Couple of
days ago the erstwhile chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, dumped the All
Progressives Congress [APC] and joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Ribadu’s exit from APC was surprising to many who had viwed him as a man with
principles and untainted character. Moreover, Ribadu was the presidential
candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which is the
mothership of APC, in 2011.
Ribadu’s shameful defection to the Peoples Democratic
Party epitomizes the unprincipled character of Nigerian politicians, whose
actions are whimsically guided by greed and selfish interests.
Ribadu had acerbically
castigated the PDP for so long that many would have heart attack at the news of
his defection to the same party he has referred to as party of rogues and
corrupt individuals.
His
recent is however not surprising to close observers of Ribadu, who have seen
him on several occasions swallowed or denied his words.
In the height of his career as the boss
of the EFCC, Ribadu went after corrupt politicians mostly Olusegun Obasanjo’s
perceived enemies. Among those was the former governor of Lagos State and
current national leader of the All progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed
Tinubu. Ribadu as anti-corruption boss openly indicted Tinubu on several
occasions before Nigerians as being very corrupt. Before the Senate on September 27, 2006, Ribadu
described Bola Tinubu as a very corrupt man, whose corruption has international
dimension. Also
while speaking to correspondents at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos
February 17, 2007, Ribadu was reported to have said, “Tinubu and the rest (Tinubu,
Ibrahim Shekarau, and Orji Kalu) should consider themselves very lucky. . .they
ought to have been where Dariye, Fayose, and Alemieyeseigha are today. They
cannot escape. It is a matter of time. They have the protection of the law.
They enjoy immunity. We are after them because they still want to rule us
again. The constitution is against indicted people. After their tenure, they
will be prosecuted. They remain indicted and are not fit to hold public
positions.”
In 2011 while contesting for the
presidential position under the platform of ACN, Ribadu was questioned on why
he was romancing and accepting funds
from corrupt politicians such as Bola Tinubu who he ones described as the among
the corrupt individuals in Nigeria. He promptly denied ever making such
comments.
Although the self
righteous Ribadu like to spread the unfounded myth of his prowess in
checkmating corruption while in office, emerging facts after he left office indicate
that Ribadu had not been very effective at checkmating corruption in the
country as is widely believed. While he made some success with checkmating
Advance Fee Fraud, Ribadu’s only biggest political conviction was that of Tafa
Balogun, the former Inspector General of Police. Even with this case, he was
only able to secure a six months conviction and bulk of the corrupt proceeds were
left untouched. This is more or less a slap on the hand, which had no sting of
deterrent to it whatsoever. Ribadu tarnished the image of the EFCC as an
independent and impartial anti corruption unit, when he went after only perceived
political opponents of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who appointed him.
The EFCC disqualification list which attempted to bar about 54 political
enemies of Obasanjo from contesting the 2007 election is a classical example of
the selective and intimidating stance of EFFC under Ribadu. While Ribadu
ferociously went after perceived Obasanjo’s enemies, he was assiduously
exonerating the friends and allies of Obasanjo. An example at hand was the case
of Bode George, who after being exonerated by the Ribadu, was later convicted
and jailed for two years for corrupt practices while he (Bode George) headed
the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) board. Ribadu had told a Nigerian
Magazine (The News) that George was not complicit with rot and corrupt
practices that rocked the NPA, as according to him “Olabode George was never an
executive officer of NPA. He was a part time chairman. It is the executive
Managing Director who runs the place; it was the MD’s name that appeared in all
the contract papers of NPA. Olabode George was a part-time chairman whose name
was never on any contract paper.”
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