|
|
Nigeria: Ribadu Not Qualified for Course NIPSS, IG
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Daily Trust (Abuja)
7 August 2008
Posted to the web 7 August 2008
Andrew Agbese
Jos & Musbahu Bashir
Former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Malam Nuhu Ribadu is no longer qualified to attend the Senior Executive Course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) after his demotion, authorities of the police and the institute have said.
Ribadu was on Tuesday demoted from the post of Assistant Inspector General of Police to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police because of what the Police Service Commission said was illegal promotions of 140 officers. He has been attending the NIPSS course after being eased out as the boss of the EFCC early this year.
Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro and NIPSS Acting Director-General Yakubu Sankey said yesterday that since only police officers on the rank of Commissioner of Police and above are qualified to attend the NIPSS course, Ribadu is now ineligible to continue his studies. But both officials said they would not ask for Ribadu's withdrawal from Kuru.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Okiro as saying yesterday in Abuja that because of the demotion, Ribadu was no longer qualified to continue with the course. He, however, told a Daily Trust correspondent that it was not his statutory responsibility to recall Ribadu from NIPSS.
"The demotion was done by the PSC in the performance of its constitutional duty, and whatever is the aftermath of it should come from the commission. The office of the IGP did not in any way take part in the decision, because the police have three different establishments charged with distinct responsibilities," Okiro said.
NIPSS Acting Director-General Sankey told newsmen yesterday in Kuru that all participants sponsored by the police must be of the rank of commissioner of police. But Sankey said NIPSS could not unilaterally send Ribadu away now.
"I do not know the fate of Ribadu now in the institute. The police command sent him here, paid the necessary fees and he is more than half way into the programme," he added.
Sankey said qualified police personnel sent to NIPSS must have a degree or its equivalent, with eight or more years to put into the service before retirement.
He said, "For now, Ribadu remains a bona fide participant sponsored by the Nigeria Police. If he has to be withdrawn, it must be the responsibility of the organisation which sponsored him."
Sankey said it was the first time NIPSS would be confronted with the "qualification saga" of a participant, who was qualified at the entry point, but found to be unqualified mid-way.
He said Ribadu had taken part in all the activities lined up for participants, adding that he was away to Sierra-Leone recently, as part of the institute's foreign programme. "The credibility image of NIPSS is a collective thing that must be treated with caution," Sankey said.
But the police service commission yesterday said it is Okiro's responsibility to withdraw Ribadu from Kuru since the IG in the first place nominated the former EFCC boss for the course. "(The IG) is statutorily empowered to recall Ribadu," NAN quoted Mr Parry Osayande, the PSC Chairman, as saying through the commission's Spokesman Ikechukwu Ani.
The chairman said, "The commission is mandated to recruit, appoint, promote and discipline police officers. In discharging its duty, the commission reversed all promotions done by the former IGP Mr Sunday Ehindero, when the PSC Board was not in place, because such promotions were irregular, unconstitutional, null and void. By this, the commission has completed its statutory duty. It is left for the IGP to take further step in recalling Ribadu."
Meanwhile lectures have continued at NIPSS despite the controversy over Ribadu.
A Daily Trust correspondent who was at the institute learnt that the former EFCC boss attended classes yesterday. Attempts by our correspondent to speak with Ribadu failed as the chief security officer of NIPSS told our reporter after placing a call to Ribadu that he was not in his chalet and must have gone out. But none of the other security men at the gate could confirm if they had seen Ribadu driving out.
Meanwhile Lagos-based constitutional lawyer Gani Fawehinmi has condemned Ribadu's demotion. In a statement yesterday in Lagos, Fawehinmi said, "Malam Nuhu Ribadu's non-criminal offence for these atrocious and oppressive actions of the federal government against him is his (Ribadu's) honest character and the unprecedented arrest, arraignment and trial of some powerful big men for corruption.
I want President Umaru Musa Yar'adua to realise that any government that punishes honesty sows the seeds of its inevitable destruction by corruption."
Prof Pat Utomi, the Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2007 Presidential Election, said that it was a wrong management practice to demote the officers.
Utomi told NAN that while it was good to follow due process, one must realise the grievous effect the action would have on the Police."
If Ribadu goes back to the force, what will happen to his subordinates when he was AIG? The commission should have let sleeping dogs lie," he said. The National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin, described Ribadu's demotion as a witch-hunt. "Ribadu's demotion is vindictiveness for his attempt to stamp out corruption in Nigeria," he said.
|
Factional Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP)Dr Olapade Agoro, described Ribadu's demotion as humiliation after the service he rendered to the country. "It is a clear signal that they want to punish him for all those the EFCC indicted for corruption during his period as chairman. The demotion of the officers is demoralising and one of the most terrible official mismanagement in Nigeria,"' he pointed out.
The decision by this Rule of Law administration of Alhaji Musa Ya'Adua to demote Nuhu Ribadu was not in the interest of Nigerians. The action was sheer inhuman treatment and disgress to the person of Ribadu-the former EFCC Boss. Those who supported this action are evil and corrupt men of this country called Nigeria. They will surely receive God's purnishment before the end of their life on this earth. The evil of corruption will chase them every day, even in their dreams till they meet their demise.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
