Akanimo Sampson,
Port Harcourt
Protect Ribadu, Human Rights Watch Tells Nigerian Government
HUMAN Rights Watch (HRW), a United States global rights network, has called on the Nigerian Federal Government to
protect the former Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu.
In an on-line statement to our correspondent yesterday, the US group said Ribadu in an interview with them in the
country, said he feared for his life and believed the threats against him - including shots fired at him in late
September and telephoned death threats - were linked to his work at the EFCC.
"I fear for my life," Ribadu told Human Rights Watch. "I have made a lot of enemies." He was removed from his position
in December 2007 after the commission arrested and indicted on corruption charges a powerful politician who was known to
be close to the president.
"The campaign of intimidation against Mr. Ribadu appears aimed at silencing a key voice in the crucial fight against
corruption in Nigeria," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The Nigerian government and
President Yar'Adua need to protect Ribadu and anyone else who dares to speak out against the corrupt and powerful."
During his tenure at the EFCC - from 2003 to 2007 -
Ribadu pursued politically sensitive investigations into suspected corrupt activities of powerful ruling-party
officials, though the institution's credibility was at times tarnished by its apparent selective prosecution of
political opponents of then-president Olusegun Obasanjo. The EFCC under Ribadu indicted hundreds of individuals
collectively implicated in the theft of several billion dollars. These included a former inspector general of police,
several former state governors, and politically influential businessmen.
Despite pledges to allow the EFCC to pursue an impartial "zero-tolerance" effort to pursue corrupt officials, the
government of President Umaru Yar'Adua - now in its second year - has seriously undermined the fledgling anti-corruption
efforts that began under his predecessor.
Ribadu described to Human Rights Watch the apparent attempt on his life in late September, while he was driving from Jos
to Abuja, the capital: "At around 6:00 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." Ribadu was unhurt in the
incident.
More recently, Ribadu said he had received credible information about another planned attempt on his life. He also said
he has received threatening phone calls in which he is advised to "say his last prayers." "The harassment, the
intimidation is meant to put fear in me, to break me, but I am going to stand and continue standing," he told HRW.
In December 2007, the EFCC sent shock waves through the political establishment by arresting the powerful former Delta
State governor James Ibori and charging him with 103 counts of corruption, including an alleged attempt to bribe Ribadu
with US$15 million in cash to drop the case against him. The EFCC's decision to prosecute Ibori was notable because the
former governor was widely seen as politically untouchable. He is among the wealthiest politicians in Nigeria and is
known to be a close associate of Yar'Adua. Two weeks later, the inspector general of police ordered Ribadu to resign and
attend a 10-month police training course.
In August 2008, Ribadu was demoted from the rank of assistant inspector general of police, on the grounds that
promotions he received while at the EFCC had failed to comply with police procedure. On November 22 he was forcefully
removed by state security agents from the graduation ceremony that followed the course he was ordered to attend.
In November, he was officially informed of his future posting to a regional police headquarters in Edo State, with
duties that would require working in Edo, Delta, and Bayelsa states. Ribadu firmly believes this posting would leave him
vulnerable because the powerful former governors from all three of these states were investigated, charged, or convicted
of corruption by the Ribadu-led EFCC. Ribadu is also a material witness in the corruption trial against Ibori, should it
take place.
Following the appointment of Farida Waziri as the new EFCC chair in May, the commission sacked at least 12 of its top
investigators. Several were later reassigned to the states whose governors they had investigated. In February 2008, a
senior EFCC official was attacked by armed thugs. In August, the former head of the unit investigating Ibori was
arrested and held without charge for several weeks. Judicial personnel and other political observers interviewed by
Human Rights Watch said certain actions by the attorney general have undermined anti-corruption efforts both in Nigeria
and in the United Kingdom, including intervening on behalf of Ibori in a British court case involving Ibori's alleged
embezzlement and money laundering of US$35 million of Delta State funds.
Although Waziri has indicted several senior-level politicians, including three former governors and the head of the
Nigerian Ports Authority, on corruption charges, the high-profile cases initiated under Ribadu, including that of Ibori,
have been effectively stalled. Meanwhile, the EFCC has initiated an investigation into Ribadu's acquisition of property
- a move considered by many observers to be politically motivated. Ribadu has on several occasions publicly declared his
assets.
According to the US group, ''Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, suffers from rampant government
corruption and mismanagement, which has led to gross violations of the right to basic health care and education. Despite
Nigeria's tremendous wealth, its abject poverty ranks among the worst in the world. Public funds that could have been
spent on improving the lives of ordinary citizens have instead been squandered and stolen by members of Nigeria's
political elite''.
Continuing, they said corruption also lies at the heart of Nigeria's most pressing human rights problems, adding, ''many
politicians have used stolen government revenues to sponsor political violence in order to rig elections marked by
violence and fraud. Nigeria's compromised police force has consistently turned a blind eye to these and other abuses by
well-connected politicians''.
ENDS