EXPOSED! Why Yar’Adua hunts Ribadu.

BY DICKSON OMONODE

THE recent quake in the cadres of Nigeria Police which swept many officers off their seats was just one script in a well-hatched game plan by the presidency to clip the wings of the former 

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in an attempt to please certain interests in and outside the government, including President Musa Yar’Adua himself, it has been revealed. Ribadu was demoted from the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) along with 139 other officers. 

While a good number of Nigerians did not see any justification for the action of the Chief Parry Osayande-led Police Service Commission (PSC) particularly from the legal perspective, information available to National Daily strongly suggest that Yar’Adua and some other powerful officials of the state had targeted Ribadu for ‘destruction’ via demotion for reasons of his intelligence image hunting them.

The problem Ribadu now faced dates from soon after his re-deployment as a student to National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, in January this year, when he reportedly confided in a friend that “these people do not know what I have on them even Mr. President. I can rock their boat and let the world know that they are not clean as they claim.”

National Daily investigations revealed that Ribadu may have been sold out to the authorities by that friend as information later got to Presidency that the former EFCC boss had a dossier on Mr. President, some former governors and other public office holders. Particularly, the world-acclaimed anti-corruption warrior is believed to have in his possession copies of the investigation activities of the cases involving very powerful officials, both serving and past while he was Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to Presidency sources, this was why the State Security Services (SSS) were to be unleashed on Ribadu just as the police have taken care of Mallam Ibrahim Magu, another strongman at the EFCC under Ribadu. Magu’s residence was first raided for allegedly being in possession of damaging documents against prominent persons in the country before he was eventually arrested by the police. Specifically, about 24 hours after his demotion was announced the SSS invited Ribadu for questioning. The secret service operatives even visited Kuru in Jos where Ribadu was to effect his arrest but met his absence as insiders had given him a tip-off. Accordingly, “trump up charges have been prepared by the Justice Ministry and should Ribadu be arrested, he would end up in jail, insiders say.

On the president, it is believed that details of allegations of unspent campaign funds from the last Presidential elections allegedly running into about N7billion, and Yar’Adua’s ties with German Construction giant, Julius Berger, a company that is under the intense searchlight of German apex investigation body known as the GKA for offering bribes to Nigerian Government officials are also among issues the President has with Ribadu.

Though, Yar’Adua soon after he assumed office as President in 2007 had publicly declared his total assets with everything put at less than a billion naira, Ribadu is said to have some damaging report on the unspent campaign funds for both the 2007 presidential and the financial activities of Mr. President while he was governor of Katsina State.

Besides the unspent campaign funds, President Yar’Adua was also said not to be comfortable with the information available to Ribadu over the bribe-for-contract scam involving the construction giant; Julius Berger. The company has reportedly been under investigation by its parent country Germany in recent time over some bribery allegations and the company’s Vice Chairman, Dr. Han Wittmann was said to be at the centre of the scandal.

Intelligence source confirmed to National Daily that Wittman has been helping Yar’Adua to secure the best medical help in Germany and so would want the President’s intervention as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), under Ribadu’s chairmanship had reportedly co-operated fully with the GKA with whom they have an existing high-level Mutual Legal Assistance status (MLA).
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the civil engineering giant which dominates construction contracts in Nigeria, was named early in the year as a conduit in the bribery of top officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) - but the company has stoutly denied playing any role in the alleged scandal

The bribes were allegedly wired through Julius Berger, a Nigerian company in which the German group holds 49 per cent shares equity. A German construction group, Bilfinger Berger, has been accused of paying kick-backs to PDP officials, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported in May this year.
At the time of the alleged payments, the Bilfinger Berger group was reportedly seeking the contract to build a gas-liquefaction plant for Nigeria's gas-export industry.
The GKA, according to our sources, was taking serious advantage of the high level secret MLA status it has with the EFCC (as there is no such treaty between Germany and the Nigeria government). Already, sources further disclosed, the GKA was closing in on Julius Berger with the assistance of EFCC which was somehow billed to commence local investigation into company’s activities in Nigeria sometime this year but for Ribadu’s movement to NIPSS.

With this co-operation between EFCC and GKA on one hand and similar agreements between the anti-graft agency other countries and international bodies over the years, Ribadu’s international image has become upscale and this, according to our source, is now hunting Yar’Adua and his government.

Beyond the presidential anger against the former EFCC boss, some former Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) were also said to have called for Ribadu’s head for daring to disgrace one of their own – Tafa Balogun on issues of corrupt practices.

The former police chieftains were said to be very bitter against Ribadu over his “strong-handedness” when they tried to intervene in some corruption cases he (Ribadu) was investigating. They also are piqued especially at the way he handled the Balogun matter, accusing him of not showing any measure of respect for the office of the IGP. They also pointed out the use of handcuffs on the former police chief and the way he was reportedly dragged by a moving car.
National Daily investigation revealed that when charges of corruption involving multi-billion naira were brought against Balogun soon after he was forced to resign from his position of inspector general of police in 2005, some former IGPs had tried to intervene in the matter but Ribadu who had a direct brief from the then President Olusegun Obasanjo was said to have adopted a hard-line posture that made it impossible to mitigate Balogun’s travails.

As a serving police officer, they had expected Ribadu to use his position in ensuring that Balogun was treated with some measure of dignity during the trial. That was certainly not the case, as the former inspector-general of police was hand-cuffed and dragged to the court like a common criminal. He was on one occasion even bullied and felled on the premises of the court premises by the anti-graft agents when he hesitated to board their vehicle. But to most Nigerians, what the EFCC did was not wrong insofar as Balogun was a suspect standing criminal trial like any other suspect. 

Some senior police officers had confided in National Daily last week that Tafa Balogun possibly knew that he would have time to revenge when he said “I will bounce back” soon after his conviction with a few months imprisonment after having entered plea bargain with the prosecutors. To such officers, Balogun may unarguably be an ally with the powers that be in the plotting of Ribadu’s current downfall from the pinnacle of grace.
Ribadu is also said not to be in the good books of the incumbent Police 

Inspector-General Mike Okiro is believed to still be upset that when he (Ribadu) was posted to NIPSS, Ribadu bluntly refused on the pages of the newspapers. Even when the former EFCC boss came back to see Okiro, the IG refused him audience and asked that he “obeyed the order first before complain”, which meant that he reported at NIPSS first.

Just as these exclusively gathered information were being tidied up, another source hinted on the fact that a statement credited to Ribadu during the campaign for the presidential elections early last year where he was quoted to have said the only Presidential Candidate he would have supported irrespective of political party affiliations was General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) because of his integrity and uprightness did not go down well with loyalists of Yar’Adua. They are said to have re-echoed this alleged comment by Ribadu to convince Mr. President that the former EFCC boss never believed in him (Yar’Adua), and could spill the beans any day if “he is not caged”, hence the onslaught. These issues, according to sources, make the President jittery.

Further revelations will unfold in the massive hunt for Ribadu’s head, the sources said, adding that they would be unveiled as time goes on. But no words yet on the place for his vexed intelligence dossiers in the country’s continuing war on corruption. One thing is however evident in the air at the moment is the heightened anxiety over the safety of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the former EFCC Chairman.

LAGOS ! - its not funny...

THIS IS LAGOS

Here are some of the stuffs i occupy myself with those days in Lagos, these are one of the few stuffs i ever put on paper, some were fictions, or based on a true life story i heard from a living being, living in Lagos, and also some i witnessed the scenes. They are all funnily sad events but now we can all laugh over it cos its past, but hope Lagosians will never go through those process again.

Life Goes ON

Sincerely all finger are not equal.

ALL FINGERS ARE NOT EQUAL...

a fully armed men, bumped into my neighbor's apartment, they demanded nothing but their share from his hard earned salary “your money or your life” was the next thing my neighbor heard, and here comes the first and biggest fuck up for a Lagosian “brother thief, please I don't have any kobo at home to offer, I so beg for pardon, you know all fingers are not equal” since then my neighbor's finger had never been unequal, after they equalized them with the help of a “Lebe” sword

A typical lagos conductor calling one chance !

ONE CHANCE...

I could clearly remember, it was just around 7pm, we all looking horribly tired at the bus stop, finally here comes a bus calling my destination, adding “one chance' to the phrase, quickly i jumped in, as usual, I always find my way in during rush hours like this, the driver turn up the music, the conducter slammed the door, and we were all feeling high, all of a sudden i received an impromptu slap, from behind to get me intimidated “this can't be free of charge”, I quickly understood. At first, I thought it was a dream as the sun, the moon and the stars were at a time closer to my neck side, so what's next, 
i heard this heavy voice repeatedly reciting “your phone, your money” “don't look up” “your phone, your money” all that were accompanied with rain of smacks, I gave it all unconsciously, as quickly as my reflex can go, i was thrown out of the bus before i begin to get myself on axis it all happened in seconds, too soon to recollect what really happened, with immediate effect it became past tense, meaning “when actually did it happened?”

Underneath 3rd Mainland Bridge

THIRD MAINLAND BRIDGE...

This was a beautiful Monday morning, on 3rd mainland bridge, heading to the island, although the “go slow” condition of Lagos is nothing new, "go slow" a complete paradox of the Lagos life, every single moment is a "rush hour" but today was an exception, because i was on okada, i was able to see the cause.
- A molue had fell on its driver's side trust me “what happened, wetin happen” curiously i queried, here, an eye witness narrates...

“Na the reckless diving driver o, thank God nobody die, hmm if no be the hanging conductor wey fall for lagoon, forgetting say one of him leg dey on top bridge, the problem now be say, na how him go take swim commot for lagoon?” Hey ya.


THE RITE WAS FORETOLD BY THE TRIBALIST...

“these cannibals are hungry for human flesh, these vampires are thirsty for human blood".

This period was around 2000/2002, just after those soldier crooks changed uniform. The location was around “Idi Araba” the orthodox abbreviation in charge then wasn't the COP, but the OPC, quite similar to PDP. The setting was just after sunset, I was walking home, with a head full of pessimistic thoughts, after a long day of rehearsals, suddenly I saw a few able bodied youth, obviously they represent a particular tribe's flags and ideals, it was in a total euphoric determination they ran after this other guy of other flags, with arm in arms; cutlasses, swords, injurious batons and the remains of broken bottles, running anxiously to get him off feet, they misses their prey as they give each stroke, me running after them with a bit distance, but kept my eyes on them wanting and willing to see the end, they were really determined, I mean they mean business, as we say in Lagos.
I swear, Not even God can come stop these guys... The poor young man was hurriedly praying and begging for intervention, but who could? He was really determined to survive as well. Alas, they got him and he fell.

with the speed at which he was massacred, I immediately confirmed my thoughts, “these cannibals are hungry for human flesh, these vampires are thirsty for human blood”, and there was a real feast, series of beating! hitting! stabbing! and cutting! I saw what brutality really means beyond what dictionary can explain, a spasmodic savage violence that is very parallel and directly opposite, to the prolonged involuntary muscular contraction experienced before ejaculation,
so immediately I got it, that these guys will never let go until they ejaculate.
Finally, we all confirm the young man was dead, furthermore these guys will not forgive his dead body, they still needed to clean up their spasm, they poured petrol on him, still I wait to see the end so I could be an eye witness, to have the story to tell as it happened without fallacy, they stroke a match and threw it on the remains, ohh good God. Surprisingly, the body we all thought was dead stood up, struggling to flee with flames, ahhh how funny and sad, he died while on his feet, with posture of calved piece of burning art, then now, I couldn't wait to look any further, it is unbearable how fellow human suffers to death. 

Few years later, I understood that, all those moments in Lagos could not have been but chaotic, it was what the rite called for. I am glad those moment came and pass, leaving us stronger and wiser.
Now my friends, hope you get the moral of the narration. If you were fortunate to be born, lived and survived those remarkable moments, for at least two decades of your life In L A G O S, then everywhere you go, it will remain with you, and no one can fuck with you, for LAGOS alone is a moving feast that refines you and gets you ready for any tribulation! I mean NO SHAKING ! 

Which more of the reason why till today, every morning in Lagos, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle... in Lagos, when the sun comes up, you'd better be speak to your feet.

(c) Qudus Onikeku. 

Abeokuta

the modern Olumo rock where nature’s sound 

still give our rhythms,

I have known anger, I have dined with pain, being a minority is not when your vote is not up to that of your opponent, back home in Abeokuta, we are fun people, follow me to see the mighty Olumo where the nature’s sound gives our rhythm, underneath Olumo, there you will find our shelter when the tyrant comes with their tyranny, the people of Abeokuta are known for their brevity and courage, yet this is what the world holds against us, they say we are violent, they say we are aggressive, they even say we are not peace lovers, oh friendly stranger no man will allow the thing that knocked off his teeth to blind his eyes, Come rejoice with me, my life is fun.

I’m not proud to be black,
I am fortunate to be black

I have a reason to be joyful each morning my neighbor screams E K A A R O ! From his window. friendly stranger, i know you come from a world of haters but bother not, we won’t strangle you, we love strangers. If not for the presence of fools, all discussion will be done in proverbs, 
it doesn't tend to bother us though, for we know that whenever a vulture is absent in a feast of animal carcasses, it must be due to a very important engagement elsewhere, for as long as our eggs continue to break the palm kernel, the stone will continue to feel threatened. Come and see how fun our life is. 

My father gave life to 13 of us, my father is a wise man, the nose doesn’t perceive its own odur you know!, and one doesn’t pick his eyes the way he picks his teeth. 2 are over the seas, hoping to come back with the profits of the seas one day. 1 is a footballer, his ultimate dream is to play in the Super Eagles, he plays so good but often comes back sad, After attending the national team’s selection and blames it on my father, for not knowing so much people from the elite, my father keeps reciting the same lyrics to him “hens don’t attend a marriage where the fox is the master of ceremony” only God knows what it signifies, cos my brother will not give up.

2 are interested in politics and I believe they will make it to the top,already they are becoming celebrities, cos anytime there is a political rally or manifestation, they are mostly in the front roll and we see them on TV while the camera walk-pass them, I’m proud of them ‘cos I also have an ambition. 2 are top shoemakers in Lagos, but they prefer we refer to them as shoe designers, i don't know what the difference is. 1 a hair-dresser, and since she made hair for a popular actress she changed her job to make up artist just like that. 2 are working for the state people, we don’t really get so much along‘cos state people make me uncomfortable after locking up mumsi’s shop, after she had paid to settle those that claimed to come from the state office one week before, and also the state refused to pay popsi’s pension. i have an allergy for the state people and i know that their leopard will not change their spot.

Anyway our life is fun, 2 are still in school, One in the state university and the other still in the local high school, while I just choose to be among those who uses their body for the manifestation of Art and join words to sum up to a meaning. Friendly stranger my father swore to me that if he had had the power, he’d have had more children then he would have been more respected in the society, and meet more people in the elite class that could save our lives today, so that we will be able to touch all works of life. My father really had a dream for Africa, he wanted us all to grow up to be useful for Nigeria, but he knew he may not be able to do it all, so he decided to have more, to build a legacy with which at least good number of us will follow.

I am glad my father had 13 of us, if he hadn’t done that, maybe I will never had had the opportunity of being in this world with you, cos I am the 12th child. As you can see my humble stranger, my father is a successful man ‘cos our life is now fun, apart from those two over the seas, the moment when death begins to take away a person’s age group members, is it not a forewarning for him to get ready for death, anyway we contribute money to send to them monthly, they complain of too much tax, that even to catch fishes in the seas, they pay a tax of crabs and let some of the fishes go back to the seas for reproduction I guess, I wonder how they survive.

Abeokuta my father land.

Then i understood that what the goat has seen and keeps quiet, the dog sees and bark, because my father warned them, If you think that the livelihood of Abeokuta your home Is not comfortable enough because you want to feel like Robin Hood, good, just get an agent, sell your home and move to Hollywood, then you will be done with, when you find out that, even the hoods in the neighborhood of Hollywood are willing to pay any price with all goodwill just to see Olumo rock.