Jonathan orders police boss to restore Ribadu’s rank as AIG

On a day Nigerians were mourning the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, his successor, President Goodluck Jonathan, was busy directing the police hierarchy to restore the rank of the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, whose reduction in rank and sack from the police were approved by the late President.




It emerged at the weekend that President Jonathan ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ogbonna Onovo and the Police Service Commission (PSC) to reverse Ribadu’s sack from the police, restore him to his former rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) and thereafter, retire him with full benefits.

The directive was said to have been given on Thursday, the day Yar’Adua was being buried.

Sources said Jonathan is considering Ribadu for the chairmanship of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Making efforts at clearing all obstacles that may prevent Ribadu from being cleared by the Senate for the INEC job, President Jonathan on Thursday, wrote to the Police Service Commission’s chairman, Parry Osayande, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) and copied the IGP, requesting that the indictment of Ribadu be reversed and the ex-policeman returned back to his former position as an AIG in the Police, before he ran into trouble with the Yar’Adua government.

He also ordered in the letter that, the dismissal letter issued to him be withdrawn with immediate effect and replaced with a retirement letter, with full benefits, returned to him.

Ribadu was sacked from the Nigeria Police on December 23, 2008, following indictment over acts of insubordination by a panel headed by the current IGP, Onovo, who was then a DIG.

Ribadu had earlier been demoted from the rank of AIG to that of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), but he refused to wear police uniform bearing the rank of a DCP and also refused to report for duty at his new duty post in Benin.

For this, he was re-tried, found wanting and recommended for dismissal. Following the indictment and recommendation for dismissal, the Police Service Commission (PSC) headed by Osanyande after a marathon meeting acceded to the recommendation and ordered the dismissal of Ribadu.

Ribadu, who went on exile after his dismissal was thereafter, charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for non-declaration of assets, but had the charges dropped last week by the government also on the orders of Jonathan.

Force Public Relations Officer, (FPRO) Emmanuel Ojukwu, when contacted, said he was not aware of the letter from the President ordering the reversal of Ribadu’s sack, and could not say, if the IGP has received such.

He added that if such letter existed, it will only be for the notification of the IGP as the power to sack and recall senior police officers rests squarely with the Police Service Commission.

However, efforts to confirm the receipt of the letter by the PSC were unsuccessful at press time as most of those who were contacted, including the image maker of the Commission, Ikechukwu Ani, neither picked their calls nor replied to text messages from our correspondent.

It would be recalled that the sack of Ribadu was announced via a statement signed by then Force Spokesman, Akpoebi Agberebi, for alleged acts of indiscipline, insubordination and absence from duty.

Ribadu was one of the six police officers nominated and sent on senior executive course at the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos in 2008.

While on course, he was demoted to the rank of DCP along with 139 officers, who were believed to have been wrongfully promoted.

According to the police statement in which Ribadu’s sack was announced, the act of misconduct levelled against Ribadu are improper dressing when he appeared before the President on November 13, 2008 with other NIPSS participants, in plain clothes, where others were properly dressed.

He was also accused of instituting legal proceedings against the Inspector-General of Police, Attorney General of the Federation and the Police Service Commission, at a Federal High Court in Lagos, without proper authority from government.

These conducts, the statement added, are prejudicial to discipline, proper administration of the force and unbecoming of an officer, contrary to sections 352 and 367 of the Police Act and against Rules 030402 of the Police Service Rules 2006.

The former EFCC boss was also accused of flagrantly disobeying the order and directive of the IG to report to the Force Headquarters on November 24, 2008 along with his NIPSS course mates, at the completion of their studies.

Furthermore, Ribadu was said to have disregarded his posting order and refused to proceed on transfer when he was posted to Zone 5, Benin, as DCP in charge of Administration, since November 21, contrary to sections 349, 348 and 347 of the Police Act.

His fortune has however changed following the withdrawal of charges of non-declaration of assets instituted against him by the Federal Government under the leadership of late President Yar’Adua, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, by the Jonathan-led presidency.

Last Tuesday, Murtala Sani Adebayo-led tribunal struck out the charges and vacated the warrant of arrest issued by the tribunal on Ribadu last year by its immediate past chairman, Justice Constance Momoh (rtd).

Adebayo at the Tribunal sitting stated that the Attorney General of the Federation’s application asking that the charges be withdrawn and struck out was in line with the provisions of section 174 of the 1999 Constitution.

He said that aspect of the constitution “no doubt confers extensive powers to Federal Attorney General to withdraw criminal trial. The application is withdrawn and it is hereby struck out.”

The tribunal had also in its ruling said that the action of the AGF was in line with Section 24 (1) and section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which it argued, is sufficient ground to strike out the charges as prayed.

Counsel to the AGF, Joshua Olatoke had earlier applied for the withdrawal of the matter, based on the powers given to the AGF by the constitution to withdraw any criminal charge against anybody before judgment is entered in the matter.

The withdrawal of the charges against Ribadu it was said, was to pave the way for him to emerge as the 10th Chairman of the INEC.

A retired IGP who spoke with Sunday Independent on Saturday on the development said: “If the President’s directive is true, then the government would have unknowingly institutionalised indiscipline in the Police Force and I can assure you, the directive has the capacity of opening a floodgate of complaints where the Ribadu saga would be cited.”