Zakariyya Adaramola
31 December 2008
Three hundred civil society groups across the country yesterday demanded for the immediate reinstatement of former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who was dismissed from the Nigeria Police last week by the Police Service commission.
The groups also condemned the Mrs. Farida Waziri-led EFCC, alleging that the commission under her "has been friendly to corrupt politicians".
Speaking on behalf of the civil society groups under the aegis of Movement Against Corruption (MAC) at a press briefing in Lagos, Imam Abdul-Rahman Ahmad, said Ribadu's demotion and dismissal by the PSC could not have been constitutional since he was not given enough fear hearing by the police regulatory body.
According to Imam Ahmad, who was represented by the secretary of MAC, Mrs. Uma Udeh, Ribadu's removal would send a very wrong signal about the war against corruption in the country.
He said although the civil society groups are not obsessed with the person of Ribadu, "who also made his mistakes", the treatment melted out to him would discourage many patriots from helping the country.
"The phobia for Ribadu has finally climaxed in its dismissal from the police. Is the nation not the loser? We wish to restate here that MAC condemns the dismissal in the strongest terms.
"It only betrays the suspected conclusion to a script this govern-ment commenced acting precisely a year ago when it summarily re-moved Ribadu from office. MAC had alerted the nation then that Ri-badus's removal violated the Act establishing the Commission", they said.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the 300 Nigerian civil society groups said the groups did not believe in the Farida Waziri-led EFCC as it is clear that the commission under her has been "distastefully exhibitionist in its activities".
They said for declaring that files relevant to the cases of corrupt former governors are missing, the EFCC has shown that it lacks credibility to fight corruption in the country.
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