Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday reviewed cases of unresolved high profile murders in the country and boasted that he could end violent crimes in the country with only 5,000 policemen.



“With 5,000 policemen ready to do the work, I can stop violent crimes. What we need is those who are ready to do the right thing, be honest and sincere,” he said.



Ribadu spoke at a commemorative 80th birthday lecture organised by the Bola Ige Movement in honour of the slain former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige (SAN), in Ibadan, Oyo State.



The lecture, which was witnessed by politicians from the South-West as well as friends and family members of the late minister, was tagged, “The Nigerian dream.”



The ex-EFCC boss, who spoke extempore, said it remained “a horrible national embarrassment and scandalous” matter for a sitting minister of justice to be “cheaply assassinated, without a clue nine years down the line.”



He said, “I feel ashamed as a police officer that we failed the nation in this regard. It is our duty as police officers to protect lives and property; and if we fail to do this, some people will outwit us and commit crime and it will also be our duty to unravel the perpetrators.



“Unfortunately, nobody has been convicted for this heinous crime. In almost every city in the country, there are unresolved cases like this.



“If there is the need to do so, I will apologise on behalf of the force.”



Ribadu said the police could not deliver as expected by the populace because things were being done in the wrong way.



“In Nigeria Police, there are wonderful people but when things don’t work; when corruption has eaten deep into the system; when there are no good leaders, even the good people will be helpless,” he said.



He called for a reform in the police and judiciary as a sure way of getting the nation back on the right track, arguing that the absence of security and order was a fundamental challenge to national growth.



While describing a tainted judiciary as a dangerous slide to anarchy, Ribadu warned that the judiciary could not afford to lose the confidence of the people.



“No noble dream can survive in an atmosphere of insecurity. Economic growth can also not be achieved under such circumstance,” he added.



While bemoaning the lawlessness that currently pervades the nation’s political space, the former EFCC boss regretted that nobody had explained to him the reason behind his dismissal from the police force, after the feat the commission achieved under his leadership.



He said, “We recovered over $500bn across the country. We secured convictions on corruption charges against the big and the mighty.



“Many police officers want a change, but those resisting the much-needed change forced us out of the system with vengeance.



“They went after the boys we took to the EFCC from the police. They did not want the EFCC to change the police, they wanted the police to change the EFCC.



“Despite the over 350, 000 policemen we have in this country, nobody is facing trial over violence, either ethnic or religious, despite their frequent occurrence.”






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