http://odili.net/news/source/2008/4/401.html

Ribadu cries out again
By Emma Anya and Tony Amokeodo

The former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has again said his life is being threatened by unknown persons.


File
former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu



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Ribadu, who admitted that he "made a lot of enemies" while leading the EFCC in the war against graft, said the fresh threats were a near-direct encounter with armed men and through telephone calls.

"I fear for my life," Ribadu told an international rights group, the Human Rights Watch, on Monday. He, however, said he would not be cowed by the harassment and intimidation against him.

The former anti-graft czar had on October 30, 2008 told a Federal High Court in Lagos that his demotion from the post of Assistant Inspector-General of Police to Deputy Commissioner of Police and the move to transfer him to an unknown location would put his life in danger.

His demotion was after he had been sent by the Police authorities to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Plateau State, for an executive course. The NIPSS programme was a prelude to his removal as the chairman of the EFCC.

Fresh travails however came his way as he was prevented by security operatives from participating in the graduation ceremony at the NIPSS, even though he had been listed among the fresh graduands.

While the controversy over the security agents' action persisted, he was issued with three queries by the Police authorities for acts considered as a serious misconduct. He is billed to face a Police disciplinary committee in Kaduna today.

But narrating his ordeals to the HRW, Ribadu said he believed that the plots against him were linked to his work at the EFCC.

The former EFCC chairman disclosed that one of such threats occurred late in September 2008 when he was driving from Jos, Plateau State, to Abuja.

He said, "At around 6 that morning, I noticed a car with about four men in it following me. I stopped at a filling station and it passed me, but some minutes later, I saw the car coming toward me from the other direction. As the vehicle approached, a man in the back opened fire on my vehicle with a pistol.

"The three bullets which hit my car cracked a part of my windscreen, broke the side-view mirror, and hit a side panel on the car."

More recently, Ribadu said he received threatening telephone calls in which he was advised to "say his last prayers."

But sounding defiant, he said, "The harassment and the intimidation are meant to put fear in me; to break me; but I am going to stand and continue standing."

However, indications emerged on Wednesday that he would not appear before the police disciplinary committee in Kaduna since the Federal High Court had ordered that all actions against him must be put on hold pending the determination of his suit against the police and the PSC.

Ribadu's lawyer, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), confided in our correspondents on Wednesday that his client would not appear before the panel.

He said, "We have filed an action at the ECOWAS Court in Abuja on Wednesday on the matter.

"We are challenging the propriety of the panel and we want the court to hold that the proceedings of the panel will affect the fundamental human right of Ribadu."

The HRW has, however, called on the Federal Government to protect Ribadu in view of the "escalating campaign of harassment, threats, and an apparent attempt on his life.

"The campaign of intimidation against Ribadu appears aimed at silencing a key voice in the crucial fight against corruption in Nigeria," the group said through its director in Africa, Georgette Gagnon.

"The Nigerian government and President Umaru Yar'Adua need to protect Ribadu and anyone else who dares to speak out against the corrupt and powerful," it added.

The group said that Ribadu was removed from his position in December 2007 after the EFCC arrested and arraigned a powerful politician known to be close to the President.

It noted that during Ribadu's tenure, the EFCC's credibility was at times tarnished by its apparent selective prosecution of political opponents of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The group also said it was worried that despite pledges to allow the EFCC to pursue an impartial "zero-tolerance," the Yar'Adua administration had seriously undermined the fledgling anti-corruption efforts that began under its predecessor.

http://www.ngex.com/cgi-bin/frame/frameit2.plxlink="http://www.tribune.com.ng"
Ribadu cries out that his wonderful life is being threatened.
He told HRW that his car had been shot at in September, adding that he had received threatening phone calls.

But the police authorities dismissed the alarm, saying it was far from the truth.


Reacting to HRW’s allegation that Ribadu’s life was under threat, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Agberibie Akpobie, asked: “To which police has he laid any complaint?”


According to him, “as a senior police officer, Mallam Ribadu knows what to do if actually his life is under threat, but flaunting about in the pages of newspapers or human rights organisa-tions of threat to his life does not solve the problem

what a clown.

its time ribadu either faced up to defend his tenure in e.f.c.c and be a lil bit quiet as all these media soundbites and rhetorics is starting to get annoying, there is only so much he can milk the good deeds for even though he was pretty selective then, the various grievances he has with the e.f.c.c. and police,ig is in the courts and seeing as he has confidence in the judicial system,he should chill out for justice to take its course before saying stuffs after all he was the one that went to court in the first place not the other way round, while i agree he should defend himself and be careful,springig up various conspiracy theories about so called fifth columnists trying to asasinate him left and right is sort of stretching it a bit and only looking for attention

This DCP is makin me sick,is he the only police officer in nigeria.
Wat of those that get killed daily by armed robbers and nothin is paid to their families

all the beneficiaries of the corrupt system are guaranteed to pop up here and vomit loads of trash. u're all thieves and children of thieves, shamelessly rejoicing at the humiliation of a courageous and upstanding man.

ur fathers, mothers, uncles and aunties busy plundering the nigerian commonwealth will never have a quarter of the humanity of this guy, even if they live for a thousand years.

you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

ziddy:

all the beneficiaries of the corrupt system are guaranteed to pop up here and vomit loads of trash. u're all thieves and children of thieves, shamelessly rejoicing at the humiliation of a courageous and upstanding man.

ur fathers, mothers, uncles and aunties busy plundering the nigerian commonwealth will never have a quarter of the humanity of this guy, even if they live for a thousand years.

you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

I wont argue wit an idiot cos most likely he might want to drag me to his level.
If DC feels cheated he shuld go through the right channel to resolve the issue.

Nigerians have very short memory,
this is the same guy that said OBJ,bode george,andy uba have no case to answer.
this the same guy that impeached a gov wit six lawmakers under duress.

Why make so much noise about just 1 common DCP

I thought Yar'adua, Obasanjo and Ribadu were all friends

Muza:

I wont argue wit an idiot because most likely he might want to drag me to his level.
If DC feels cheated he shuld go through the right channel to resolve the issue.

Nigerians have very short memory,
this is the same guy that said OBJ,bode george,andy uba have no case to answer.
this the same guy that impeached a gov wit six lawmakers under duress.

Why make so much noise about just 1 common DCP

ur father is an idiot. alakori

ziddy:

ur father is an idiot. alakori

Both your parents are idiots,
but i think you mother is the bigger idiot for giving birth to the biggest idiot.

ziddy:

alakori

funy! remindz me of sumone. . .

ziddy:

all the beneficiaries of the corrupt system are guaranteed to pop up here and vomit loads of trash. u're all thieves and children of thieves, shamelessly rejoicing at the humiliation of a courageous and upstanding man.

ur fathers, mothers, uncles and aunties busy plundering the nigerian commonwealth will never have a quarter of the humanity of this guy, even if they live for a thousand years.

you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

please read these comments of yours out loud and ask yourself how your coming across

f.uck offQ!! go back & read ur own post up there and tell me how all u imbeciles are coming across asshole

how low could you go?

I wont argue wit an idiot because most likely he might want to drag me to his level.
If DC feels cheated he shuld go through the right channel to resolve the issue.

Nigerians have very short memory,
this is the same guy that said OBJ,bode george,andy uba have no case to answer.
this the same guy that impeached a gov wit six lawmakers under duress.

Why make so much noise about just 1 common DCP

i hear you.

i think it would've been difficult for Ribadu

first: to refuse the appointment from obj in the first place
Second: to indict a sitting president

I would sympathise with him on the grounds that his strategy, as i saw it, was to mow the grass (419ners) and cutt the bushes(a selection of corrupt governors) sorrounding the big trees(obj and co).

perhaps if he had more support from the CSO's, INGO and the Diaspora and even the Nigerian populace, he would've fared better.

I personally think he was fighting alone and did something that very few Nigerians would have done - a thankless and risk-ridden job.

And i don't think he has ever cried wolf before now, he does deserve some help and at least sympathy.

@ziddy
on that note,i rest my case
@adaeze1
i dont think i would have been that difficult,all he could have done was to respectfully decline to do selective justice or to agree but intentionally take actions that would elicit public outcry thereby tieing his hands,if difficulty in accepting the president's appointment is his rationale then he is no different from the people he is trying to bring t justice.

his strategy was fine untill he started to act in the interest of obasanjo in his pursuance of justice,and international ngo and anti corruption bodies actually gave e.f.c.c. a lot of money especially from the united states,he wasnt fighting alone because he had what you and i dont have, government apparatus backing him up hence the reason he could thumb his nose at the present ig and other superior officers when he was in power,there were and atill a lot of police officers who were senior to ribadu that could have done a better job,yet he was chosen because of his closeness to atiku the former vp who used his influence to get him there,as for thankless job,i beg to differ,no contemporary or officer of ribadu's class and even above have achieved what he has bth financially and in terms of influence and as for crying wolf untill now again i disagree, he has consistently cried wold,i for one supported him at the beginning of his travails untill he started making it obvious that he was using the press/media for his selfish ends

1.he knew already that no officer irrespective of who they are can be allowed to stay at the graduating venue without wearing a standard uniform displaying his rank YET because of his bruised ego at being demoted,he intentionally came in civies even though he had been warned before the day, what does he do cries wolf getting the press involved

2.cried wolf about assasins trying to kill him and insinuating that he has informed the nigerian police but they r not paying attention to him,the man in charge has publicly denied ribadu ever making any official complaints challenging him to disclose where he did so and who he gave the complaint to

3.after taking the efcc and nigerian police to court,showing he has the highest respect for the judiciary hence his actions,why then is he jeorpadising his own case by making all sorts of allegation concerning his case directly or indirectly?you dont see el rufai complaining even though he has been given a 2 weeks ultimatum by the same e.f.c.c. to appear before them

i personally applaud ribadu for a job well done in spite of his shortcomings but i believe nigeria as a nation is bigger than any individual and once you start to have the mind set that you are indispensable or that nothing can happen without you,then you r over stepping your bounds, atiku his ersthwile mentor didnt complain when he was hounding him up and down on ptdf allegations,jefferson allegations e.t.c

nice response. real straight talk. good work.