Meantime, there were strong indications that Mallam Ribadu, widely speculated to have been picked up after he was denied graduation, is still in Jos and may not be in custody afterall.

Security sources contacted yesterday said they were not aware of the said arrest and that if he was arrested at all it was not with their knowledge.

Ribadu himself confirmed to some journalists on phone that he was still in Jos but declined to say where exactly he was or whether he was in custody.

All was calm at the institute yesterday, a day after graduation with most of the participants who graduated on Saturday having departed with their guests.

However, a few residents of the institute were heard discussing the Ribadu saga after going through Sunday papers which reported the issue. They, however, declined comments on the matter.

CNPP condemns FG

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) said Ribadu’s exclusion from the graduating ceremony was the “height of executive lawlessness and arbitrariness.”

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, yesterday CNPP said Ribadu’s exclusion for a course he duly completed and passed was a minus in the present administration’s avowed defence of the rule of law.

It noted that “whereas we do not absolve Ribadu of selectivity in the discharge of his duties as EFCC’s Chairman, we  however acknowledge the milestones he covered in the war against corruption in Nigeria.

“It is painful that since his exit from the EFCC, Yar’Adua’s regime and indeed his traducers have reduced the EFCC to a toothless bulldog,” the CNPP said.

It added that “the barbaric exclusion of Mallam Ribadu from a course he duly completed and passed is a big deficit of the rule of law mantra of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s regime.

“The exclusion exposed the inefficiency, inconsistency and clueless nature of the Yar’Adua regime; otherwise what on earth prompted them to send Ribadu to the course in the first place or prevented them from stopping him, when he was unlawfully demoted?

“A sane regime could have from the onset decided to outrightly dismiss Ribadu or transfer him back to the Force Headquarters, to avoid unnecessary embarrassment to the nation.

“The doctrine of rule of law is predicated on the equality of persons before the law and not arbitrary application of law. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, like many officers, including the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, at one time or the other were promoted above their course mates,” it said.

NBA too...
 
Also, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in a statement by its President, Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), said: “Our attention has been drawn to the physical harassment of  Ribadu to the extent that he was prevented from graduating with his colleagues at NIPSS.

Having successfully completed the Senior Management Course and listed amongst graduands by the institute, there can be no legal or moral justification in denying Ribadu the opportunity to take part in the graduation ceremony.

“Indeed, if the Federal Government had any genuine reason to prevent him from attending the programme, the decision should have been conveyed to him and authorities of NIPSS in a civilised manner.

The action of the authorities by marching Mr. Ribadu out of the hall when the guests were already seated, amounted to nothing but barbarism in the extreme. We condemn this very mean action which has exposed the Federal Government and its democratic pretension to ridicule. We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to join hands with the NBA in confronting barbaric ideas in whatever guise.  

“We are not unaware that Ribadu had dragged the authorities to court over the reduction of his rank from Assistant Inspector-General of Police to Deputy Commissioner of Police.

He had also sought refuge in the court for the protection of his fundamental rights. While both matters are pending in court, none of the parties to the disputes is allowed by law to take the law into his hands or resort to self help.

Since the Federal Government under President Umaru Yar’Adua had repeatedly taunted the rule of law as its mantra, it should at least make efforts to ensure that all security agencies are restrained from engaging in the violations of the rights of Nigerians.

“In the circumstances, we demand that the security agents who disrupted the graduation ceremony at Kuru, should be brought to book so as to reassure Nigerians that executive lawlessness and abuse, God forbids, as against the rule of law has unfortunately finally established its presence in our current political dispensation,” he added.

Bamidele Aturu

In his reaction, Lagos lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, said “the reported dragging out of Ribadu and his family members from the graduation ceremony of NIPSS, is the height of this administration’s lack of respect for decorum and due process. It is audacious in its sheer barbarity.

There is no doubt any longer, if ever there was, that some persons in the administration are bent on punishing Ribadu for his modest achievements at the EFCC.

Those he exposed and who have now bought their ways back to power and imposed their proxies at several levels are showing us the precise colour of vendetta.

But the question is, should we the citizens whose resources were the subject of the rapacious venality of these corrupt people fold our hands and do nothing in the circumstance? I sincerely think not.

“We must find the courage to condemn this despicable act of brigandage committed before our very eyes.

Only those who have no respect for the people whom they claim elected them can perpetrate this sort of infamy. Without any doubt the Gestapo-like manner in which the latest act against Ribadu was executed reveals the existence of a mafia right in the corridors of power. It is our duty to rid our system, or better still the system, of this mafia.

Doubtless the fact that the questionable mandate of the government might be responsible for its impunity-for no government truly elected in a free and fair election can carry on as the present one without regard for the feelings of the people. The responsibility is ours to put a stop to the routine excesses of a government that has lost even its myopic focus at inauguration.”

Corruption has taken centre stage —CDHR

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) said the travails of Mallam Ribadu were evident signals that corruption has again taken centre stage in the nation’s affairs.

CDHR in a statement by its National President, Olasupo Ojo, said it holds President Yar‘Adua personally responsible for allowing deep rooted corrupt persons to front for him in the campaign to reverse successes achieved by Ribadu in the anti-corruption war. The group then called on the authorities to immediately charge Mallam Ribadu to court or release him immediately.

Noting the refusal to allow Ribadu graduate from his course, CDHR said the development was only a confirmation that corruption was now dictating the activities of the Yar‘Adua administration.
“The entire travail of Nuhu Ribadu is a reflection of the attitude of President Yar’Adua to the anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria.

“This means he is nothing but a front for corrupt politicians including former governors to whom he has reason to show gratitude notwithstanding that they are facing different charges of corruption in various courts all over Nigeria,” the CDHR statement added.

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