Posted by By Eromosele Ebhomele on
Embattled ex-chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, may have sneaked out of the country. It is believed that he may have finally chosen to go on exile following persistent harassment and threats to his life.
Embattled ex-chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, may have sneaked out of the country. It is believed that he may have finally chosen to go on exile following persistent harassment and threats to his life.
In the last few weeks, the leadership of the Nigeria Police, some agents of the Yar'Adua government and some former governors, facing trial by the EFCC, have combined efforts to humiliate him.
Family sources hinted P.M.News this morning, that he has been unreachable in the last 48 hours. Former associates also expressed worries about his whereabouts. But a source close to him informed P.M.News this morning, that he may have sneaked out through the land border via the old NADECO route, to an African country. His final destination is a Western country.
Ribadu had initially refused to succumb to pressures by members of his family and friends to proceed on exile in the face of threats to his life. He had insisted that since he didn't commit any crime, he was going to stay in Nigeria and fight it out. Just yesterday, his lawyers filed a suit at the ECOWAS Court in Abuja, to stop the police authorities from harassing him.
Mallam Ribadu had alleged that unknown assailants recently trailed him on Jos Road, in Abuja, and shot at his vehicle, damaging his car's windscreen. Ribadu was humiliated on Saturday, 22 November, 2008, at the graduation ceremony of NIPSS, in Jos, when he was bundled out of the ceremony. He was prevented from being given a certificate despite completing the course.
After the humiliation, the police and the EFCC invited him for questioning on his past activities as boss of the anti-graft body. Ribadu declined the invitations on the excuse that he had already taken the police to court over his demotion. Some aggrieved politicians, who are currently being tried by the EFCC for fraud, have vowed to stop at nothing to disgrace him.
He was demoted on 4 August, 2008, from the rank of an AIG to that of a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), by the Police Service Commission (PSC), which claimed he was unjustly promoted by former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Prominent Nigerians, including Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN and Pastor Tunde Bakare condemned the humiliations meted out on Ribadu, and called on his detractors to leave him alone.