Former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Friday declared that the Federal Government could only bring him to trial over alleged failure to declare assets while in office through extradition.
With this pronouncement, he foreclosed the possibility of surrendering himself to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, where the Federal Government had charged him for the alleged offence, which is contrary to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
The prosecution, which had been urging the tribunal for a bench warrant against him, called him a fugitive who was running away from justice.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, has also taken over the trial of Ribadu who had exchanged brickbats with him recently.
The exchange between Ribadu and his prosecutor took place during the tribunal’s proceedings yesterday, with his counsel, Mr. Femi Falana, urging the government to try the extradition joker, because his client had resolved not to come willy-nilly for the trial since the tribunal had not been able to guarantee his safety.
Reading the section 1{1} of the Extradition Act to the hearing of the tribunal, Falana contended that the provision imposed a duty on the complainant {prosecution} to apply for the extradition of an accused who is outside jurisdiction.
In his words, “the tribunal should order the accused extradition in pursuance to extradition Act, CAP E25 law of the federation2004.”
The new prosecution counsel from the office of the AGF, Anthony Malik, who replaced Ahmed Kyari from the Code of Conduct Bureau, told the tribunal that Ribadu was playing hide and seek with his trial, instead of coming to plead his innocence.