It is no longer rumour: police authorities yesterday confirmed that the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, will be proceeding on a one-year study leave at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), in Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State.
Addressing the press at Louis Eddet House in Abuja, the Inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, said it was a routine exercise for senior police officers.
THISDAY checks also revealed yesterday there were moves by the Federal Government to get a United Nations appointment for Ribadu last September, ostensibly to give him �international exposure�, although it is believed that it was part of a larger plot to get him out of the way.
Okiro, who was reacting to media reports that the EFCC chairman was being sent on compulsory one year course in deference to pressures �in high places�, described the reports as �unfounded, and a calculated attempt to smear the good name and reputation of the Inspector General of Police and portray the Nigeria Police in bad light as the IGP is neither a politician nor is he succumbing to the whims and caprices of politicians.�
The IGP said sending eligible officers on course �is a normal routine in every service� the police inclusive. All employees must go on courses because courses help to develop the employees as well as the organisations they are working for. Sending police officers on such courses is for their own advantage, development and for the benefit of the Force�.
Okiro said seven senior police officers, including Ribadu � who is second on the list of the selected � were �carefully� selected to go for the course at NIPSS, stressing that a number of criteria which have been laid down were duly followed in the selection.
�In this particular case, seven senior police officers have been selected. All the police officers going on course are not idle. Their going would make them perform better. He [Ribadu] is going on course not only to develop himself but to also develop the Force. There should not be any hue and cry from the general public,� he said.
According to the IGP, �The criteria for sending officers on course as contained in the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) guidelines which the police are following religiously are as follows: the officer must not be less than 40 years of age; the officer must be a graduate from a recognised university; the officer must have more than five years to retire from the service; the officer must have attained a certain rank in the service and must not be less than a permanent secretary in the state civil service or director in the Federal civil service or a colonel in the military or its equivalents in the para-military services.�
Okiro stated categorically that �AIG Nuhu Ribadu is not being sent on course for any ulterior motive other than the reasons I have explained; he is not being sent to NIPSS on the prompting of any external body or bodies. He has met the conditions of service and qualifies to be nominated to attend a course at NIPSS.�
But THISDAY was told yesterday that the IGP got the approval from President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua to send Ribadu to Kuru early yesterday, after which Okiro decided to address the media to �clear the air�.
Ribadu is yet to get an official letter asking him to proceed on the course, THISDAY learnt last night.
If Ribadu proceeds on the compulsory study leave, it is expected that the Secretary of the EFCC, Emmanuel Akomaye, will be named the acting head of the commission until a substantive appointment is made.
Ribadu is scheduled to start the course in February 2008 and will be expected to hand over to the Secretary before that time. THISDAY could not confirm the official position on this yesterday.
The future of Ribadu had been on the cards since the inception of this administration, with alleged surreptitious moves to either water down the powers of the anti-graft agency or remove Ribadu from the chairmanship of the commission.
The Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, had shortly on resumption of office sent a memo to the president, requesting to take over the prosecutorial powers of EFCC, a move that was greeted with criticism. He also recently said he was going to merge the anti-graft agencies based on a complaint from Ebonyi State that their functions overlap.
THISDAY was told that officials of the Federal Government also held a meeting with top UN officials during the General Assembly in New York, United States, in September with a request that the organisation should give Ribadu a job for his �excellent performance in Nigeria�, although the move was said to have failed because it was believed that it was a ploy to get the EFCC chairman out of the way because of the high-profile corruption cases he was pursuing against some politicians.
Dec282007