According to the end of tenure asset declaration document which was declared before Abubakar S. Umar, a Justice of the High Court of Justice in Abuja on 26 November, 2008, Mr. Ribadu lost N1.357 million worth of assets during his five-year tenure as chairman of EFCC.
The documents, which were admitted by a three-man panel of the Code of Conduct Tribunal led by Justice Constance Momoh in December 2009, show that Mr. Ribadu was worth N27.94 million by March 2002, before he became the EFCC chairman.
For public scrutiny
Details of the document show that before Mr. Ribadu became the EFCC chair, he had 187 cows valued at N7.5 million, a residential quarters in Yola worth N4.5 million, and a N10 million land in Abuja. He also had a Honda Accord car valued at N2 million, a Honda CRV valued at N2.3 million and N1.6 million and £200 cash in two local banks and a London bank respectively.
The end of tenure asset declaration by Mr. Ribadu shows that while he was leaving EFCC in 2008, he had $8,064 in two local banks, sourced from his allowances, a plot of land at Katampe Hills in Abuja valued at N2 million, a residential quarters in Yola valued at N5 million, and a N200,000 home furniture. He also had a N2.3 million Honda Accord car bought in 2006...
He, however, lost 67 cows and was left with 120 cows valued at N5 million.
Mr. Ribadu, who was finally relieved of his duty as chairman of EFCC, was prosecuted half way by the late Umaru Musa Yar'Adua-led government at the Code of Conduct Tribunal over allegations that he did not declare his assets before taking up the EFCC job.
In late 2008, he went on a self-imposed exile after alleging threats to his life, but the case against him was dropped at the Code of Conduct Tribunal by the federal government after the death of Mr. Yar'Adua and the subsequent removal of Michael Aondoakaa as the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice.
Adetokunbo Kayode, who took over the Justice ministry from Mr. Aaondoaka, had before the dissolution of the cabinet by President Goodluck Jonathan, reviewed the case against Mr. Ribadu and directed that the case should be withdrawn. He later filed a Nolle Prosequi to discontinue the case.
A case of vendetta
Mr. Ribadu, who confirmed the validity of the documents, described the case the government had against him as vendetta by the Yar'Adua administration, which was filled with men he had put up for prosecution while he was in office as EFCC chairman.
He said that although the Goodluck Jonathan's administration withdrew the case and made it easy for him to return to the country, he would have preferred a logical conclusion of the case.
"My lawyers already filed that the case be struck out following the admission of my 2002 asset declaration forms by the Justice Constance Momoh-led panel in December 2009," he said.
The return of Mr. Ribadu and others who went into exile was one of the achievements listed by President Jonathan as one of the tangible achievements of his administration.
On his Facebook page on Christmas Eve the president wrote:
"Last Christmas, several exiles such as Nuhu Ribadu and Nasir El-Rufai, etc., spent Christmas away from their friends and families. But this Christmas, they have the liberty to be with their friends and families in Nigeria. Plus, there are NO Nigerian political exiles outside Nigeria this Christmas."
