Ribadu Wanted For "Treason"!

a man that find nothing wrong about the likes of ibb, obj, bode george, tony annenih, wow!
a man who told nigerians that the money laundary case of andy uba in the usa is a civil case,hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
a man who was able to confirm just four govs as criminals in nigeria while the others join the band of saints in aso rock.
a man who was able to confuse nigerians that among two criminals(atiku and his boss) that one is guilty while one is almost innocent.
even from the good days of ribadu, when almost every nigerian was singing his glory, i have refused to be fooled.
on several and different occassions on this forum, i have made my stance very clear. 1 million ribadus can never change nigeria.
to prove his worth, nigerians shld look back at the period of our war on corruption. did his fights reduce the crime and the answer is capital NO.
corruption was rather on the increase.

The Ribadu Question and National Values
The Horizon By Kayode Komolafe Tel & Email: 08055001974, kayodekomolafe@thisdayonline.com, 08.13.2008


 
On this page two days ago, Femi Falana examined the legal issues thrown up by the recent demotion of some police officers by the Police Service Commission. He submitted, as a lawyer, that the exercise constituted an “illegality” which should not be permitted by an administration “that claims to operate under the rule of law”. Well, it is left for Falana’s “learned friends” who may think otherwise to join issues with him on point of law.
The rest of us who are lay men in matters of law should be more   interested in the moral implications of   the   demotion of these police officers including the former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. In any case, there should be an   organic link between the legal system and the moral and ethical foundations of a society for any meaningful discussion of how   the people are governed.
To be sure, the Yar’Adua administration should not delude itself that it is lost on the popular imagination that   the whole exercise of “reviewing” recent promotions in the police is a camouflage to deal with the Ribadu Question ultimately.  The editor of this newspaper, Simon Kolawole, has consistently made this point in the most brilliant manner on this page.  It is just that as it is now well known   that the government of President George Bush in America resolved from Day One that Iraq would be invaded and Saddam Hussein would be removed from the Gulf equation, this administration knew all along that there would be an answer to the Ribadu Question one day and somehow. Forget the pretext that it is a routine matter for   the Police Service Commission. In order not to give the impression that it is an   isolated matter of demoting and humiliating Ribadu, the authorities have gone to the absurd extent   of even insulting the memory of a dead officer, Haz Iwendi, who died in active service as Commissioner of Police. Only the authorities can explain the point they are trying to make by announcing the post-humous demotion of Iwendi in an utter disregard to the sensibilities of his grieving family. It is even more unpardonable that, like Falana argued, the same authorities did not establish any act wrongdoing   on the part of the officer who died in active service,   as they say. Here was a man whose remains were buried with the full of honours of a Commissioner of Police and the Inspector-General of Police was duly represented at his funeral. But that is how reckless things can go when you want to settle the Ribadu Question definitively.  Those who want to rationalise this official absurdity pretend that skipping of ranks is alien to any of the services in the Nigerian military and law enforcement system. People now talk as if the officers in question were the first to be rewarded with “rapid promotions” either in the police or the armed forces.
The fundamental issues, however, transcend the legal technicalities of demotions in the police or the careers of the affected officers including Ribadu. The issues centre on the moral of the exercise, which was prompted by the act of officialdom in desperation to humiliate Ribadu. That is what should bother us more.  It should bother President Yar’Adua in particular.  The reason is simple. Today there is widespread lamentation in the land about the collapse in the power sector. There is outrage about the collapse of public schools.  There is anguish about collapse of roads and other elements of infrastructure. There is indeed despair about the   collapse in other departments of   our national life including the central   question of human development. That is doubtless bad news. The good news, however, is that  with an administration that is focussed on action bridges, roads, schools, electricity and hospitals can be fixed in matters of a few years. That is more so if the administration is blessed with   so much easy earnings from petrodollars as has been the case since the days of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The trouble, however, is that long after you must have fixed the material damage it may take a nation several more years to tackle the calamity of moral collapse. The damage done in the subjective sphere is by far more difficult to repair than the objective ones.
Intriguingly, the only thing President Umaru Yar’Adua has said about the lingering Ribadu Question is that issues should not be personalised; the focus should be about building institutions and that no one is indispensable. The President is damn right that no mortal is indispensable. Like any other mortal, any Nigerian entrusted with a responsibility can sleep tonight and wake no more. But the issue is not the indispensability of any individual. What we should stress is that Nigeria would be a better country if 50% of chief executives of public and private institutions display the sort of passion, commitment and honesty of purpose that Ribadu displayed as the man in charge of EFCC.  If Nigeria had been blessed with a chief electoral officer like Ribadu, we would not have as many bizarre cases before the electoral tribunals as we have today.  The cries for electoral reforms would be less strident. You could fault Ribadu in terms of methods, but warts and all you could not question his integrity and commitment to the national assignment he was saddled with. Even those who accused him of being selective by moving against enemies of Obasanjo could not declare   those he moved against   innocent. The cases are still pending in the courts.  So, at best he was only guilty of not moving against all those he should have moved against. Like any other human being, Ribadu made his own mistakes and they’re plenty of them.  There are, of course, ways to improve on the performance of EFCC as Azubuike Ishiekwene enunciated in his important The Trial of Nuhu Ribadu. But it is difficult to dispute that Ribadu redefined the anti-corruption campaign to the wide acclaim of Nigerians and the larger world. That is why those seek to humiliate such a gentleman are actually inflicting a   moral damage on the psyche of the   society while relishing that they   are on a revenge mission against Ribadu. It is a symptom of a moral crisis for a society to reward Ribadu for his patriotism and commitment with   the sort denigration and harassment being visited on him. By this act, the Yar’Adua administration is unwittingly   giving credence to the legendary cynicism of Nigerians that their country is not worth dying for. Tragically, that would be an official stamp to a perversion of a genuine national orientation.  By brutalising and persecuting Ribadu, the officialdom is only   saying Nigeria is incapable of producing an authentic hero. They are saying to the young ones that the Nigerian moral desert is actually depleted of real role models in public life. They are telling the nation that the display of extraordinary courage and commitment is a crime punishable by persecution and humiliation, if not imprisonment or capital punishment. This is a recipe for a monumental moral crisis. What moral lesson is this administration teaching by humiliating an anti-corruption campaigner who submitted a bribe of millions of dollars offered him to the treasury while the alleged bribe giver is today a power broker influencing appointments? What message is this administration sending to the system by giving the room for a convicted fraudster to move against Ribadu to recover his “property”?
In many respects, the anti-corruption campaign is essentially a moral one. It is not just legal matter.  But how can that campaign be enhanced when the man who redefined the campaign by his courage and commitment is now hounded helplessly like a criminal while those who have questions to answer about what they did with people’s resources are strutting  the corridors of power and peddling influence? Behold, Nigeria is bedevilled not just with infrastructural collapse but more enduringly it is at the verge of   moral decay. A lesson from the crisis of human civilizations is that nations rise or fall not just on the basis of physical development, but also more fundamentally on the decline of moral values. The forces that shape history are not just material, there are also moral forces underlining and defining the movement of history. Physical development cannot be in  a moral vacuum. A nation cannot be said to be holistically developing when it blatantly displays a lack of sense of distinguishing between right and wrong; when there is no line drawn between   decency   and indecency in public life. It is certainly not a index of   moral development to punish and humiliate an officer who has lifted the national spirit by showing us the possibilities of moral progress by the way he handled his assignment. It is part of this moral crisis that those who persecute Ribadu cannot come into the open to tell the nation exactly   the  “crimes” of this police officer.
To be fair, it is remarkable, that the Nigerian state has hardly ever lost sight of the moral dimension of governance. Even in the course of the anti-colonial struggle, the Great Zik of Africa, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, listed “moral rearmament” among the principles of the struggle. General Murtala Mohammed came up with his controversial purge of the civil service of those accused of corruption. President Shehu Shagari talked about some ‘ethical revolution”. General Muhammadu Buhari along with his able deputy, General Tunde   Idiagbon, waged the War Against Indiscipline (WAI). General Ibrahim Babangida, who succeeded Buhari, saw the need to mobilise the creative energies of the people with the establishment of MAMSER and he put in charge the great mobiliser, Professor Jerry Gana to spearhead moral re-orientation. It is now hardly remembered that even General Sani Abacha, of the looting fame, constituted a plethora of panels to sanitise public institutions including the NNPC. Even those who would never see anything good in the administration of Obasanjo acknowledged that the EFCC, which he established, held the promise to fight corruption. So, virtually every Nigerian administration had its own moral agenda.
The pertinent question now is that what exactly is the moral architecture of the Yar’Adua administration?  The question is urgent for an administration that is perceived to be punishing and persecuting Ribadu for giving verve to anti-corruption campaign of his predecessor. The question is imperative because those who have questions to answer in court for how they managed people’s resources are the people gloating about Ribadu’s persecution and peddling influence. They boast that they   are the ones now in charge. Only a nation without values can permit this absurd state of affairs. Nigeria is too important, as the largest concentration of the black people, to lack abysmally a moral compass. The Yar’Adua administration should stop predending to be oblivious of this absurdity. The handling of the Ribadu Question is making Nigeria a laughing stock before the world
Except we permit a relapse into primitivism, no nation can be   governed in a moral vacuum. That is why Yar’Adua must earnestly deal with the moral crisis that the handling of the Ribadu question portends with a sense of historic mission. If the nation can afford to wait for the Yar’Adua plan for physical development endlessly, it cannot afford the disturbing sending of signals of a moral collapse for a moment. The moral damage of such signals will be more enduring that the neglect of physical development because of the negative lessons it teaches the society. Nigeria should not be portrayed as a nation without authentic heroes and a society utterly lacking in a   moral fabric. This nation must stand up for some values.

Another stage in the frame-up of ribadu

Police, SSS begin fresh plot against Ribadu, others
By Musikilu Mojeed and Francis Falola
Published: Monday, 18 Aug 2008
The travails of the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, appears unabated as indications emerged on Sunday that he is being investigated by the State Security Service and the Police over a laptop recovered from the Lagos residence of a former Head of the commission’s Governance Unit, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.

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Photo file
Former Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

Also being discretely investigated over the matter are the former EFCC Acting Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, a former Chief of Staff to Ribadu, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, and some other ex-officials of the anti-graft agency.

The Toshiba laptop, officially issued to Magu in 2002 by the anti-graft agency, was recovered alongside a GSM handset, some charge sheets and his handover note on July 28, 2008, by some EFCC operatives.

Investigations by our correspondents revealed that the decision to carry out the investigation followed the claim by the leadership of the EFCC that documents containing some high-profile cases were missing and that an intelligence report suggested that some of them might be in possession of the former EFCC officials.

A source said, “Let me tell you that the investigation of Ribadu over the laptop is just one of the ways the Federal government and the Police is trying to rubbish him. They have demoted him from the post of an Assistant Inspector-General of Police in order to punish him for being bold enough to arrest and prosecute the hitherto untouchables that looted the treasuries of our states.

“Remember that some of them had vowed to deal with him and that is what they are doing now by making unsubstantiated allegations aginst him. Just ask yourself why he(Ribadu) should be linked with a laptop that was assigned to somebody else; a laptop that was not in his possession.”

Another source quoted a top official of the Federal Government as having claimed that some sensitive correspondences between the Ribadu-led EFCC and United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigations were among the documents found in the computer.

In one of the said letters, the EFCC, through the FBI, allegedly reported President Umaru Yar’Adua to the American government as bereft of the necessary political will to prosecute the war against corruption.

Investigations revealed that the leadership of the EFCC had since passed the six-year-old laptop to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mike Aondoakaa (SAN), whose ministry has supervisory powers over the commission.

Aondoakaa, it was further gathered, directed that the computer be passed on to the security agencies for further investigations.

As part of the investigation, Magu, our source confirmed, had for the past two weeks, been detained by the police.

On August 5, 2008, there were reports that the SSS made an unsuccessful attempt to arrest Ribadu in Kuru , near Jos where he is attending a course at the Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.

It was gathered that some government officials had expressed concern that any attempt to arrest Ribadu might further drag the administration into disrepute and portray it as desperate to nail the former EFCC boss.

However, efforts to speak with Aondoakaa on Sunday were unsuccessful as calls made to his mobile phones were not picked. As at 9pm on Sunday, he also did not reply to an SMS to his telephone line at 5.46pm.

When contacted on Sunday, Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Akpoebi Agberebi, confirmed that an investigation was indeed on but said he was in Osogbo, Osun State, preparing for the August Police conference.

On when Ribadu is likely to be invited for questioning, Agberebi said, “The man is now on course. That will be done at the appropriate time. We do not need to be in a hurry because matters like that don’t end just like that.

“But for now, he is on course and he will be allowed to finish his course first.”

When our correspondent sought the comment of the spokesman of the SSS, Mr. Tony Anaeto, he said he was attending a course outside Abuja, and could not respond.

Responding to our correspondent’s enquiries, the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi said, “You know very well that the EFCC handles only economic and financial issues. Issues bordering on state security are handled by other agencies of government.”

Ribadu and Magu could not be reached on Sunday but a source close to the two men said it was untrue that any letter was written to the FBI disparaging Yar’Adua on Magu’s computer.

The source, who pleaded not to be named said, “Ribadu could not have written such a letter. Even if such a letter is to be written, that would not have been done by Magu.

“We are surprised that they are so desperate to nail Ribadu and other former officials of the commission. Initially, they claimed that they saw documents linking the EFCC to SaharaReporters (an online news agency) on the laptop. Now they are talking about a letter to the FBI.

“It is all in desperation but we are confident that all these shadow-chasing will come to naught. If they are sure of their facts, they should charge Magu to court.”

When contacted, Olorunyomi said, “I am not aware that any such letter was written to the FBI and nobody has told me that any such document was found on Magu’s laptop. It is not in Ribadu’s character to write such a letter.

“I am not aware that I am being investigated. Nobody has asked me any question.”

The Police Service Commission had on August 5, demoted Ribadu to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police.

Also demoted were 139 other police officers who were said to have enjoyed rapid promotions during the reign of Mr. Sunday Ehindero as Inspector-General of Police.

Meanwhile, the EFCC has started investigating the finances of all the 774 local government areas in the country.

The spokesman of the commission, Babafemi, during a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Minna, Niger State on Sunday, said the probe was ordered by the commission’s Chairman, Mrs Farida Waziri.

He said that the visit by the commission’s operatives to Niger State was not as a result of petitions against the chairman of the councils in the state.

Babafemi said, “The visit of the commission’s operatives was not necessarily based on petitions as the commission through the directives from its chairman, had ordered its operatives to beam their searchlights on all local government areas in the country.

“So, it is an exercise across the country as we are visiting all local government areas one after the other to verify their accounts. The decision was not necessarily based on petitions as the commission has decided not to wait for petitions before embarking on such investigations.”

He added that the commission’s action followed an intelligent report before it.