All About Mallam Nuru Ribadu

The former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who went to court early this year to challenge his last December dismissal from the police, got a hefty approval Friday July 3 in the Abuja Federal High Court of Justice Mustapha Abdullahi that he is on the right track.

Justice Abdullahi held that the law requiring serving officers to first seek and secure the consent of the Police high command before suing their bosses negated the principles of natural justice. Any officer who wished to sue the Inspector General of Police has the right to do so the judge declared in his ruling.

Ribadu faced a number of huddles going into the case: his decision to drag the Police Service Commission (PSC), the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), and the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa (SAN) before the court challenging his dismissal from the force was contrary to the stipulations of the Police Act which states that an aggrieved officers must give a month notice before they could institute legal action against the authority. The police had also raised a preliminary objection to Ribadu's suit insisting that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case in the first place.

However, among the three issues addressed by the judge, he resolved two in favour of Ribadu and one in favour of the defendants.

To Ribadu's favor, the judge ruled that Ribadu had the locus standi to institute the action against the police; and that the expectation that Ribadu sought permission of the police authority before instituting the suit was illogical since he would be seeking permission from the same person who wronged him in the first place.

Since the police authorities, in challenging Ribadu, had argued that the former EFCC boss, by the action he filed was an abuse of court process, the judge also ruled that this was not true. Ribadu's actions were true and proper to the traditions of the court, said the Judge.

But it was not a straight walk over for Ribadu, as the court ruled against the procedure he adopted in filing the suit. In the judge's views, he should have filed the suit by way of writ of summons instead of the originating summon he adopted.

Justice Abdullahi, in his ruling said it was wrong for Ribadu to have approached it by a way of originating summon as it was also wrong for the police to ask that the case be struck out. He ordered that the proceeding be converted to writ of summon and asked the Ribadu's lawyer to file the writ of summon within 7 days. The case was adjourned till July 27.