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Ribadu
Withdraws Suit Against EFCC Over His Invitation
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja last week struck
out a suit by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu seeking to stop the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from
arresting or compelling him to appear before the
incumbent Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mrs Waziri
Farida for the purpose of shedding light on some alleged
fundamental issues.
The decision of the court follows the discontinuance of
the case by Ribadu.
He said the suit was already overtaken by events, having
voluntarily appeared before the commission.
Ribadu was the immediate past Chairman of EFCC until
January this year when he was directed by the
Inspector-General of Police to proceed to the National
Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in
Kuru, Plateau State on a developmental course.
He said going ahead with the case would amount to
wasting the time of the court.
Mr Hammed Uwais represented Ribadu in court yesterday
while Mr Festus Keyamo represented EFCC.
Mr Anthony Abdulmalik who represented the Office of the
Attorney-General of the Federation attempted to object
to the withdrawal of the suit yesterday but the trial
Chief Judge of the Federal high court chided him.
Ribadu had earlier lost his bid to procure an interim
order stopping EFCC from arresting him.
But the trial high court judge, Justice Abdullahi
Mustapha, who, turned down his request, however said
that in the event he was arrested and detained for more
than 48 hours allowed by the constitution, he said he
should not hesitate to come before him for enforcement
of his fundamental human rights against the anti-graft
agency.
Mustapha J. also promised that he would move timeously
in his favour should he bring such application.
He however gave Ribadu the green-light to sue EFCC to
enforce his fundamental human rights.
But the judge added that if he felt strongly that his
fundamental human rights were being threatened, he said
he should come by a way of motion on notice in order to
allow EFCC to make inputs into why he should restrain or
not restrain the anti-graft agency.
Justice Mustapha is the Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court of Nigeria .
He came from Lagos to sit on the application perhaps
because of its sensitive nature.
The background of the case was that the
Inspector-General of Police had on November 1, this
year, forwarded a letter dated October 23, 2008 written
by EFCC to Mr Nuhu Ribadu.
The said letter invited Ribadu to appear at the office
of the EFCC on November 14, 2008 to clarify on what the
EFCC called 'some fundamental issues' arising from his
exit from the agency.
Vanguard recalls that shortly before Ribadu was forced
out of office under the guise of attending a course at
Kuru, he had disclosed that of the various state
governors that served in the country between 1999 and
2007, he had said that his commission had established a
prima facie case of corruption against 31 of them.
He had vaunted that he would prosecute all of them.
But not quite long after the EFCC new Chairman, Farida
Waziri, resumed office, she had said that she did not
inherit any case-file on 31 corrupt ex-governors from Mr
Ribadu.
The comment had made many Nigerians to criticize Farida
Waziri as an EFCC boss that was installed to shield
corrupt ex-governors and the incumbent from prosecution.
The development had made Waziri to challenge Ribadu to
confirm to the world if indeed there were case-files on
31 corrupt ex-governors.
One Ibrahim Magu, a Chief Superintendent of Police who
worked under Ribadu and was seized of relevant facts
about case-files in the commission was invited by EFCC,
perhaps over the matter.
Upon honouring the invitation, Magu was arrested and
detained for over two weeks.
When a letter of invitation similar to Magu's was
extended to Ribadu, he feared it was a trap by EFCC to
arrest and detain him with a view to embarrassing him.
He therefore did not honour the invitation.
Rather, he sent a letter to the EFCC asking it to
explain the nature of the information needed from him to
enable him prepare or and decide whether or not to
honour its invitation.
Upon the failure by EFCC to respond to his letter, he
believed the anti-graft agency would arrange his arrest
in order to compel him to honour the invitation.
He consequently briefed his lawyer, Mr Tayo Oyetibo
(SAN) to approach the high court for leave to enforce
his fundamental human rights.
He also asked the court to allow the leave operate as a
stay on all actions and matters whatsoever arising from,
relating to or connected with his invitation to the
EFCC's office pending determination of the motion on
notice.
But his request to stop the EFCC from arresting him was
turned down.
He however withdrew the entire case from court last
week.
N64b
Oil Cash: Presidency Demands List Of Marketers
Some stakeholders in the petroleum sector have initiated
moves to avert the trial of some officials of the
Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)
for alleged mismanagement of N64 billion oil subsidy.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has
submitted a report on its investigations of the scandal
to President Umaru Yar'Adua.
The commission recommended the trial of some principal
officers of the PPPRA where the alleged fraud was
uncovered, after establishing that the Petroleum Support
Fund (PSF) was not well managed by the PPPRA.
As part of its findings, the anti-graft commission also
discovered that the PPPRA spent N856billion on petroleum
subsidy between 2006 and 2008, instead of the
N550billion approved by the government.
But some stakeholders, including senators, are claiming
that the Presidency is being misinformed about the
situation in the agency.
According to investigations, President Umaru Yar'Adua is
under pressure to have a rethink of the issue because of
the alleged plot by a cartel and an ex-governor to
hijack the PPPRA.
It was learnt that the cartel being co-ordinated by a
major marketer and the ex-governor, had vowed to deal
with the suspended Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Dr.
Oluwole Oluleye, and other officials for resisting
underhand deals in the management of the Petroleum
Support Fund (PSF).
Although the PSF Scheme was introduced by ex-President
Olusegun Obasanjo in his independence anniversary speech
in 2005, the drawing of the subsidy began in 2006.
A document obtained from the Presidency showed the
subsidy profile as follows: N261.10billion (2006);
N278.86billion (2007) and N346.731billion (as at July
2008).
A source said: "We have shifted the battle to The
Presidency because the PPPRA Executive Secretary and his
officials did not have any direct link with the funds
set aside for oil subsidy.
"As a matter of fact, the oil subsidy is lodged in an
account with the Central Bank of Nigeria. The PPPRA does
not grant payment approval per se as that power resides
with the President.
"Oluleye and others are victims of politics between
marketers with branded and retail outlets and those with
unbranded outlets. An influential marketer and his
co-majors wanted marketers without branded outlets
excluded from the PSF Scheme.
"The embattled Executive Secretary insisted that if the
PPPRA excluded those without branded outlets, there will
be shortage of products nationwide because those with
branded and retail outlets will take the nation for a
ride. Oluleye said we cannot go back to the era of fuel
scarcity. But because these forces are interested in
monopoly of products, they threatened to deal with him
and other officials.
"In terms of spread of distribution outlets and products
consumption across the country, over 6,000 outlets
representing 62.13% of the 10,166 in the country are in
the Southern region, while about 4,000 outlets
representing 37.87% are in the Northern region. This
translates to a consumption pattern of 61% for the South
and 39% for the North.
"The ownership pattern, however, shows that of the over
10,000 outlets in the country, the six Majors
collectively control over 2000 branded outlets, out of
which only 783 are in the North. Independent Marketers
operate over 7,000 unbranded outlets, with over 3,000 of
those in the North.
"Consequently, it is important to note that the
marketers who own retail outlets that are unbranded
supply over 7,000 independent outlets spread across the
country, thus, guaranteeing effective products
distribution."
In one of the memos to Yar'Adua, it was alleged that
certain forces in the oil industry are desperate to
monopolise the market.
Part of the memo reads: "We wish to conclude by bringing
to the attention of His Excellency, some of the
challenges being encountered by the Agency in the course
of implementing the PSF Scheme.
"These challenges come in the form of mounting pressures
from certain forces in the industry that are bent on
monopolising the market" at the expense of other
competitors and the consumers, whom the government is
protecting through the PSF Scheme.
"These forces have severally mounted pressure on the
PPPRA to exclude the Independent Group of Marketers from
participation in the PSF Scheme.
"This, the agency feels, runs contrary to the spirit of
'free enterprise and free exit into the market.' More
so, the agency has the mandate of preventing
monopolistic and anti-competitive practices that are
detrimental to the growth, and effective and efficient
operation of the downstream sector.
"The President should ask how an unsigned petition was
smuggled into his office leading to the ongoing
investigations by the EFCC."
Some of the stakeholders also alleged that the EFCC had
in its Interim Report cleared Oluleye and others of any
blame in the management of the PSF.
"We believe that there is a mischief behind this fresh
plot to arraign these officials in court," the source
added.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that the President might be
seeking independent information on the controversy in
the PPPRA, following a contrary brief on the situation
in the agency.
In a memo from the Presidency, the agency was directed
to submit the list of major and independent marketers
that are "eligible to participate in the PSF Scheme in
accordance with extant guidelines."
It could not be immediately ascertained why the
President sought independent opinion on the issue
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