Tunde Sanni
4 January 2009
Lagos — Last Tuesday, four civil society organisations petitioned the United Nations Special Rapporteur Mr. Leandro Despouy over the dismissal of former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, from the Police. Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP), Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) and Partnership for Justice (PFJ), in their joint petition, accused the Police authorities of failure to adhere to what they termed "internationally recognised fair trial standards."
The protest of the four civil society groups comes in the wake of tepid response by Nigerians to the dismissal of the super cop who barely a year ago was idolized and lionized by them. In fact it can be said that only few Nigerians were surprised at the present ordeal of the former Chairman of EFCC as the power he wielded under the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency was akin to the one wielded by Major Al-Mustapha during the goggled era of late General Sani Abacha. However, the Ribadu case can be said to be different from that of Al-Mustapha since he was widely perceived as fighting to cleanse the rot in the society.
But the irony was just that Ribadu never learnt from the Al-Mustapha experience after his principal, Abacha died on the throne. He literarily trampled on everything that crossed his path while waging the anti-graft war. It was at a public lecture and colloquium hosted by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan, where the then EFCC chieftain said that his commission was not ready to be part of the Nigerian system that would continue to lionise the then two strongmen of Oyo politics, Alhaji Lamidu Adedibu and Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala. He had said: "I will never do anything to help any Adedibu or any Akala" adding, "whatever we do is to the best of our ability and with the fear of God, "Ribadu told the crowd of invited guests at the Trenchard Hall of the nation's premier university.
In an unmistakable radical tone, the former EFCC chief had added, "when I passed through the street of Ibadan, I couldn't see a single road. This is very unfair. This is Ibadan that was the pride of Africa. The only thing that people in Nigeria and the whole world are talking in terms of Ibadan is Adedibu and Akala. How can such people be our leaders in this state and in this country?"
The event took place in January 2006. It was at a time controversy had continued to dog the gubernatorial ticket conferred on Akala who was then a deputy governor under Senator Rasidi Ladoja. But the events painted the picture of an anti- graft Czar under pressure from some powerful political clique whose interest he dared not contradict if he would remain in office. Barely three days after Ribadu's celebrated lecture, Adedibu placed an advertorial in a local national daily where he deposed to some classified materials against Ribadu and declared that he was unmoved by his statement.
It was a vintage Adedibu but the former EFCC chief looked the other way. A week after, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party {PDP} on February 3, 2006 in Akure formally presented the embattled deputy governor with the party flag to make his gubernatorial ticket for the party at the April 14, 2007 poll, a fait accompli. Earlier, the then Deputy Chairman of the party in the Southwest, Olabode George had hinted at the launch of the party secretariat that thousands of Ribadus would not influence the party from fielding Akala for the general poll.
The EFCC boss was to later abdicate from the Adedibu/Akala case to launch a war against some of the governors who were seeking re-election or seeking election into other political offices during the general election. In an action suggestive of being influenced by Aso Rock, Ribadu declared some governors corrupt and vowed never to support their electoral bid. The commission had listed the names of the corrupt governors and that of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as those ineligible to contest the April general poll. The names were sent to the electoral agency. It took Atiku litigation to the Supreme Court for INEC to allow him and other governors to contest the election. Paradoxically, the name of Akala and other perceived loyalists of Obasanjo were missing on the EFCC list. Since then, Ribadu in the eyes of the radical elements in the society, especially Oyo State became less worthwhile.
His actions afterwards, contradicted the picture he had painted at the U.I. Colloquim as he had debunked allegations that his commission had been selective in its crusade, targeting only perceived enemies of Obasanjo, declaring that his agency embarked on the crusade with the best of intention and sincerity. "When we moved our searchlights from the 419ners and the thieving bank barons, to the corridors of the political elites, hell was let loose. There are cries and screams of 'selective justice' and 'Gestapo tactics' and all sorts of diversionary propaganda. Unable to deal with the message, the Nigerian political elite has smartly reverted to that discredited tactics of hacking down the messenger. Obasanjo has never dictated to us nor does he interfere with the work we do. But people who are making the allegations want to distract us for their selfish reasons."
Before the premier university lecture, Ribadu was just emerging from the alleged brutish manner his agency treated the former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Tafa Balogun. The sins of the former IGP remained sketchy to 'outside' Nigerians but insiders knew that it was an extension of the war for the control of Aso Rock that had raged then between Obasanjo and Atiku. Balogun was suspected to be working against the interest of Aso Rock and he had been relieved of his job and then had EFCC's officials let loose on him who treated the former police chief like a common criminal. Not even the massive frame of Balogun or his former awesome office had an effect on the officials who marched, kicked, slapped and did everything to brutalise the former IGP. As he was doing this, Ribadu might not have considered his commission as a police officer who needed to be civil on his prey.
There had been massive condemnations on the treatment meted to Mustapha Balogun but the former EFCC chief had not balked since his employer in Aso Rock was happy with his actions. He had his way as well as his say then but now he is feeling the trauma.
Another area where Ribadu bared his fang as an official with zero tolerance for corruption was the case of former Bayelsa State governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyesiegha who allegedly dressed in a woman's robe to evade the British police. He arrived Yenagoa, feeling safe but the ambush of EFCC officials caught up with him. Before the former governor could wriggle out, lawmakers in the state had been influenced to impeach him. Bereft of any immunity, he had been arrested like a common criminal and taken to Abuja where he began another regime in prosecution. He had to enter into a plea bargain before he could be released.
Basking in the Bayelsa successful impeachment saga, Ribadu had spread his tentacle to Ekiti and Plateau states where the legislators even at the wee hours of the day and without quorum had impeached their governors. Ayodele Fayose believed to be an Obasanjo yes- man until then had to beat security cordon to evade the Alamieyesiegha treatment. Joshua Dariye was also lucky, as he had gone into hiding hours before his impeachment. But while Dariye returned to the office through the instrumentality of the courts, Fayose could not as he had to take the NADECO route to flee the country.
Expectations that he would have his way post Obasanjo era became threatened as his commission soon collided with the office of the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa (SAN) on the prosecution of some former governors, notably Chiefs James Ibori of Delta State and Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia.
Ribadu's larger than life size began to wane when the Presidency directed that the commission and other anti-graft agencies should seek the consent of the AGF before prosecuting any corrupt public officials. It said the decision was in line with Section 43 of the EFCC Act.
However following the controversy generated by the directive, occasioned by fears that the move was an attempt by the administration to muzzle the EFCC, the Presidency on later made a U-turn. The AGF maintained however that he would still exercise supervisory powers over the EFCC and other anti-corruption bodies if they failed to carry out their functions in line with the dictates of the law.
The climax of the AGF supervisory role on the EFCC was the trial of former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu as the office of the AGF and the EFCC openly disagreed at a Federal High Court in Abuja. The court had set out to hear an application to quash a 107-count charge against Kalu. While the DPP appeared in the court for the AGF, a private counsel, Mr. Adebisi Adeniyi, represented the EFCC. But Adeniyi queried the sudden appearance of the DPP in a matter which was purely being prosecuted by the EFCC. The altercation between the two lawyers in the courtroom forced Justice Babs Kuewumi, to stand down the case for 10 minutes.
When the court resumed, the DPP announced appearance for the prosecution while the EFCC's counsel withdrew. But the AGF frowned on the conduct of the counsel for the EFCC and asked for an apology from the commission. The AGF, who made the demand in a protest letter to Ribadu, said the EFCC's lawyer undermined his office.
In the ensuing controversy, eminent lawyers, especially the silked ones stepped into the fray insisting that the office of the AGF had power over all independent federal agencies in the prosecution of cases. It soon became clear that the EFCC chief had stepped on toes and that his days in the commission were numbered but like a wounded soldier in a battle front, he decided to fight on. The events that followed his ouster from the EFCC and his deployment to the force headquarters were to catapult him from grace to grass. The President, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was to approve the request by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to send all Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) on a compulsory one-year study at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), in Kuru, near Jos. Ribadu initially kicked against his nomination, stirring a fresh controversy, which cast the government in bad light and anti-corruption non-compliant.
When he eventually left for NIPSS, his Director of Operations at the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, was initially named as his successor in acting capacity but when the anti-Ribadu outcry subsided, had to be transferred out of the commission to the force headquarters from where he was deployed to the Bauchi state police command. All of Ribadu's aides at the EFCC were removed or re-assigned one after the other to remove his vestige from the commission. However, a few weeks after he reported at Kuru, the Federal Government appointed Farida Waziri, a retired Assistant Inspector General {AIG} of Police, whose name was sent to the Senate for screening as the new EFCC boss. Some Nigerians no doubt were incensed by what they thought was a ploy to remove Ribadu from office through the back door.
The former EFCC chief later became a hunted man when his sponsors to the Kuru course, the Police Service Commission, demoted him from the Assistant Inspector General of Police {AIG} rank, to which his former boss, Obasanjo, had promoted him, to a Deputy Commissioner of Police {DCP}. The commission said the promotion breached procedure as it was not consulted while the Inspector General of Police, Micheal Okiro later told the media that Ribadu had to be demoted in order to arrest possible revolt within the force, pointing to angst from some aggrieved police officers over the EFCC chairman rapid promotion.
Like a wounded lion, Ribadu took his case against the Police Service Commission over his demotion to the court where he also claimed that his life was no longer safe, asking the court to protect him since his demotion and redeployment had exposed him to indignity and danger. The former EFCC boss also sought an 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.
He was at the NIPSS course while his case was still pending at the court when another drama on the Ribadugate opened at Kuru. It was on the graduation day. He had turned up for his graduation in plain clothes and but prevented from joining the others in the ceremony. The Presidency later intervened, due to another controversy the denial of his graduation has courted and ordered the release of his certificate to him.
Perhaps due to the determination of some forces to cut him to size, he was redeployed to Zone 5 of the Force in Benin City as a Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of administration but like a marked man, he snubbed the redeployment, to set the stage for his eventual humiliation from the force. The bubble on Ribadu finally burst late last month when the Police Service Commission finally dismissed from the police force for "serious misconduct." Ribadu's refusal to accept posting or report for duty, among other offences, was described as "a very serious misconduct" and "inimical to national security." His employer in the dismissal letter was angered by his refusal to wear his uniform in his demoted rank and his refusal to report to Okiro on the completion of his course in Kuru. Hence, he was dismissed for gross indiscipline, insubordination and absence from office.
His removal might have negated the commitment to the rule of law of the Yar'Adua administration due to the pending litigation against the PSC over his demotion and the enforcement of fundamental human rights. Critics believe that Ribadu deliberately walked himself into the mess he had found himself, blaming him for not reading the handwriting on the wall early enough. They argued that being a police officer, he should have learnt to quit when the ovation was loudest, at least to toe the path of moderation by resigning his commission the moment his mentor left office.
Though sentiments had been expressed on the Ribadu case, but the ones expressed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Prof. Tam David-West, former presidential spokesman, Dr. Doyin Okupe and the Action Congress {AC} National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Muhammad captured the mood of regimented authority to which Ribadu subscribed to upon his commission into the force.
The former minister who spoke to a media correspondent in Ibadan claimed that he had predicted that Ribadu would be made a sacrificial lamb for the many sins of Obasanjo about two years ago and maintained that what Ribadu did during the Obasanjo era and recently could not be done by any police officer in developed countries where order and rule of law were of essence.
"I am not a prophet but I am a professor. A professor projects into the future based on available data and statistics. What happened to Ribadu, I saw it coming two years ago. He overplayed his card and his lawyers cannot save him. This is not a question of rule of law. Rule of law is not just obedience to the rule of court. Good conduct is part of rule of law. He has displayed bad conduct. Ribadu is a police officer. He is, first and foremost, bound by the rules and regulations of the police force. But he has this illusion that he is higher than the IG.
"So, Ribadu's destruction is Obasanjo's making. He made Ribadu believe that he is even higher than the Inspector-General of Police (IGP). He made him (Ribadu) another parallel police organization higher than the IG. He refused to appear before the police panel. Not that I am happy about what happened to him. No. I will not celebrate his fall but Ribadu is metaphor of how Obasanjo ran this country. Now, he cannot save him. His case is closed.
"Would an American police officer do what Ribadu did and get away with it? Would a British police officer do what Ribadu did and be pardoned? Would a Canadian police officer do what he did and get away with it? He cannot have any place to go again. The stigma is there," David-West stated.
Ex-president Obasanjo's former spokesman, Okupe, said that it was important for Nigerians not to lose sight of the relationship between an institution and its employee in reacting to the dismissal, pointing out that it would be improper to place Ribadu above the law, simply because he performed creditably well as EFCC chairman.
He also said that his performance was a different matter from the case of insubordination raised by his employers, (the PSC).
Okupe said, "if after his exit from EFCC, he is involved in an act of insubordination to his employers, I wont back him"
The AC publicity secretary, Muhammed, also thought in the same direction as Okupe as he said that it would be proper to know the condition of service at the PSC, before criticising the development. "If you are invited to defend yourself and you declined, can you turn around to say you have not been treated faily?"
Perhaps, Ribadu might have forgotten his parting message to the crowd at the U.I. colloquim where he declared that "we are not looking for popularity, we are not going for any beauty contest and we are not preparing for any election; whatever we do, God will judge, posterity will determine whether what we are doing today is good or not". Perhaps if he had kept this message at the back of his mind he would have been eternally reminded that by his actions, he had embarked on a popularity show with his employer, the PSC and like every disciplined organisation, somebody must get the boot.
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