THE Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, has cast doubt on the reported brief return to the country by the former chairman of the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.


Mr. Ribadu was said to have paid a condolence visit to the late Gani Fawehinmi’s family in Lagos, recently. The police boss said this on Thursday, in Lagos, during his official visit and commissioning of project and equipment at police formations in the state.


The IGP decried the proliferation of explosives in the country, saying that they were meant for the mining industry, but were finding their way into wrong hands.


Onovo, while reacting to a question from newsmen why the Intelligence Unit of the Nigeria Police was unable to track down the former EFCC boss, stated that it was very surprising to him that no newspaper or media house could get Ribadu’s photograph during the reported visit.


He said: “ I do not believe that Ribadu came to Nigeria. Why was his photograph not taken? It will be very surprising that his photograph was not taken.”


Speaking on the spate of kidnapping incidents in the South-East, Onovo stated that 16 mobile police units had been drafted to the South-Eastern states of the the country as part of the efforts to curtail the activities of kidnappers in the area.


He said that a bill to ensure proper documentation of information on the people buying telecommunications GSM SIM cards in Nigeria was with the National Assembly.


The IG stated that apart from telecommunications providers, banks could also help the police in the fight against kidnapping by providing marked money for ransom.


Onovo, who commissioned over 30 vehicles at the Bomb Disposal Unit and at the Lagos Police Command Headquarters in Ikeja, commended both police formations for living up to expectations.


He said that the anti-bomb unit of the Nigeria Police was very dear to him, as the unit was very important in crisis management and prevention, as shown during the last Boko Haram crisis in the northern part of Nigeria.


The police boss stated that he ordered the withdrawal of policemen and women attached to people not qualified to enjoy the privilege, when he noticed that many of them were being used for unethical purposes.


He said unscrupulous police officers would no longer have a place in the force. Onovo disclosed that a three-point agenda, — capacity building, adequate welfare package and intelligence-led policing — was being put in place to ensure that the Nigeria Police competed favourably with other police in the world.


But he said he would not jettison all the policies of his predecessors and would sustain the relevant ones. However, while reacting to the claim of the IGP that Mallam Ribadu did not visit the country, Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, told the Nigerian Tribune that the IG was being economical with the truth, emphasising that he accompanied Ribadu when he visited the residence of Gani and the hospital.


He advised Onovo to check with the Area Command, Area F of the Lagos Police Command, to be properly briefed on the visit of the former EFCC boss to the places.


“I am sure that the IG was not properly briefed. I accompanied Ribadu to the residence of Gani. I was physically present, when he held a meeting with the family for about 25 minutes.


“I also accompanied him, when he went to the hospital where he spent about 15 minutes to pay his last respect to Gani. “The IG can confirm from Commander of Area F, which is the next building to the Ikeja General Hospital. Ribadu’s presence even caused commotion at the hospital,” Falana asserted.


According to him, the security agencies made frantic moves to fish Ribadu out, as soon they got wind of his sudden presence in the country. This, he stated, they did by combing the nooks and crannies of the country, even his home state, Adamawa, without locating him.

Falana added, “As soon as the government got to know that he was in the country, all security agencies were mobilised to look for him in a small village, in Yola, Adamawa State.”

http://www.tribune.com.ng/18092009/news/news3.html

“As soon as the government got to know that he was in the country, all security agencies were mobilised to look for him in a small village, in Yola, Adamawa State.”

But he was in Lagos na. Which kain small village for Adamawa again? Ha! Police will never change sha.