s cronies as owners.

 

However, Ribadu, rather than meeting with Mrs. Waziri privately went to the media to deny the allegations, and even went further to challenge EFCC to confiscate any property found to belong to him; especially on his name. Haba! The petitions includes the sales of confiscated houses, clearly under their market value, and sold to Ribadu’s friends and cronies, without any trace of the banks where the proceeds went into; checks (cheques) totaling over 70 billion naira, according to the EFCC spokesman Femi Babafemi, “were found in Ribadu’s Office drawer, and some have expired, some are fake, and they needed Ribadu to advise them on what happened, why the checks were left undeposited.”

 

Again, it is important to note that the same Mrs. Waziri,a lawyer by training  was Nuhu Ribadu’s boss in the Special Fraud Unit (SFU), while on active service. She practically trained Ribadu and others on how to investigate financial scams crimes. She, as chairman of EFCC, had the option of arresting Ribadu immediately for disobeying her orders, but in the spirit of ‘espirit d’ corps’, she gave him the benefits of doubts. When that failed, she petitioned the IGP and AGF to prevail on Ribadu, but Ribadu, instead, went to court to stop them; the same court while as chairman of EFCC, he never obeyed…incredible!

 

On the perspective of law; the EFCC Act Part V. Section 30(i) says, “a copy of every final order forfeiting the asset and property of a person convicted under this Act shall be forwarded to the commission.

 

30(2) says that, upon receipt of a final order pursuant to this section, the Secretary to the commission shall take steps to dispose of the property concerned by sale or otherwise and where the property is sold, the proceeds thereof shall be paid into the consolidated revenue fund of the federation.

 

30(3) where any part of the property included in a final order is money in bank account or in possession of any person, the commission shall pay the money received into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

 

30(4) the Attorney-General of the Federation may make rules or regulations for the disposal or sale of any property or assets forfeited pursuant to this Act.”

 

(From the EFCC/ICPC/Code of Conduct Bureau/Money Laundering Act Book, Published by Olakami & Co).

 

Ribadu responded immediately by going to court to stop the Attorney-General, EFCC, ICPC, and Code Conduct Bureau from investigating him, his assets, or even inviting him for a meeting. Please is this the action of a transparent Guru?

 

CONCLUSION:

Nuhu Ribadu’s lawyers, after His dismissal from the Police Force, said; first, Mr. Charles Musa, “Ribadu’s dismissal was an affront to the rule-of-law… we have received the letter and my client is in the country; he is not going anywhere we are certainly going to challenge the dismissal in court any moment from now.”

 

Second, Chief Femi Falana said, “Nuhu Ribadu’s dismissal from the Police cannot stand legally as he was never given any form of hearing by the Police service commission (PSC) as required by section 36 of the constitution. By acting on the report of a panel set up by the Inspector-General of Police, the PSC based its decision on an illegal wicket, contrary to section 153 of the constitution. Assuming without conceding that the IGP has power to set up an investigation panel, the PSC could not legally act on it without affording him the opportunity to make a representation before PSC. In any case the dismissal is contemptuous of the pending suit filed by Mr. Ribadu against the Police Service Commission and IGP.”

 

Another opinion by Mr. Sylvester C. Udemezue, a lecturer of law at the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos, argued that, “Ribadu’s case in court before he was fired has nothing to do with the issue and matters over which he was sacked; therefore, his discharge does not amount to a contempt of court”. Udemezue went on to say that, “this argument with due respect, is empty; it can find no iota of support in law and even in reason. Whether or not Mallam Ribadu agree  with his demotion and therefore instituted a case challenging the same, since the said demotion had been completed before his going to court, he was obliged to continue to act and perform his duties as a DCP, pending the determination of his case by the court. This is so, not because he agreed with his new rank, but because he is a member of an organization, the police, and as such is ordinarily subject to the rules and regulations of the Force. To do otherwise was tantamount to taking the laws into his very hands, a situation that is not only contrary to law and reason but is also against commonsense I am therefore of the respectful opinion that Mallam Ribadu, desirous of getting equity to intervene on his behalf ought necessarily to have first of all ensured that his hands were/are very clean by observing the status quo in the case.”

 

(excerpted from the Nation Newspapers, Tuesday January 13th, 2009).

 

 

It is imperative to state here that I was the first, at the risk of my life, to go to African Independent Television (AIT) to declare that Nuhu Ribadu is a danger to our society and probably very corrupt, when I saw the way he handled the impeachment of the then Plateau State, Governor, Mr. Joshua Dariye; the manner with which he denigrated Chief Alamesiyega, the then governor of Bayelsa State; the illegal impeachment of the then Ekiti State, governor, Ayo Fayose; his partiality against the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in the PTDF matter; even the invasion of ex-governor Orji Kalu mother’s house with armed police men, under the orders of Obasanjo; many other atrocious actions that desecrated the constitution. But, this is no longer about that era of brigandage; rather the case against Nuhu Ribadu is about his refusal to answer a Public Officer’s invitation, in this case the IGP, who is his superior; which is a criminal offence under the penal code. And, for failing to giving account of himself while at the helm of EFCC and what he did with the case files and funds under his watch and, the allegation concerning his personal wealth.

 

The failure of DCP-Ribadu to appear before IGP-Okiro or any of the police panels smacks of inexplicable rascality on his part. Those who try to advance the argument that Ribadu is being witch-hunted by those he stepped on their toes are merely constipating the truth.

 

Ribadu is an expert at media – manipulation, otherwise why is it so difficult for him to answer the questions and prove his transparency to the same EFCC, an organization he once headed instead of going through the media.

 

I and many Nigerian are seeking for answers to the following questions, from Mr. Honesty, Mr. Transparency, Mr. Anti-Corruption, Nuhu Ribadu:

 

a.     You said that you recovered money where did you pay the money into? Is it the Federation Account, as the law suggests?

 

b.    The properties you confiscated and sold on auction, who valued them, and what amount were they sold for and where did you deposit the money?

 

c.     Funds recovered in Dollars, Pounds, Euro’s and the cheques totaling 70Billion Naira found in your desk-drawer, meant for deposit but were never deposited; why? And the foreign currency, where did they go? And how much did EFCC receive from the international community while you were Chairman?

 

d.    The Case-files of the 31 ex-governors whom you accused in a World-Press Conference of being corrupt in 2006, before the 2007 elections, where are the files?

 

e.    The cases against some ex-governors that you have already started; where are the files?

 

f.       The houses they claim that you bought through proxies, who really own them; how did they make their money; if your father-inlaw owns them, where and how did he make his money, and how much taxes did he pay to Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) as of date?

 

g.    You were seen Saluting Commissioners attending courses with you at NIPSS, why? Is it because they are 15 years your Senior in the Force, and you recognize the truth that your promotion was illegal?

 

Please DCP-Ribadu kindly go back to your constituency, the Police and EFCC, and answer these questions. By the way, how did you manage to sneak out of Nigeria to England to continue your education program? Haba Ribadu, why are you behaving like a coward? Afterall, you once bragged that you were ready to die for Nigeria anytime, so why change your mind so soon?