The picture was vague yesterday. The Nigeria Police authorities announced the posting of Nuhu Ribadu, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on course to the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru. But they were silent on if this meant his official removal as the anti-corruption czar.
Nuhu Ribadu himself claimed last night that he was yet to be told of the posting to Kuru.
His words: " I am yet to be informed about the course…Nobody has told me about going on course."
Yesterday's disclosure by Mike Okiro, the Inspector General of Police, came against the backdrop of speculations that the police authorities had succumbed to pressure to remove Ribadu as EFCC chairman.
Okiro, however, said that the course was in line with the tradition of the police and assured that the war on corruption would not lose steam.
Okiro, who also paraded two suspects in the alleged attempt on the life of World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Simon Okon Peters, as well as suspects arrested with some imported explosives, explained that the choice of Ribadu for the course was strictly in line with the conditions of service of the Nigeria Police and the requirements of the institute. He said seven police officers had been slated to attend the course and Ribadu was one of them.
His words: "In this particular case, based on seniority, seven police officers have been slated to attend this course at NIPSS and Nuhu Ribadu is number two on the list based on seniority. That he is going on course does not remove him from being a police officer. He still remains a police officer. That does not also stop the anti-graft campaign he is carrying on. Other police officers who are going on course are not idle. They have a calling to perform the duty of the police in the country. Going on course makes them perform better when they come back.
"So, I don't see any hue and cry that should be raised from Nuhu going on course. He is a police officer, he must go on course to develop himself and also develop the police."
What he however did not say was what would happen to the more than three years left on Nuhu Ribadu's tenure as EFCC chairman. In April 2007, outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo had re-appointed Ribadu to a fresh four-year tenure. And the EFCC Act says only the President can remove him.
The IG also paraded two in-laws of the World Heavyweight boxing champion, Peters, alleged to have attempted killing him in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, over a family dispute.
According to Okiro, in the course of the disagreement that ensued between the suspects – Godwin Edet Etim and Anthony Afia and the boxer, in Le Meridien Hotel in Uyo – Etim brought out a pump action gun and was threatening to shoot Peters when a mobile policeman, Corporal Uzoma Promise, courageously pounced on him and disarmed the alleged assailant. He said that the suspects would soon be charged to court.
Etim said he did not mean to kill the boxer but to threaten him when he saw Peters charging towards him and he felt that if he was not careful, Peters might kill him.
The IG also paraded five suspects for unlawful possession of explosives. The suspects are Ogbonnaya Igwe, Taiwo Eyiaro and Sidi Ehimosan. Others were Segun Kadiri and Kamoru Yusuf.
He said some policemen, while acting on information in Lagos, intercepted the suspects conveying 200 large cartons of explosives. He also paraded two suspects for selling police uniform illegally.
The plot to get rid of Ribadu, the last of Obasanjo's strongmen did not begin in December 2007 really. The first attempt in this dispensation began shortly after it was confirmed that the then Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero, was going to retire shortly before this administration was sworn in, in May this year.
It was leaked to the media then that Ribadu was being tipped as a likely successor to the retiring IG. The speculation was given a veneer of credibility when the super cop was promoted Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) by the outgoing Obasanjo Administration, which had also renewed Ribadu's term in office as EFCC chairman.
That was when the idea about the inevitability of a certification from the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru in Plateau State cropped up too. It was then bandied that no officer could be appointed IG without the one-year study at the institute.
But before any one could say "Kuru," an acting IG emerged. It was later clear to observers that the Kuru rumour cropped up to get Ribadu thinking about the inevitability of going to Kuru.
But the Kuru idea had long been obliterated by the running battle the anti-graft strongman had been having with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice. The latest of the many battles was a revelation two weeks ago by the AGF himself that government was with the idea of merging the EFCC with the ICPC.
Ribadu has had and maintained solid contacts with the INTERPOL, Metropolitan Police, London, Scotland Yard, UK, FIB, USA, the World Bank on account of credibility that his war at home has garnered.
One thing was clear last night in Abuja, from discussions on the issue: "Ribadu was the last of Obasanjo's strongmen standing."
The then President Obasanjo's strongmen (and women) included most members of the Economic Management Team (EMT) led by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, then Finance Minister and later Foreign Affairs Minister, the then FCT Minister, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, first "Madam Due Process," later Solid Minerals Minister and Education Minister. And of course, Ribadu.
There were others. But these four were regular every Wednesday evening at Chop-Sticks, a foremost Chinese restaurant, in Maitama where they always reviewed the outcome of the day's weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC).
None of them was retained or recalled to the Yar'Adua's first cabinet except Ribadu who was retained as chairman of the dreaded EFCC.
But all that changed yesterday when Okiro confirmed that Ribadu would be going to NIPSS from the exalted office as EFCC Chairman. No one was ready last night to speak on what would become of the tenure of the man from Adamawa who also had a running battle with his kinsman, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
It was confirmed last night that NIPSS programme always begins from January of every year for a whole year ending in November.
It will be recalled that Ribadu, who could not be reached at press time has been a World Bank consultant on Loot Recovery in Iraq , among others.
In the beginning, it was the Justice Minister, then Senator Kanu Agabi (SAN) who recommended Ribadu, then Assistant Commissioner of Police to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo.
In an interview with The Guardian on Sunday this year, Ribadu confirmed that it was Agabi who recommended him to then President Obasanjo.
From Martins Oloja and John-Abba Ogbodo, Abuja
The Guardian
Friday, December 28, 2007
