20100605
Reuters

Nigeria's respected former anti-corruption chief Nuhu Ribadu returned home on Friday after more than a year in voluntary exile, two months after a legal case accusing him of not declaring assets was dropped.

Ribadu won international praise for his arrests of suspects and seizure of assets as the first chief of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but also made enemies for pursuing cases against powerful politicians.

He was fired in late 2007 soon after late President Umaru Yar'Adua took power. He fled Nigeria for Britain and the United States in January 2009, saying his life was in danger.

Local television showed pictures of Ribadu, shielded from journalists by police and plain clothes security officers, getting into a car shortly after landing in Nigeria.

Ribadu told Reuters in April he was ready to return home and would be willing to serve in public office under President Goodluck Jonathan, who was sworn in a month ago after the death of Yar'Adua.

Endemic corruption in Africa's most populous nation is a disincentive to foreign investors, who see it as an indicator of inefficient public spending and a major brake on economic growth. Jonathan has made tackling corruption a priority.