Ribadu to face trial next week
•Yar’ Adua's handicapped, says NPAN boss


By Yemi Akinsuyi in Lagos and Chinwe Ochu in Abuja, 11.26.2008

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The troubles of the former Chairman of the Eco-nomic and Financial Cri-mes Commission (EF-CC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, are far from over.



THISDAY learnt last night that Ribadu will face trial next week in Kaduna for his alleged offences against the Police High Command.

The former EFCC boss was alleged to have engaged in indiscipline, disregard for rules and regulations of the force and serious acts of misconduct.

A top Police officer who confirmed the development said the Police High Command had asked Ribadu to face the Force Disciplinary Committee to be headed by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) on December 4 at 8am.

A signal from the Police said the committee, which would hear Ribadu’s pending disciplinary matters, will sit at the Police Officers’ Mess, Kaduna.

Ribadu has also been issued with three fresh queries by the Police.

The queries were issued by Deputy Force Secretary, Commissioner of Police Suleiman Abba, on behalf of the Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro.

His alleged sins are listed as improper dressing, discreditable conduct, conduct prejudicial to discipline, serious acts of misconduct and disobedience to lawful order.

In one of the queries entitled “Query for Serious Misconduct,” the Police specifically asked Ribadu to explain why he appeared in plain clothes instead of Police uniform when he and his National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) course participants visited President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on November 13, 2008.

Ribadu’s conduct was alleged to have portrayed the force in bad light.

The Police said in the query: “By appearing in plain clothes as highlighted, you have discredited the Nigeria Police Force and portrayed it as an undisciplined organisation, contrary to rule 030403(w) of the Public Service Rules 2006.

“The sum total of your conduct as highlighted above is prejudicial to discipline, proper administration of the force and unbecoming of a Senior Police Officer of your rank contrary to rule 030401 of the Public Service Rules 2006.”

In another query, Ribadu was asked to explain why he dragged EFCC and Attorney-General of the Federation to court and for allegedly disobeying IG’s order which directed him to meet with EFCC Chairman Farida Waziri on November 14, 2008.

“You contemptuously refused to comply with the IG’s order contrary to rule 030401 and 030301 (M) of the Public Service Rules 2006,” Ribadu was told.

According to the query, the former EFCC boss allegedly engaged in discreditable conduct, “in that without exhausting administrative channel of communication and obtaining the prior approval of Inspector-General of Police, you instituted legal proceedings in the Federal High Court, Abuja, against the EFCC and Attorney-General of the Federation contrary to Section 367 of Police Act to wit; ‘Except with the prior approval of the government, no Police Officer should institute any legal proceedings in his own personal interest in connection with matters arising out of his public duties’.”

The top officer also told THISDAY that Ribadu should expect more queries, stating that he (Ribadu) was expected to appear before a panel yesterday at the Force Headquarters but failed to turn up.

“Ribadu is a very proud and arrogant man. As long as he is still in the Force, he has to abide by the rules and regulations of the Force. If he is tired of the police job, he should go to another place where he would do as he likes. Police is a disciplined force. He must be disciplined for him to remain in the force,” he said.

Only on Monday, the former EFCC chairman was asked to resume at Zone 5, Benin, Edo State, as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of administration.

He is expected to see to the affairs of the administration and duties of officers and men of the zone, which comprises Edo, Delta, and Bayelsa states police commands.

Ribadu will be the third DCP in the zone, where there are already Deputy Commissioners in charge of Operations and Zonal Criminal Investigation Department (ZCID).

Last Saturday, the former EFCC boss was prevented from graduating from the Senior Officer Course 30 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, which he had successfully completed.

Ribadu and his family were forcefully removed from the graduation ground by policemen.

In August, the Police Service Commission (PSC) demoted the former EFCC boss to the rank of DCP from the Assistant Inspector-General of Police with which he had enlisted at NIPSS.

Thus, he became the first DCP to have undergone a Senior Officer Course at NIPSS.

Meanwhile, the President of Newspaper Proprietors Associ-ation of Nigeria (NPAN) and Chairman, Punch Newspapers, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, has said that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is constrained in intervening in the situation that the former EFCC boss, Ribadu, has found himself.

Ogunshola said the delay by the Supreme Court in giving judgment in the presidential election petition had succeeded in limiting Yar’Adua’s powers as President.

The NPAN president spoke with newsmen yesterday after his goodwill message at the 48th General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja.

He said: “I want to talk a bit about Yar’ Adua here. I think he is handicapped, primarily by the Supreme Court case that has not been decided. I think and I want to be quoted that the Supreme Court has been unfair to the nation for not giving judgment on the presidential election petition on time. The case has been in the Supreme Court since April. As it is, they, the judges of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Kutigi; should even have cut short their holiday.

“I know that is very rare and sometimes indecent to criticise the Supreme Court but they are human beings and when they do something wrong, we should tell them. The Supreme Court should give us a judgment by the end of December. Otherwise, it will be doing a disservice to the nation. Yar’ Adua has to be his own man and not be at the mercy of those who brought him to power because at this moment, all sorts of characters are parading round the whole place because Yar’ Adua is handicapped and he has not been confirmed as President.”

He described Ribadu as a hero and referred to the refusal of the authorities to allow the former EFCC boss to graduate along with his colleagues from NIPSS in Kuru, Jos as unfortunate.

“Very unfortunate. Very unfortunate. The man has gone to court and therefore they should allow the court to resolve the matter. It is surprising that when a person like that is in court, force is still being used against him or at least he was effectively ejected from the graduation ceremony. That is the use of force and it is contrary to the principles of the rule of law of this present administration. So, that is wrong, very bad.

“I hope the court will do its duty here, which is adhering to the decisions of the Abuja High Court that is handling the case. I hope it will be bold enough to do its duties here. That is my first comment.

“My second is that what has the man done that is wrong, I mean Ribadu. Okay, he allowed himself and his office to have been used against the political opponents of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Fine, that was wrong. But the good things he did very far outweigh the mistakes or errors. And even then, people forget that he dealt with Tafa Balogun, former Inspector-General of Police, who was a close friend of Obasanjo. So, don’t forget that. In any case, if he had continued to deal with Obasanjo’s friends, he wouldn’t have allowed him to be in the position. And if he wasn’t in that position, he wouldn’t have continued in the good work that he went ahead to be doing. And are they saying that those who were Obasanjo’s enemies that he was used against are they saying that they are innocent? That is one.

“What of all the things that he did against 419 people. There were a lot of cases that the EFCC under him brought to conclusion. So, this man is a hero and he is going to play a greater role in the future of the country one day.”


http://odili.net/news/source/2008/nov/26/205.html

The conduct of the PSC, Okiro IG, etc, etc in my humble opinion is vindictive and borders on contempt of court. But then this is Nigeria.

Peronally I think we should rather utilize Ribadu rather than try to humilate him fro ego purposes.

All you people who are being tricked into believing that Ribadu is being punished are fools. What is happening is an already written script that is being played out now by the invloved people. Until the so called Ribadu or what ever his namle is is thrown into jail, then we can talk. You nigerians never learn. Same thing was done with the former police cheif Ehindero, yet nothing happened after all. Tell me which govt. official has ever gone to jail in nigeria due to corruption. Now you expect them to throw Ribadu into jail? keep dreaming and refuse to accept that you are only being fooled in following a written script being played out by those rogues. After the script have been played out, Ribadu will be a free man.

the police is just making mockery of itself, improper dressing my foot, when last did okiro take a look at his men on beat, some of the dress worse than homeless urchins

All you people who are being tricked into believing that Ribadu is being punished are fools. What is happening is an already written script that is being played out now by the invloved people. Until the so called Ribadu or what ever his namle is is thrown into jail, then we can talk. You nigerians never learn. Same thing was done with the former police cheif Ehindero, yet nothing happened after all. Tell me which govt. official has ever gone to jail in nigeria due to corruption. Now you expect them to throw Ribadu into jail? keep dreaming and refuse to accept that you are only being fooled in following a written script being played out by those rogues. After the script have been played out, Ribadu will be a free man.

Are they trying to fool us or aggravate us?. Nobody was asking for his arrest rather, we wanted them to arrest the likes of Ibori, Nnamani and Odili, so I dont know where your argument is coming from.

@QuotaSystem:  Considering the popularity of Ribadu, I see no purpose behind the so-called "script".

Another reason to show that Yar'dua is another Abacha.
Closed Channels TV,Harrased Journalist, Tried to evict judges,arrested internet bloggers, now its pay back time for Ribadu for his unprecedented record on corruption. How many govs have been indicted since he took over? nada. Soldiers go soldiers come barrack na de same. Difference between OBJ and Yar'dua two different ugly faces.

this business of arresting internet bloggers is the lowest I have seen any govt succumb to in modern history. Those who alerted us to the gist that Yar'adua may have borrowed Mugabe's kidney in his last trip to Germany may not be wrong after all.

lol kidding, our AGF is simply a backward fool who is driven by nothing else but money.

You know when such a character is the number 1 law officer in a country, just know that such country is in trouble. This is the sort of lawlessness that breeds rebelion in east and central Africa and this AGF may drift Nigeria towards a bannana republic if someone does not act fast.


Even Terry Waya thinks our AGF is the greediest man in Abuja

what is your problem with the agf

this whole drama is at best laughable! i cant believe that the police force is serious about their indictments against ribadu. does it even make sense to anyone?

This publication is misleading, this is another reason why I have no respect for Nigerian press.

If only they have done their home work, they should have know that the police authority does not have the proper authority to set up a disciplinary committee to discuss any action that could be taking against an erring officer.

The police service commission is responsible for promotion, recruitment and disciplinary actions for all police officers.

The president has to give the final approval for any action taking against any senior police officers above the rank of DCP.

SO since the police service commission reverted the promotion of Ribadu, then that parastatal is the only entity that can set up a panel on disciplinary action. Maybe the columnist should call PARRY OSANYANDE before publishing this nonsense next time.

I wish columnist can tell us where he got the info. Only junior police officers can be recommended for disciplinary action my the provost Marshal.