Tag Archives: Nuhu Ribadu

“Ribadu’s Excesses, Not Me, Removed Him From Office” – James Ibori

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Chief James Onanefe Ibori has asked journalists to stop maligning him almost on daily basis. Ibori made this in a statement of Sunday signed Tony Eluemunor, Head of Ibori’s Media Office.

He said that Ibori has particularly condemned the bare-faced lies, that some journalists and news organizations, have continued to heap against him.

What makes it galling is that the matter under contention was the Department of State Security’s report that stopped the Senate from confirming Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and did not warrant the dragging in of Ibori’s name at all.

Yet, the online publication went wild all the same, making baseless accusations against Ibori, though it had said it was checking the facts in DSS’ allegations.

Specifically, on “ALLEGATION ONE: That during the tenure of Farida Waziri as EFCC chairperson, sensitive documents were found in Mr. Magu’s home”, the online newspaper wrote: “The facts do not support that claim. A reporter for this newspaper extensively reported that event in 2008 when it happened, and is familiar with what transpired at the time”.
Chief James Onanefe Ibori

Ibori is not concerned with the fact that the publication chose not to cross-check the facts but rested on answers a journalist got almost a decade ago, and he did not say how he acquired that information, no, that is left with readers to worry about. What Ibori finds irresponsible is what follows:

“Based on pressure from political gladiators of the period (among which were former Governors James Ibori and Bukola Saraki), then President Musa Yar’Adua unceremoniously removed Nuhu Ribadu as chairman of the EFCC”.

Mr. Nasir el-Rufai has exposed this claim as a terrible lie. In his book, The Accidental Public Servant”, he stated the source of the trouble he and Ribadu had with the late President Umar Yar’Adua. On page 358, in a section entitled “Umaru Asks Nuhu for Support: the Beginning of Our Trouble” he wrote that Ribadu was so maddened that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had favoured Yar’Adua above Nasir-el-Rufai to succeed him as President in 2007 that he told Yar’Adua to his face:” Well, Obasanjo has not told me, and as far as the presidency is concerned, I have my candidate for president, and that is El-Rufai.

El-Rufai continued on page 359: “It took sometime before Nuhu figured out Obasanjo’s games and what was really happening. Nuhu’s instinctive reaction was that of a typical policeman – dust of EFCC’s files and comb for petitions against Umaru. Nuhu did not realize it at that time, but he was the one in trouble not Obasanjo or Umaru. He dusted off all the files against Umaru and launched investigations. He was clearly trying to take Yar’Adua out of the race and narrow all options to zero except for El-Rufai”

Ibori continued: “It is clear that from El-Rufai’s that there was no way a clear-headed Yar-Adua would have appointed a power-drunken Ribadu, who had unjustly arrested some Katsina state’s LGA chairmen just to demonise Yar’Adua to remain as EFCC Chairman – to continue to arrest people unjustly, play politics with his office and hypocritically claim to be fighting corruption when he was neck deep in the worst corruption – maligning others just because of politics.

So, Ibori has advised Nigerian journalists to try and give Nigerians a decent picture of events because the nation’s future would rest on that.

In another Development, Ibori has called on his well-wishers to disregard reports about when he will return to Nigeria. A newspaper wrote at the weekend: “Ibori would on December 23 arrive in a chartered jet via Heathrow Airport, London to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, where family members, friends and close associates are expected to receive him in a red carpet reception before jetting to Osubi Airstrips, near Warri, from where his convoy would take off for his Oghara hometown for another grand reception”.

Ibori has asked the public to disregard such wrong information. An earlier report had said Ibori would return on an Arik Air flight. When the time comes any important information will be made available to the public and nothing would be left for conjecture.

Many Nigerian investments done with dirty money –Ribadu

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Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, on Wednesday alleged that a lot of investments being done in the country were from funds earned through illegal activities.

He also identified illicit financial activities such as terrorism financing and money laundering as a major challenge affecting the country’s quest for development.

Ribadu spoke in Abuja at the 2nd Anti-money laundering/combating financial terrorism stakeholders’ consultative workshop organised by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.

He said Nigeria had yet to maximise its potential owing to terrorism financing and other money laundering activities, noting that the trend was making the country to lose huge funds.

He said. “Everything that is wrong about Nigeria has to do with dirty money. If you can follow it, get it back and punish these people, then you have cured the problem of Nigeria.

“When I look around, I see a lot of investments done with dirty money. Government needs help in identifying and arresting these people. Though it may seem like a daunting task, with professionals like ACAMS, Nigeria is poised to achieve this.”

Ribadu said there was a need for collaboration between relevant stakeholders to fight money laundering and curb terrorism financing.

He called for the building of a strong anti-graft institution to spearhead the fight against money laundering, adding that the restructuring of the banking sector had helped to restore confidence in the Nigerian economy.

He said, “In 2003, Nigeria was on the blacklist of most developed countries especially the US for money laundering.”

Source : Punch

Why Nuhu Ribadu Lost Adamawa Governorship Election, By Zayyad Muhammad

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All the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party who lost in the just-concluded 2015 general elections, especially in the northern part of the country, lost because of same factors regardless of their states. These factors include President Goodluck Jonathan’s extreme unpopularity in the north, Muhammadu Buhari’s cult-like followers in the region, and the fact that most Nigerians were angry with the PDP because of certain reasons, especially its failure to combat insurgency that has devastated the North-eastern part of the country with the attendant socio-economic effects being felt throughout the North. In fact, in some parts of Nigeria, including Adamawa State, the PDP was overwhelmingly rejected that anybody the All Progressives Congress presented was voted for.

Apart from the above generic factors that affected Nuhu Ribadu’s fortunes in the Adamawa governorship race, there are other factors which were peculiar to his ambition. Ethnicity, religion and money politics are deeply rooted in Adamawa politics and often shape the voting pattern in the state.

The Adamawa 2015 governorship election was characterised by deep religious sentiment. For instance, the Social Democratic Party governorship candidate, Markus Gundiri ran his campaign largely on the platform of faith – banking on only Christian votes. Mr. Gundiri’s envisaged that since there were three Muslim-Hausa-Fulani candidates running on the platforms of the APC, PDP and PDM, he would carry the day. Mr. Gundiri’s adventure affected Ribadu’s chances: most of the PDP strongholds gave their votes to him. In fact, Mr. Gundiri’s candidacy was a product of anger with the PDP for failing to allow the candidacy of a Christian. There were speculations that Governor Bala Ngilari supported the SDP instead of his party, the PDP.

The second issue that affected Mr. Ribadu’s chances was the SDP campaign style which forced the Muslim Hausa-Fulani to follow the path and direction of their cousins in the northwest- the famous APC SAK. Thirdly, Mr. Buhari has a special relationship with Adamawa people- his wife is from Adamawa state. In fact, Mr. Buhari’s voice was aired on some radio stations in most states in the north asking people not to disgrace him and his party, the APC. That singular statement was very instrumental in denying Mr. Ribadu huge number of votes especially from the Hausa-Fulani dominated areas.

The internal crisis within the PDP was also a disaster to the former EFCC chairman’s ambition. The crisis in the PDP was not settled up to the time of elections, the aggrieved were not fully integrated into the party.

The Atiku Abubakar factor in Adamawa politics was also an another albatross for Mr. Ribadu. At the tail end of the governorship campaign, Atiku became very determined to deliver his state to the APC. That affected Mr. Ribadu in the southern part of Adamawa, especially in the Chamba chiefdom.

The Adamawa governorship election results have some far reaching political implications on the state’s polity. There are losers and winners. Former governor Murtala Nyako is a winner- most of his political associates won elective posts, while all of his political foes suffered defeat. Atiku Abubakar is another winner- he has rekindled his hitherto strong political structure and kingmaker position in Adamawa. The Governor-elect, Mohammed Jibril Bindawa is also a winner – he has assumed a post of prime political relevance, though his political future will be determined by the way he approaches the much needed development in the state and his ability to free himself from the shackles of Nyako’s men who were associated with Adamawa’s underdevelopment. The APC as a political party is a winner; it has completely displaced the PDP. There are also quite a number of losers- the PDP, Governor Bala Ngilari, Marcus Gundiri and Ahmed Modibbo. In fact, Mr. Gundiri will have a long and difficult political journey if he is to re-establish himself into all-inclusive and ‘secular’ politicking.

Mr. Ribadu was the best governor Adamawa couldn’t have. He fought a good battle, but PDP’s extreme unpopularity already made his platform very weak. President Jonathan extreme disapproval in the north made it hard for people to approve anything associated with him, while the Buhari tsunami swept away anything and everything PDP — good, bad, or ugly.

Mr. Ribadu was a good candidate but at the wrong time.

Credit: premiumtimesng

VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE SOLELY AUTHOR’S…

The Demystification of Ribadu – Toks Ero

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That former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu formally decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is no longer news. Mixed reactions have trailed his defection mostly which are criticisms.

The practice of defection to favorable political climates is a political culture amongst Nigerian politicians. Political parties in Nigeria, are mere platforms to stand for election rather than organizations governed by definite ideologies geared towards the creation, articulation, adoption and execution of policies and programmes for the benefit and welfare of citizens.

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was thrown into the spotlight in 2003 when he was seconded from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) by then President, General Olusegun Obasanjo to be the pioneer Executive Chairman of the newly formed Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an agency set up to fight the scourge of political and economic corruption, fraud, money laundering and related crimes. During his hey days, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu carried out his duties in an overzealous manner abusing human rights in the process. While his actions in prosecuting and disgracing corrupt officials were noble, many still suspected his motives and intentions; especially since he was perceived to be focused only on actual and perceived enemies of Obasanjo. His activities generated worldwide media attention such that he became the poster boy of the fight against corruption; part of Obasanjo’s grand plan to reintegrate Nigeria into the international community; a deliberate and calculated attempt to prove to the western world that Nigeria was indeed serious about the fight against corruption – rightly adjudged as the principal problem of Nigeria, a country Transparency International still ranks as one of the most corrupt in the world.

Corruption is immoral and the ferocity of Ribadu’s fight against corruption at the time created a moral and principled deity out of him in the eyes and perception of observers.

Post EFCC era; many still believed Ribadu had much to offer the Nigerian nation in terms of positive change. Inter-party defection only serves to portray the defector as a political opportunist seeking greener political pastures; Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is not an exception. I believe that today, as always, Ribadu is not different from any other typical Nigerian politician seeking to improve their political and financial fortunes and relevance. Thus, definitely not surprised that Ribadu decamped to PDP. Evidently, PDP represents a platform to actualize his gubernatorial ambition. Ribadu probably then comes across as an opportunist riding on the waves of the acclaim and popularity his stint at the EFCC conferred on him.

For all those who had deified Ribadu and are consequently disappointed in him, he was just an ordinary police officer who by a stroke of fate was appointed by circus master – President Obasanjo who pulled his puppet strings to hound enemies. Ribadu has overtly stepped down from his moral high-horse – one he rode with reckless abandon to trample on actual and perceived anti-OBJ elements during his EFCC days.

Our country, Nigeria deserves men and women who will not only be seen as serving the interests of Nigerians but actually be doing that. A population marching on 200 million can certainly afford men and women whose character and competence have not been tainted by suspicion and mistrust; whose motives are not being called to question.

While some may argue that our democracy is still evolving, I say present political players are making the evolution of ours painfully slow. The problems that plague Nigeria at this stage of our evolution can easily be solved by a sincere and honest leader with integrity, courage and strength of character than a “competent” one. We know the popular quotation of universities when awarding degrees to graduands saying that they have been found worthy in “learning and character”. Our rulers are not necessarily lacking in learning; neither do they lack the requisite knowledge and experience to perform. What they lack is the character and intent to perform. Their focus is more on acquiring dizzying heights of wealth than on governance.

Societies naturally regulate both individual and collective conduct. I find it a step in the right direction that many Nigerians condemned Ribadu’s defection. It is an indication there are many who still place a high premium on strict adherence to principles, ethics and morality. As much as I wish him success in the actualization of his ambitions and future endeavors, Ribadu risks further demystification if he fails in the PDP.

Toks Ero @toksero

 Views expressed are solely the author’s