Police intelligence have begun investigation into alleged plot by former anti-graft czar, Nuhu Ribadu, to undermine Nigeria using tactics that include inciting foreign powers against Aso Rock and key public institutions.
That came on the heels of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) knocking Ribadu for acting the barking dog of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and trampling on fundamental rights of fellow citizens, a violation of the law, in the course of his crusade against corruption.
Regardless, NBA disagreed with police authorities over the demotion of Ribadu from an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), and insisted that the man deserves commendation for the level to which he took the campaign.
An unconvinced police said it has uncovered, and is investigating, plots by Ribadu to incite foreign governments and agencies against Nigeria, with a view to deny the country the goodwill required to push ahead with the multimillion naira invest-in-Nigeria campaign of Aso Rock.
A police source told Saturday Independent that operatives are already probing into the activities of Nigeria Awareness Group (NAG), a nonprofit allegedly being bankrolled by Ribadu to advance the campaign.
“Security agents have been informed and are already investigating a group called NAG that is said to be in concert with Ribadu. The group is said to have gotten documents purportedly emanating from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) alleging business deals and purchase of companies and properties with fictitious names by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mike Okiro, and some members of the judiciary,” the source said.
“NAG, according to our intelligence, is also alleging that the IG is not in charge of the police and that the Federal Government under (President Umaru) Yar’Adua is not effective, and that the judiciary is not trustworthy.”
The source said that may have informed Ribadu taking his case to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court.
“What the group is doing is to blackmail and ridicule the judiciary, the IG, the police and the Federal Government. It is alleged to have written to foreign governments and international organisations on the persons and institutions above with a view to stopping foreign investors from coming to the country,” according to the source.
“(The group) holds secret meetings with Ribadu, pledging to embarrass the IG for demoting Ribadu. Their grouse against the FG is that it sent the man to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), despite all his pleas to retain him as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman. Their grouse against the bench is that he is not getting a fair hearing from the judiciary, which is why he has gone to the ECOWAS Court of Appeal.”
The NBA insisted Rubadu does not deserve to be demoted, regardless of his perceived excesses as former EFCC boss. NBA President, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, told reporters in Minna that while the Police Service Commission (PSC) may have acted according to their reasoning, it ought to consider the level of sacrifices Ribadu made to entrench the anti-graft campaign against all odds.
“It is natural that after a meritorious service to one’s nation, one should expect a promotion not a demotion and in this regard we frown at the demotion of Ribadu and above all, the kind of treatment meted out to him at NIPSS, Kuru in Plateau State where he just graduated from,” Akeredolu said.
“But this did not rub off the fact that Ribadu, while in office, was a violator of people’s fundamental human rights. Even at that, we believe that the worst violator of human rights must have his rights protected by the law.”
Akeredolu went on to chide the former anti-corruption campaigner over what the NBA considers his violation of the fundamental human rights of suspects arrested over financial crimes, and said RIbadu’s current travails may be linked to his wrong actions as EFCC boss.
Akeredolu insisted that Ribadu allowed himself “to be used by a czar (Obasanjo) to achieve personal gains against his individual sense of reasoning,” but commended (Ribadu) for “towing the patriotic and gentleman approach to solving his problems by going to court to challenge his demotion. There is nothing to indicate that we have abandoned him to his fate.”