Human Rights Watch denounces the pressure on Nigeria’s leading anti-corruption activist, Nuhu Ribadu. Since being fired from the government, Ribadu has been subject to harassment, threats and a drive-by shooting. Meanwhile his replacement at his former watchdog agency is busy sacking his best investigators.
Nigeria’s leading anti-corruption campaigner has in recent weeks been subject to an escalating campaign of harassment, threats, and an apparent attempt on his life, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the Nigerian government to protect the campaigner, Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In an interview with Human Rights Watch in Nigeria, Ribadu, a long-serving police official, said he feared for his life and believed the threats against him – including shots fired at him in late September and telephoned death threats – were linked to his work at the EFCC. “I fear for my life,” Ribadu told Human Rights Watch. “I have made a lot of enemies.” He was removed from his position in December 2007 after the commission arrested and indicted on corruption charges a powerful politician who was known to be close to the president.
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— Jonathan Eyler-Werve
