A former member of the Police Service Commission, Alhaji Rufai Muhammed, has exonerated the commission from the controversial promotion and demotion of the immediate past chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. Muhammed, who was a member of the commission when Ribadu was promoted, blamed a former Inspector-General of Police,
Mr. Sunday Ehindero, for overriding the decision of the commission, a body saddled with the responsibility of approving the promotion and discipline of senior police officers.
He spoke in an interview with our correspondent in Minna, Niger State capital on Tuesday.
He said, “Ehindero refused to follow the orders of the police service commission. When he brought the memo for Ribadu’s promotion to a commissioner of police, we approved it and six months later, he brought another that he should be elevated to the position of an AIG; we refused because it was wrong.
“He snubbed us and went to then President Olusegun Obasanjo with the memo. Obasanjo directed him back to the PSC and following our refusal, the then IG went ahead to approve the promotion himself.
“So, he should be blamed and held responsible for whatever controversy there is over the promotion.”
On why the commission could not take any punitive action against Ehindero for the action, Muhammed said that it was beyond the power of the commission to discipline the IG.
He lauded the Federal Government’s efforts on the anti-corruption war and observed that there was the need for the nation to review the anti-corruption crusade.
He observed that the EFCC, ICPC and Code of Conduct Bureau were instruments of law, adding that what the nation needed was a practical fight against corruption.
He said there was the need to redefine democracy and strengthen security nationwide.
Muhammed urged the government to ask the National Assembly to prescribe capital punishment for corrupt public office-holders, smugglers and perpetrators of Advance Fee Fraud (419).
Efforts to obtain a reaction from Ehindero failed as he did not respond to calls to his mobile phone or an SMS.