Ribadu's lawyers react to warrant of arrest

By Ruona Agbroko November 21, 2009

Lawyers to Nuhu Ribadu [pictured] have voiced their disapproval of a decision by the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Friday, requesting the Inspector General of Police to issue a warrant of arrest to compel the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to appear before it.

“This situation shows that the tribunal members have failed to appreciate the facts of the case before them,” Shola Egbeyinka, one of Mr. Ribadu’s lawyers told NEXT in a telephone interview on Friday evening.

The chairman of the tribunal is Justice Constance Momoh, while Murtala Sanni Adebayor and P.A.O. Oluyede are members.

In February 2009, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa filed case number CCT/ABJ/01/2009, accusing Mr. Ribadu of not declaring his assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau while in office from March, 2003 to December, 2008.

But Mr. Egbeyinka said not only had his client submitted these forms as at when due, but a formal request for the certified copies of the asset declaration forms had been made to the Code of Conduct Bureau twice through its counsel, with no results.

“We wrote two letters on September 23rd which was signed by Mr. Femi Falana and a reminder on the 5th of October requesting for the certified true copies,” he said.

Mr. Egbeyinka said that the prosecution confirmed this at Friday’s hearing before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

“Prosecution counsel Kyari Ahmed admitted that he received the letters but he was so busy that he could not attend to that.”

He added that the documents played a key role in proving Mr. Ribadu’s case, especially as the matter was assuming new dimensions.

“As it is now, it is an unfortunate situation because you cannot enforce the warrant of arrest outside the country. This will now involve other nations, and extradition processes as well,” Mr. Egbeyinka said.

*Photograph by NEXT