RIBADU: FEARLESS AND OUTSPOKEN
When Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was appointed chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), many Nigerians said that he had reached the peak of his career. At that time, he had put in 18 years in the police, where he eventually rose to the post of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG).
While he served as the anti-corruption czar, Ribadu took the task of cleansing the Augean stable seriously.
For him, all those who put their hands to the till illegally must be brought to book. In doing this, he combed the banks, government offices, and the private sector. And he did record some high profile successes. One his big cases was that the nailing of former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, who was convicted, jailed and made to return £150 million under a plea bargain.
Prior to his appointment as the chairman of EFCC, Ribadu served as key operational officer in the General Investigation Department and the Force Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigerian Police. He was also a member of the highly commended Failed Banks Tribunal that sanitised the rottenness in the Nigerian banking sector of the late 1980s. He helped pioneer the setting up of the Legal and Prosecutions Department of the Nigerian Police, a unit that served as think tank and policy nerve centre of the police.
Ribadu has been a recipient of several awards, as a police officer, prosecutor and EFCC chairman. He received the Inspector General of Police awards in 1997, 1998 and 2000 and the Special Commendation of Mr. President in 2005, for the successful prosecution of several advance fee fraud, banking fraud and sundry economic crime cases. He was also specially commended by the Accountant General of the Federation for successfully prosecuting some corrupt public servants in 1999.
On April 15, 2008, Nuhu Ribadu received the World Bank's 2008 Jit Gill Memorial Award for Outstanding Public Service, for having led a courageous anti-corruption drive in Nigeria. He was a key member of the Economic Management Team, from 2003 to 2008, that initiated and drove the public sector reforms, which laid the foundations for the socio-economic rejuvenation of Nigeria. Along side this responsibility, he also served as a member of the Presidential Committee on Trade Malpractices, the National Joint Intelligence Board, the National Committee on Public Service Reforms and the National Cybercrime Working Group.
Ribadu read Law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Thereafter, he attended the Nigerian Law School. In 2008, he was at the Harvard Business School, where he did a programme in the strategic management of law enforcement agencies. In June 2010, Ribadu was awarded the Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) by Babcock University, Ogun State, in recognition of his 'loyal breeding', 'lofty aim' and 'resolute courage' as well as his 'fierce stance against corruption in the face of sponsored disgrace and certain death that has resulted into positive changes and global acclaim hitherto considered impossible.' Until recently, Ribadu was a senior fellow of the St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, as well as a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development, Washington, DC.
Some of the attributes of Ribadu are fearlessness, boldness and outspokenness.