Sunday, January 16, 2011
Akinjide is living in the past, Ribadu
1:16 PM | 
Posted by
Team Ribadu
The attention of the Ribadu Campaign Organisation has been drawn to remarks by Chief Richard Akinjide, that the Presidential candidate of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, is not fit to be President. Of course, Mr. Akinjide is entitled to his opinion and choice of candidate, but he should not distort facts to deceive Nigerians.
We would have ignored the ranting of Mr. Akinjide who has continuously shown that he has disdain for good governance and progressive politics, but for the deceit contained in his statement. His role in the infamous second republic, and as one of the architects of the 12 2/3 controversy that threw Nigeria into the abyss of military rule, remains till this day.
Mr. Akinjide was quoted in a telephone interview in a national newspaper that “Mallam Ribadu should have gone to the House of Representatives or the Senate. He is not a material for a Vice-President. I won’t even make him a governor.”
For Mr. Akinjide to say he won't make governor a holder of Masters of Law degree, a public prosecutor of many years experience, a man who has attended some of the most prestigious institutions in the world, tells a lot about the Ibadan politician. He must however be made to know that while he still lives in the past where himself and people of his ilk make people governors or presidents, Nigerians have decided to be the architect of their own destiny by choosing and electing their own leaders in a free and fair election.
Of course Chief Akinjide is insensitive to the plight of millions of Nigerians who are tired of the rot the PDP federal government has visited on them for 12years. He does not feel the pains of the great citizens of this country who have seen a continuous decline in their standard of living, in the availability of basic amenities like electricity, good roads, etc. He does not suffer from the continuous insecurity that the PDP led government has thrown the whole country; from east to west, north to south, and even in his home town of Ibadan.
One wonders what the octogenarian politician was thinking when he spoke about acceptance by the international community. Without being immodest, no presidential candidate has the acceptance that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has in the international community. Mr. Ribadu has parleyed with several world leaders and has been invited to appear in parliaments around the world, including the US congress; he has contributed significantly to the global fight against graft and corruption, a role that continues to earn him tremendous respect internationally. This is someone who has just been chosen as one of only three international members to monitor and help in the fight against corruption in Afghanistan. But this election is not about the international community and international experience or acceptance. It is about the need for Nigeria as a nation to make a clean break from the past which Mr. Akinjide and the PDP represent.
There is no better way to unite Nigerians than to vociferously challenge the major problems confronting the people. If this is the case, then Chief Akinjide needs to know that while he and the PDP have failed in this aspect, Nuhu Ribadu succeeded when he was given the chance. He fought gallantly against the monster that has hindered our growth as a nation, a monster that has made democracy un-enjoyable to Nigerians; a, monster that Chief Akinjide and the PDP pamper and allow to grow. In that fight against corruption, Ribadu did much more than what Mr. Akinjide and the PDP have to offer.
Voters’ Registration
One thing we must bear in mind is this: elections are easier to rig when people do not turn up to vote. 2011 is a pivotal year for our country. Those of us who are within the age range must vote. Before you can vote, you must register. After you register, you must select who you wish to vote for. On election day, you must vote. Afterwards, please stay and make sure that your vote counts.
The registration process is on for the next two weeks. During the registration process you do not need to take your identification card. INEC is capturing biometric data for this purpose, and they will issue you a temporary voter's card which would be valid on election day.
If you do not know where the nearest registration centre to you is, please consult the map which can be accessed from the link below:
http://bit.ly/eXoGWM
Simply click on the map, zoom to your city of residence (you do not have to travel to be registered), then find the nearest poll registration centre to your house. There won't be more than 500 people per polling booth, and there are people who are committed to ensuring that the elections are properly monitored. However, their work will come to waste if you do not do your bit. Their work will come to waste if you show apathy. Evil wins when good people do nothing.
Please, between today and the end of January, please make out just two hours of your time, go to the registration centre nearest to your home, register, and on election day, make sure you go back there and vote.
The registration process is on for the next two weeks. During the registration process you do not need to take your identification card. INEC is capturing biometric data for this purpose, and they will issue you a temporary voter's card which would be valid on election day.
If you do not know where the nearest registration centre to you is, please consult the map which can be accessed from the link below:
http://bit.ly/eXoGWM
Simply click on the map, zoom to your city of residence (you do not have to travel to be registered), then find the nearest poll registration centre to your house. There won't be more than 500 people per polling booth, and there are people who are committed to ensuring that the elections are properly monitored. However, their work will come to waste if you do not do your bit. Their work will come to waste if you show apathy. Evil wins when good people do nothing.
Please, between today and the end of January, please make out just two hours of your time, go to the registration centre nearest to your home, register, and on election day, make sure you go back there and vote.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Jonathan, Buhari, Ribadu and 2011
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
The emergence of presidential candidates in the next Nigerian elections will be completed in the next few days. From the look of things, the President Goodluck Jonathan is most likely to emerge as the flag bearer of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Little has changed in the politics of incumbency that has characterised that party if we examine the gubernatorial and other primaries which the party has conducted so far in many states. The presidential primaries will hardly be any different.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is most likely to nominate AIG Nuhu Ribadu (rtd). Party members across the country are clearly more favourably disposed to him than to his contender, Bafarawa. Also, Ribadu enjoys one of the largest national spread among presidential hopefuls of various parties.
Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has already been confirmed as the presidential candidate of another opposition party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Though Nigeria has about 57 parties, the majority of them will not nominate any candidate for the presidential polls. Most of them lack the resources and the national spread required to make any impact. Rather, they are most likely to align themselves to one of the above three.
What is likely to dominate the discourse over Nigerian politics for a month after the primaries is the formation of alliances. In the past, many paper parties have endorsed the incumbent candidate of the PDP. That move is often irrelevant because such parties themselves are moles of PDP that are registered to scuttle any effort to form a joint opposition against it.
The alliance that will unsettle the PDP will be of two kinds. One will be from the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and the opponents of President Jonathan within his party. The other will be the alliance between the viable opposition parties like APGA, ACN, CPC and Labour Party.
Members of the NEF have many times made it clear that they will remain committed to a northern candidate even if the President is nominated by the PDP. The promise of the President that they he will serve for only a term has not convinced them enough to abandon their zoning principle. In that case, the Northern elders and the candidates that oppose Jonathan will have no choice than to put their weight behind either Buhari or Ribadu. Our speculation would therefore now shift to examining the possibility of the merger and to who is likely to emerge as the preferred candidate of the opposition.
The opposition has for long nursed the idea of merging into one party or at least aligning itself behind one candidate. This has proved difficult so far. In 2007, about five parties, including Labour party and PRP adopted Buhari as their presidential candidate. AC fielded Atiku while DPP’s flag was carried by its founder, Attahiru Bafarawa. Despite the failure of the merger talks after the 2007 elections that would have produced the so-called mega-party, AC and DPP merged to form ACN. Buhari’s party, the CPC, then was not registered. After its registration a year ago, all efforts to get it merged with ACN failed after many attempts.
Not tired of attempting, ACN then set two conditions for Buhari if he wants to win its support. He should, it said, join it and, in addition, contest with other aspirants for the party’s ticket. Buhari ignored the demands and went ahead to clinch the ticket of his party, the CPC, last week. ACN will also hold its primaries shortly. It will come up with a candidate who will represent it at the polls should future attempts at the alliance with CPC fail finally.
So we have two outcomes here. The alliance talks may succeed or they may not. If they succeed, we will have a single candidate – Buhari or Ribadu – challenging Jonathan at the polls. If they continue to fail, each of them will have the daunting task of fighting the other and at the same time fighting the incumbent President at the polls.
Jonathan would then have had no problem defeating both, were it not for the lack of support from his internal opposition. If the alliance between ACN and CPC fails and the opposition within PDP puts its weight behind Buhari, Jonathan would have better prospects of scaling through because of the southern and northern minority’s factor.
If, on the other hand, his opponents in the PDP decide to support Ribadu, Jonathan will have a tough time winning the elections especially if they are free and fair. Many northerners who support Buhari would then be more likely to vote for Ribadu in order not to divide the regional vote. This, with the support of southern votes especially in the southwest, Jonathan will have a number of sleepless nights.
The credentials of both Buhari and Ribadu are the same in terms of their fight against corruption. In addition, both are Muslims, northerners and from the same tribal extraction. I do not also believe that the 20 years difference in age between the two would count much in the estimation of Jonathan’s opponents. Many of the elders are older than Buhari. Therefore, the decision of where the opposition to Jonathan within the PDP would rest its support is most likely to be influenced by two factors, both of them not favourable to Buhari.
One, almost all members of that group are opposed to Buhari’s presidential ambition since its inception in 2002. They still see him as a military dictator of the 1980s who is best used to military ways of handling issues.
Two, as they did in their choice for a common northern candidate the northern elders are likely to emphasize spread of support that each of the candidates enjoy across the country. While Buhari has in the past got majority votes in many core northern states and very little in the south, Ribadu has considerable support in the south where his party has four states already and is favourably aligned to APGA and Labour. Ribadu, in addition does not seem to have problems with anyone - northern elders, northern aspirants, and southerners.
One area that Buhari clearly has advantage over Ribadu is the better support he gathered over the past decade among northern masses, being once a head of state and having come when there was no other meritorious candidate was around to face Obasanjo. Ribadu too is well known since he served in his capacity of the nation’s anti-corruption Caesar. Yet, he will need to conquer the northern pedestrian turf as quick as possible.
Fortunately for Ribadu, he is coming at a time when the CPC of Buhari has disappointed many northerners by not proving to be different from other parties. The manner it conducted its primaries in states where it is expected to make a good outing during the next elections has seriously dented its images. The greed with which its national leadership has scrambled to support mostly corrupt candidates in those states left many questioning its ideological credentials. Many supporters are still leaving the party in those states and decamping to the ACN which is seen as more organized and able to give a better progressive leadership.
So, though the primaries will soon be over, Nigerians have still few guesses to make about their presidential candidates. We need a month to have a better idea of whom among the three – Jonathan, Buhari or Ribadu – would make it to the polls in April. It could be all the three or just two of them.
The emergence of presidential candidates in the next Nigerian elections will be completed in the next few days. From the look of things, the President Goodluck Jonathan is most likely to emerge as the flag bearer of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Little has changed in the politics of incumbency that has characterised that party if we examine the gubernatorial and other primaries which the party has conducted so far in many states. The presidential primaries will hardly be any different.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is most likely to nominate AIG Nuhu Ribadu (rtd). Party members across the country are clearly more favourably disposed to him than to his contender, Bafarawa. Also, Ribadu enjoys one of the largest national spread among presidential hopefuls of various parties.
Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has already been confirmed as the presidential candidate of another opposition party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Though Nigeria has about 57 parties, the majority of them will not nominate any candidate for the presidential polls. Most of them lack the resources and the national spread required to make any impact. Rather, they are most likely to align themselves to one of the above three.
What is likely to dominate the discourse over Nigerian politics for a month after the primaries is the formation of alliances. In the past, many paper parties have endorsed the incumbent candidate of the PDP. That move is often irrelevant because such parties themselves are moles of PDP that are registered to scuttle any effort to form a joint opposition against it.
The alliance that will unsettle the PDP will be of two kinds. One will be from the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and the opponents of President Jonathan within his party. The other will be the alliance between the viable opposition parties like APGA, ACN, CPC and Labour Party.
Members of the NEF have many times made it clear that they will remain committed to a northern candidate even if the President is nominated by the PDP. The promise of the President that they he will serve for only a term has not convinced them enough to abandon their zoning principle. In that case, the Northern elders and the candidates that oppose Jonathan will have no choice than to put their weight behind either Buhari or Ribadu. Our speculation would therefore now shift to examining the possibility of the merger and to who is likely to emerge as the preferred candidate of the opposition.
The opposition has for long nursed the idea of merging into one party or at least aligning itself behind one candidate. This has proved difficult so far. In 2007, about five parties, including Labour party and PRP adopted Buhari as their presidential candidate. AC fielded Atiku while DPP’s flag was carried by its founder, Attahiru Bafarawa. Despite the failure of the merger talks after the 2007 elections that would have produced the so-called mega-party, AC and DPP merged to form ACN. Buhari’s party, the CPC, then was not registered. After its registration a year ago, all efforts to get it merged with ACN failed after many attempts.
Not tired of attempting, ACN then set two conditions for Buhari if he wants to win its support. He should, it said, join it and, in addition, contest with other aspirants for the party’s ticket. Buhari ignored the demands and went ahead to clinch the ticket of his party, the CPC, last week. ACN will also hold its primaries shortly. It will come up with a candidate who will represent it at the polls should future attempts at the alliance with CPC fail finally.
So we have two outcomes here. The alliance talks may succeed or they may not. If they succeed, we will have a single candidate – Buhari or Ribadu – challenging Jonathan at the polls. If they continue to fail, each of them will have the daunting task of fighting the other and at the same time fighting the incumbent President at the polls.
Jonathan would then have had no problem defeating both, were it not for the lack of support from his internal opposition. If the alliance between ACN and CPC fails and the opposition within PDP puts its weight behind Buhari, Jonathan would have better prospects of scaling through because of the southern and northern minority’s factor.
If, on the other hand, his opponents in the PDP decide to support Ribadu, Jonathan will have a tough time winning the elections especially if they are free and fair. Many northerners who support Buhari would then be more likely to vote for Ribadu in order not to divide the regional vote. This, with the support of southern votes especially in the southwest, Jonathan will have a number of sleepless nights.
The credentials of both Buhari and Ribadu are the same in terms of their fight against corruption. In addition, both are Muslims, northerners and from the same tribal extraction. I do not also believe that the 20 years difference in age between the two would count much in the estimation of Jonathan’s opponents. Many of the elders are older than Buhari. Therefore, the decision of where the opposition to Jonathan within the PDP would rest its support is most likely to be influenced by two factors, both of them not favourable to Buhari.
One, almost all members of that group are opposed to Buhari’s presidential ambition since its inception in 2002. They still see him as a military dictator of the 1980s who is best used to military ways of handling issues.
Two, as they did in their choice for a common northern candidate the northern elders are likely to emphasize spread of support that each of the candidates enjoy across the country. While Buhari has in the past got majority votes in many core northern states and very little in the south, Ribadu has considerable support in the south where his party has four states already and is favourably aligned to APGA and Labour. Ribadu, in addition does not seem to have problems with anyone - northern elders, northern aspirants, and southerners.
One area that Buhari clearly has advantage over Ribadu is the better support he gathered over the past decade among northern masses, being once a head of state and having come when there was no other meritorious candidate was around to face Obasanjo. Ribadu too is well known since he served in his capacity of the nation’s anti-corruption Caesar. Yet, he will need to conquer the northern pedestrian turf as quick as possible.
Fortunately for Ribadu, he is coming at a time when the CPC of Buhari has disappointed many northerners by not proving to be different from other parties. The manner it conducted its primaries in states where it is expected to make a good outing during the next elections has seriously dented its images. The greed with which its national leadership has scrambled to support mostly corrupt candidates in those states left many questioning its ideological credentials. Many supporters are still leaving the party in those states and decamping to the ACN which is seen as more organized and able to give a better progressive leadership.
So, though the primaries will soon be over, Nigerians have still few guesses to make about their presidential candidates. We need a month to have a better idea of whom among the three – Jonathan, Buhari or Ribadu – would make it to the polls in April. It could be all the three or just two of them.
Monday, January 10, 2011
RIBADU THREATENS COURT ACTION AGAINST GOODLUCK/ SAMBO OVER COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
The Ribadu Campaign Organisation has threatened to take legal actions against the Jonathan/Sambo campaign organisation to stop what it terms gross violation of the intellectual property rights of its campaign and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a presidential aspirant under the banner of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The issue in question is the slogan A NEW NIGERIA IS POSSIBLE, a creation of the Ribadu Campaign Organisation that has been used in in various platforms, correspondences, media and publicity materials by the campaign since its inauguration six months ago.
In the last one month, the Jonathan/Sambo campaign organization has persistently used the slogan in its TV campaigns featuring President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-president Namadi Sambo.
In a letter sent to the Director General of the Goodluck/Sambo campaign organisation signed by Chido Onumah, head of media and communication, the Ribadu Campaign Organisation noted that “the unauthorised use of the political slogan constitutes a copyright infringement, which represents a serious breach on Mr. Nuhu Ribadu’s exclusive rights to reproduce or to make derivative works of this slogan”.
“Nigerian law provides stern criminal and civil liabilities for this type of transgression and I urge you to move expeditiously to correct this infraction which, in an election year, is obviously targeted to depress the stock of our principal, and the viability of his campaign,” Onumah added.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Nigerian Presidential Candidate Ribadu Vows to End Corruption If Elected
Nigeria’s former anti-corruption chief said he will end graft and improve government transparency if elected president in a vote scheduled for April.
“Solving the problem of corruption will solve other issues, whether it is infrastructure challenges, insecurity or lack of jobs,” Nuhu Ribadu said in an interview on Dec. 30. The 50-year- old ex-chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission declared his candidacy on Dec. 15.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, is set to hold presidential elections on April 9. Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan has said he intends to extend his rule of the continent’s most populous nation, which ranks 134th on a list of the world’s 178 most corrupt nations compiled by Berlin-based anti-graft monitor, Transparency International.
Ribadu lived in the U.S. and the U.K. after he was removed by President Umaru Yar’Adua from his post at the EFCC and dismissed from the Nigeria Police in 2008 after he rejected a new posting and demotion. He returned to Nigeria in June after Jonathan was sworn in as president following the death of Yar’Adua. He is seeking the nomination of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria.
As the first head of the anti-graft agency, Ribadu brought corruption charges against politicians in the ruling People’s Democratic Party, and government officials including serving governors and ministers.
“I stood for the Nigerian people all the time, including addressing the issue of corruption,” he said. “I will lead a clean, open and transparent government.”
Corruption Cost
Nigeria lost about $380 billion to corruption between independence in 1960 and the end of military rule in 1999, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, in October 2007.
Nigeria is the fifth-biggest source of U.S. crude imports. All of the West African country’s oil is located in the Niger River delta, where armed groups are battling the federal government for control of the region’s resources. The area is also plagued by poverty and environmental degradation caused by decades of oil exploration and production and neglect by successive governments, Ribadu said.
“The Niger delta problem is partly failure of leadership and mismanagement,” he said. “The resources that come out from that place must be used to address the problem of the people there.”
Attacks in the delta by armed groups including the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, cut more than 28 percent of the country’s oil output between 2006 and 2009. MEND wants the region to have exclusive control of its resources, while paying tax to the central government.
Rivals
Ribadu, a muslim from the northeastern Adamawa state, will compete against Jonathan and former military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change if they are nominated as presidential candidates of their respective parities.
Buhari was Yar’Adua’s closest challenger in the 2007 elections that were marred by rigging and fraud, including ballot snatching and violent intimidation of opponents.
Political parties have until Jan. 15 to nominate their candidates for various political offices, according to the election schedule released by the Independent National Electoral Commissionon Nov. 23.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja atebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
RIBADU REFUTES MEDIA REPORTS ON BUHARI
Says still in race for presidency
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the presidential aspirant of the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) said yesterday that recent media reports suggesting that his party has adopted General Muhammadu Buhari as its flag-bearer under a joint ACN and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) arrangement does not accurately reflect reality.
“The truth is that we are in dialogue as indeed we are with a host of other parties but nothing in our current talks suggests in the least that we already have a closure regarding a presidential flag bearer” said Ribadu who, teasing journalists, said “Haba, you people want to graft a monarchical spirit on a democratic institution.”
Mr. Ribadu who was addressing a group of journalists in Abuja stated that he was amazed to read in some national dailies that Buhari will fly the flag of ACN in the 2011 elections. “It is in the nature of clique politics especially at the last quarter period of an electoral match that such disinformation and underhand strategies are deployed to cushion the fortunes of preferred candidates” explained Ribadu who insisted that the democratic principles in the ACN make it impossible to resolve the critical matter of the choice of a flag bearer out the process of primaries and other statutory consideration.
“That is not our way, certainly not in ACN perhaps in the other parties. It is so sad the way some media houses seem to take a position on this issue of merger or alliance and say that somebody has been picked, nothing can be further from the truth,” he said.
Speaking further, Ribadu said the alliance has never been about an individual, but about what is good for Nigeria, adding that the ACN has never come out to say that a particular candidate has been selected. “ You know that my party, the ACN has never mentioned anybody’s name as a likely candidate, all that we are interested in is to form a strong alliance that will defeat the PDP, when the time comes for the selection of candidate to fly the flag, Nigerians will be informed” he also said.
The former Chairman of the EFCC also said the alliance vision will be expanded vigorously until more parties swell the rank because, as he said, “only when the progressive forces are united can we deal a final blow to the over a decade of misrule and decay that the PDP represents for our country and our people.”
Presidential aspirants battle for Internet users
January 2, 2011
Less than four months to the 2011 general elections, leading presidential aspirants on the platform of various political parties have taken their campaigns to the internet. Using their campaign websites and other gateways such as facebook and twitter, aspirants continue to use the internet to communicate with potential voters and supporters worldwide on their plans for the country if elected.
According to Internet world statistics, Nigeria with a population of over 150million has over 43million internet users; up from 200 thousand ten years ago. With a significant figure of over 25% of the population having access to the internet, aspirants have continued to develop strategies to engage this group of Nigerians. Use of the internet for political campaigns is however not limited to presidential aspirants, as governorship aspirants, aspiring legislators (at both federal and state levels) are also maximising the use of the internet.
Commenting on what he would like to know on the internet concerning presidential campaigns, Kunle Adebola, a banker and regular web surfer says “what I want to see when I visit campaign websites is specific programmes that the candidate wants to carry out in office; and captivating pictures of the candidate’s campaign or charity functions.” The campaign websites of various aspirants however offer different scenarios.
President Goodluck Jonathan
On his website www.goodluckjonathanfor2011.com, the President welcomes visitors with his vivid pictures including one with President Barack Obama. Aside from news items from various Nigerian print media which bolster his candidacy, Mr Jonathan provides visitors with the opportunity to know more about himself and to join his support group.
Under the sub-topic the issues, the President also provides viewers the opportunity to see his solution to six issues he believes are the problems facing Nigerians; which include: Economy, electric power,
security, health, education, and war against corruption. Commenting on the bad state of the economy, the President said “the past governments had an opportunity to provide the real relief to the Nigerian people in a time of great economic uncertainty. But once again, parochial, partisan, and special interests have taken precedence over the interests of the Nigerian people.” Mr Jonathan also promised a solution. He told Nigerians he “offers a good-faith alternative plan, which will receive the support of all Nigerians.” The President is also active on facebook where he has over 350,000 admirers, one of the largest among world leaders.
Nuhu Ribadu
Arguably the best designed and most interactive of the campaign websites, visitors to Mr Ribadu’s website (www.ribadu2011.com ) are welcomed with a video of the aspirant making festive greetings. There are also pictorial and verbal endorsements of his person from prominent Nigerians and foreigners alike including Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka; prominent writer, Chinua Achebe; Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako; and Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Apart from ways of joining or supporting his campaigns, Mr Ribadu’s manifesto titled ‘Pathway to a New Nigeria’ is also available for visitors in an abridged 16 page format on the website and downloadable in pdf. In it, the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says he will focus on a 9 policy agenda which include: Health, Education, Social Security, power and allied infrastructure, transport, agriculture and food security, and the economy.
Commenting on the challenges facing the economy, the former anti-corruption boss stated that “the Nigerian economy is performing below potential and is not creating enough jobs for our burgeoning youth,” while proffering solutions which include the fact that he would manage the economy “with fiscal prudence so that we are not spending much more than we take in as revenues.” Mr Ribadu also utilises facebook where he has more than 100 thousand admirers.
Atiku Abubakar
The former vice president on www.atiku.org welcomes visitors with a YouTube video asking for peoples support. Mr Abubakar’s flamboyant website also allows visitors to join his campaign team or ask him questions. Apart from containing news items about the former vice president’s campaign and statements, the website also contains Mr Abubakar’s manifesto tagged ‘making good things happen.’ The former number two citizen further outlines a five-point agenda upon which his administration will focus. These are: employment generation and wealth creation; power generation; security and war against corruption; education and health; and the Niger Delta.
The People’s Democratic Party aspirant identified a “mono-product economy” as one of the challenges of the Nigerian economy and stated that “It is, therefore, important that the current reform efforts are given added impetus, and that the benefits are better targeted.” Mr Abubakar is also present on facebook where he has less than 10 thousand admirers.
Muhammadu Buhari
The aspirant of the Congress for Progressive Change is yet to update his campaign website, http://www.buhari.org; what is available is still the one he used in 2007 when he was the candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party. Should Mr Buhari decide to upgrade the site instead of designing a new one, he may have a lot to do; as the site is undoubtedly the dullest, least attractive and least interactive of the presidential campaign websites available.
Dele Momodu
The Publisher of the ovation magazine engages internet users on his website www.delemomodu2011.com.
Visitors to Mr Momodu’s website are welcomed with a picture of himself and the national chairman of his new party, the National Conscience Party (NCP), Femi Falana. Under the sub-topic spotlight on the issues, Mr Momodu explains why viewers cannot view his entire program for Nigerians saying “details of our manifesto are being worked out at the moment. It cannot be released to the public until we obtain our party ticket. We must harmonise our programmes with that of the political party that offers us the platform to contest.” Mr Momodu however summarises some of his programmes, including that for the economy, where he said “we must begin to respect industrious people in our nation. We must treat them as kings.” Pat Utomi
Even before he formally declared his intention to run for President under the platform of the Social Democratic Mega party (SDMP), Pat Utomi has always professed solutions for the problems of the country. Using his campaign website www.utomifornigeria.com, Mr Utomi welcomes visitors with several graphical portraits of himself and speeches he has delivered across the country, including one where he commends Mr Ribadu saying “Nuhu Ribadu is in my view a true Nigerian hero, and it is an embarrassment to Nigeria that our Attorney General irresponsibly accuses him of otherwise.” Under the sub-topic ‘issues,’ Mr Utomi highlights what he intends to bring to governance if elected to office.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Abuja Bomb Blast
Presidential aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Nuhu Ribadu has condoled with the victims of today’s twin bomb blasts in Abuja, and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to step out promptly and strongly to guarantee the security of Nigerians from random acts of terror that is fast enveloping community life in the country.
Mr. Ribadu described the perpetrators of the bomb blasts as “cowards and cruel people who deserve no place in a civilised community" adding that the basic minimum expectation from the government now "is to ensure that the perpetrators of this crazy attack on the fraternal values that unite our communitiies are promptly and sternly brought to justice."
Mr. Ribadu also asked for soberity in response from the populace asking the political parties to urgently engage with their members to promote tolerance and policies that empower those in their ranks that are champions of peace and social unity."
I’ve no reason to be grateful to Jonathan – Ribadu
Sun Newspaper
Eric Osagie
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has been speaking on his chances in the April polls, declaring himself God’s candidate.
In a Boxing Day interview at his Abuja residence, the lanky ex-cop, also threw punches at those who think he has little experience in politics to aspire to the nation’s highest leadership position.
He also spoke on the alleged ‘deal’ leading to his return from a two-year self-exile abroad, insisting he has no reason to be grateful to President Goodluck Jonathan under whose dispensation he returned.
Ribadu was asked if he felt comfortable being in the same party with Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State and ACN chieftain, who he reportedly once listed among the nation’s alleged corrupt governors. His answer? Wait till you turn the pages of this explosive interview.
The former EFCC boss also spoke about his narrow escape from death, the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, former Vice President Atiku, Abubakar, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as, his agenda for Nigerians if he is elected president.
You have never been a politician. You have been a lawyer. You have been in the police and you have also been in the public service. So, how would you describe your experience so far on the political turf?
Very interesting. Also satisfying. Not disappointing whatsoever. I am very happy and pleased with what has been the case so far. I was born into politics. I am from a political family, although I had never practised it. I decided, out of my own choice, to go into public service and I remained there all through my working life. My point of entry in politics now has opened up a new chapter altogether, a new experience. But the most fascinating one is the unbelievable interest, enthusiasm, which I have got. What I see daily, those that I meet on the way; the taxi drivers, the gentlemen at the airport, inside an aircraft…
Only yesterday (December 25, 2010), I was on my way back from Port Harcourt. Two people brought me cheques and said: ‘Nuhu, please, this is my own widow’s mite to help in this (cause).’ Those things have touched me. Unbelievable. They made me to believe in it more than ever before and it has also made me to understand that politics is not about money. It is not just about bad people who have always been at the forefront of it. It is about what people are yearning for and people are looking for the right thing and the good thing and they will come all out to support it. It is a massive encouragement. It made me to have new absolute faith in our future.
You mean you are shocked at the reception you have been getting?
Yes, pleasantly shocked. I never imagined that, because of the belief was that you must have money to do certain things. Or you have to be somebody with very deep pocket for you to make it. I had nothing when I got in, but we have achieved so much so far. I have seen people coming to donate property when we were looking for offices. An individual will come and say, ‘take it, I am not taking a penny from you.’ I have seen owners of property saying, ‘ok, pay only just half (of the rent) if it is your own office. I have seen young men and young boys, young guys coming in thousands, thousands and thousands all over the country for the first time in the history of Nigeria. You will see educated young boys, majority of them graduates, coming to give their time, their energy, their resources into this project, at no cost. If you go to my office, you see them 24 hours, not just in Abuja but also across the country. And there are so many of them in thousands and daily, it is improving; the Team Ribadu Group. So, these are all interesting.
And you never expected this?
No. Absolutely no. But you know, it is not just about the young men, even the older people. Our parents themselves are included and they are all shouting Ribadu! I met an old man who happens to be a colleague of my father in the parliament of the 60s. He said, ‘Nuhu, we are so proud of you. It means that everything that we did has not come to nothing. Please carry on. That was our dream and that is what we hope will become a reality. We have seen the hope in you, in what you people are trying to do.’ That, touched me. It shows that it is not about the young men and the future; it is also about those who attempted to do what was right and did something that was proud of. It is about the seed that they planted. They suddenly see it germinating. So, those things are issues that will be interesting and very pleasant.
Why did you decide to join politics and the presidency? Was it an inner conviction or you were dragged into it or you saw that the time was ripe for it?
It is a combination of so many things.
At what point did you decide to take the gauntlet? Was it when you were at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or was it when you were abroad? At what point did the presidency thing and politics come?
It was actually 2010. I might not say this is the specific date, but it is 2010.
After you came back?
Maybe about the process of coming back. But it all started a long time ago and it started with my resolve to go into public service. I made up my mind in 1985 to go into public service, not to go in the pursuit of money. I said that what will make me happy is that my calling will certainly be to serve; do what I consider the common good of all our people. And on my own, I chose the opportunity to be of public service. That was in 1985 when I joined the Nigeria Police after qualifying as a lawyer. I had several jobs; I had the option to go into private practice. I would have joined the multi-nationals. I had amazing opportunities to make money if that was what I wanted. I could have got out of the country. I had all these, but I said no, I think what will make me happy is public service. That was when I made that decision, but that decision was not to be a politician. So, I served in the Nigeria public service for 25 years, but it was terminated about two years ago abruptly.
Was it a very sad event for you?
Yes, yes.
You felt so bad?
Yes, because I thought it was not justified. I thought that there was no reason for it and I genuinely wanted to continue to contribute and help and work all my active public career life and it was stopped…
You were retired when you were not tired?
Absolutely. I was certainly not tired. As you can see, I am still not tired.
Well, it was stopped and this opportunity came now.
And then you went abroad?
Yes. Well, I cut off that part. Actually, Umar Yar’Adua stopped my own public service when he said he dismissed me, but I challenged it in court. The final nail was when this government retired me, which is this year. So, at the point of retirement, I will have to do something.
We heard that your coming back to the country was part of an agreement between you and the incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan?
(Cuts in) Never.
The story was that they would get you back and then make you special adviser on narcotics, drugs and all that and that they will retire you. Was it part of the agreement?
(Cuts in) No.
What agreement did you reach with him when he met you in US?
I never reached any agreement with him. Not at all.
But the presidency believes it did you a favour by bringing you back when Yar’Adua drove you out of the country?
Which favour? Did he (Jonathan) say so?
Well, that is the insinuation everywhere; that ok, he brought you back…
No. I am a Nigerian. You don’t bring me back to my own country. It is my own country.
So, you are not grateful?
No. It is not a matter of being grateful. What is it? I am a Nigerian and nobody said I have committed any crime or offence. So, you have to commit an offence, in the first instance, for you to be granted…
So, the pardon means nothing?
Nobody pardoned me. You pardoned me for what?
But you couldn’t come back for two years plus…
This is because they attempted to kill me.
Are you saying it was real?
Well, if you can go now, you will see… You have to go and take the picture of the bullets on my vehicle now. When we get out of here, you must take the picture. I survived it and I left the country on my own, voluntarily.
You haven’t told us how you left, whether it was through another route or through the famous National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) route?
(Cuts in) Of course, through the NADECO route. It is a democracy route. You need to go through it for you to qualify (laughs). So, I went out because if I had stayed, they would have killed me. No doubt about it.
Why did they want to kill you?
Well, I don’t know. I mean, there are so many people who were killed. It is not I alone. A lot of people were killed in this country.
You were removed as EFCC chairman and sent to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS)…
(Cuts in) They did everything you can imagine.
And got you out of the graduation ground and now you say they wanted to kill you? What is it that Nuhu Ribadu actually did? What, in your mind, did you do?
I think you need to help us to ask them. It will be good and interesting to find out because there are still some people who might just explain what really was the cause of that, but for me, I don’t know. I really don’t know.
And you came back?
I came back. I mean, it is my own country. Maybe it was God that made it possible. It is God, not anybody.
Since you came back, you started thinking of politics?
Certainly, as I was going to get back to the country, I do have fairly a wide network. I know people in this country a lot. I have friends and people who are close to me, know how much concern I have about my country and how interested I am to be part of whatever that can improve this country. And I have had a lot of people telling me ‘well, Nuhu, it is only right for you to be part of the process that will improve our country, to continue to bring the change that is needed.’ So, as I was going through that, of course, you know it is a transition year. And if you want to continue with public service and you are retired from the civil service, there is only one option and that is the only way you can go. It is only through politics that you can get an opportunity to contribute. So, that was ongoing and then. I still believe, a lot of people are talking about it, including myself, the need for this country to change. But we need to have a new beginning, to start afresh, to do things properly and correctly and I believe I am one to make that possible. I stand as a symbol of this change in my country and every opportunity for me to take a stand to help bring this positive development in our country, I will be the first person to take it. I will always stand by the Nigerian people. I will always take the challenge to help our people.
While this debate was ongoing, transition time, I came out, I was there in the United States (US). I had the opportunity to interact and work at that level. I knew what is needed for us to move forward as a country. I had a period of reflection; everything came together at the same time and I said, God, be by my side. God, you know my intention; God I want to continue to serve. Whatever that you have given me, in terms of my own education, in terms of experience, knowledge and network, God I want to continue in service. I want to continue to serve you, to serve my people; to serve my country is service to you as well. I want to take that opportunity in my belief that what matters most in this country today, is the position of leadership at the highest level. That is the greatest challenge. Ability for us to get a leadership that can do what is right. To lead with honesty, transparency, accountability, with respect for people, compassionate at the centre, listening. Leadership that can pull this country together and build unity. Leadership that can be a difference and not the one that we have had before. That is the biggest challenge at the highest level; the leadership that can bring this desired change that I am talking about and I am absolutely convinced and confident that I can provide that leadership because on the basis of what I have seen, what I have done, my own experience, I can do it. That is all I have got.
All my life, I have always taken challenges. When I joined the police in 1985, a lot of people, except those who knew me, were very, very angry saying, ‘Nuhu, how could you ever get to the police? What is in you that has anything to do with the police? Nobody in your family ever joined the Nigeria Police. This and that, you do not physically look like one. A qualified lawyer from northern part of Nigeria opting to join the police, is very unusual but something inside me was telling me to go for it, that it was the right thing to do. And I wanted to contribute my own part to the promotion of justice and fairness in my country. I wanted to fight injustice, whether in a very small way or in a big way. So, my mind was ready. The same thing happened when I started the EFCC. Everybody was saying how dare you? Heads of states tried it and they failed. Some of them got killed because of their attempt to address or fight corruption.
Who are you? How dare you? But something told me that I could do it. And I went for it and did it with fear of God and honesty and the rest is history. Nigerians know what happened. So, it is the same feeling that I have. God be my witness. I am getting in with His own fear and love for Him and love for my country and my people. I want a chance to pay back for what my country has done for me, to help rescue these our people. Not just me alone, but there are so many Nigerians with dream and this expectation. God count me in.
Did God answer you?
I believe so. That is why I am where I am today, because if it wasn’t so, I probably, would not be where I am today. With no resources, nothing. And it is daily growing and it is being taken very serious daily and I am very much convinced in God’s work.
Some people would have thought that if you are going to primary two, you start from primary one and you progress. How come there are other offices in the country and you just say look, I want to start from number one position, the presidency? Because people are saying oh, why can’t he run for other positions? Why can’t he go to the Senate or become governor? Why do you think you should be president of this country?
I have heard people saying that. One of the reasons I have decided to do this, is because that is where I think I will play my best role. I am a federal person. One of the reasons we got things wrong was because people who were unprepared for positions got in there. If you are a state man, you won’t know what the dynamics and the intrigues of the Federal Government is all about.
Are you referring to the late President Yar’Adua?
Yes. There are so many people like that because they didn’t know how the Federal Government is run. I have been a federal person for 25 years of my life and I am an international person. I fit in perfectly there. I have been an executive person all my life. So, if it is a matter of choice, it is better I go to the executive line than the legislature and I know where the problems are and where the solutions could come. The fastest way to solve the problems is the executive responsibility. You need a good person who is honest in that position.
Some people talk about political experience and they say look, this is not about police, this is not about security, this is not about EFCC. That you don’t know how the dynamics of government work. I mean, being in the executive position in a political setting. That how can Nuhu Ribadu think because he ran the EFCC, a small unit that is not up to a division in the Nigeria Police, he can be president?
My goodness! You need to be honest and be fair to me and look at my own history; what I have done in life and compare it with even those who have been president in Nigeria before and who even want to be president. First and foremost, I am a lawyer. I was a qualified lawyer before even starting my public service career. How many were lawyers who ever became presidents of Nigeria? Or even graduates? How many people served for 25 years of their lives before becoming president of Nigeria?
Not a single one ever. I put 25 years of my life into public service. Public service at the Federal Government level before aspiring to be president of Nigeria. Look at the history of Nigeria. Is there any single person with that history? How many people were, for example, prosecutors? In the world today, if you ask for leadership, whether it is Tony Blair or Bill Clinton, almost all of them went through this process in being lawyers, practising lawyers. I was a practising lawyer in Nigeria for years. How many had the opportunity to create an agency of government from the scratch? Look at the people who want to be president and all those who were presidents before. EFCC is not just about fighting corruption; it is about creating an agency that delivers; a government agency that has remained central to the remaking of Nigeria.
It is a household name today in Nigeria and outside the country. It is one of the most important outfits that changed the course of our history in this country. I created it. How many of them were in the economic team that managed the economy of Nigeria? I was a member of the economic management that rebranded the economy of Nigeria from A-Z, with very positive reserves. How many of them were fellows of such universities or any university in the world? How many of them went to Harvard University? How many of them have master’s degree in Law? How many of them worked at the international level? I worked at the Centre for Global Development. I addressed parliaments in the world, including the biggest democracies in the world. I did all that. How many of them would tell you that they have records or results of fighting corruption, which is our biggest problem? I want any one of them to come and show me on ground, put it on the table, their records or what they have to show for fighting corruption. Any one of them, all of them, including even people who claim to be men of integrity. Integrity is not just talk. It is what you see. I will tell you what I have. I will tell you the results of the work I did in fighting corruption. So, integrity is your greatest credential?
I am grateful to God for that. And it is not by mouth. Anyone who says that he has integrity, let him bring it on the table for integrity test. I can tell you, people gave me money, I took them to court and charged them for that. I tell you that after I left office, they came and checked me for many years. My enemies took over the EFCC and they could not get one pin as an evidence of my own wrongdoing. People tried everything on earth to get me.
Even if people don’t say Ribadu is corrupt, they say you were excessive during your stint at EFCC, pursuing people everywhere, that Obasanjo was using you?
Yeah, they will always say so. When you fight corruption, they will always say things like that. When they cannot get anything to nail you, they will always claim this and that.
Now, between you and I, did Obasanjo try to use you?
No, no, no my brother.
Was it coincidental that enemies of Obasanjo also became the targets of the fight against corruption?
You see, the point about fighting corruption did not just start today.
Was it coincidental?
Let me tell you. When General Ibrahim Babangida staged his military coup and removed General Muhammadu Buhari, the first thing he accused Buhari of was that he was selective. That was it. It is the same thing, but you have seen the result of what happened after that. It is not different from my own. Anyone who came to fight corruption, they will tell you that. They accused Murtala Muhammed of the same thing, of being selective. So, there is no difference in my own. The only thing I will tell you now is that anyone I brought to justice, please, let him come and I will tell him the reason I did what I did and Nigerians will judge. I have all the evidence with me up till now, in terms of what really happened. It is not about being selective at all. If you fight corruption, you will always, especially, if you are able to overcome those basic things, for instance, if you are not corrupt yourself and you could not be swayed away from doing the right thing, the cheapest and easiest thing for them to say is that you are selective and without even supporting it with evidence. I have been consistently telling Nigerians that anyone who says he was selective, let him come. I am waiting for him to come and I will still share with Nigerians why he was brought to justice and the reason we had to take the steps we took. There was nothing personal.
Almost all the people that I brought to justice, I swear to God, a lot of them are my friends because they knew and understood clearly that it was not personal. And honestly, it was not personal. It is a very difficult job. You needed to do it. Someone must do it, very tough one. But it has to be done. So, I did it. My job as EFCC chairman, if you do it honestly, you must really do those things. You must. There is no way for you to avoid it.
So, Obasanjo didn’t tell you to go after anybody?
Never. Even if he did, it never worked. The point about it is that if you are like that, you will never get result. That was the reason we succeeded. And we succeeded because the EFCC had a solid foundation.
But you made some mistakes also?
Yeah, let me just get to that point. I wanted to explain to you that the EFCC is standing today because of what we did. You will not succeed unless you avoid two fundamental things. We worked and got results. The results are for the whole world to see and they have seen them. You will never succeed if you are corrupt yourself. You will never succeed if you are selective. It would not work. These are the two things you must avoid. And if you are selective, I am telling you that others will not come along because it is not an area that you decide alone. The judiciary is out there. The judiciary will never come with you if they know you are selective. They will never. We succeeded in getting this conviction simply because they understood what was going on. The evidence we assembled were brought before them and they decided themselves. It was not we that decided those cases. I had over 90 per cent conviction record.
Well, your predecessor, Mrs. Farida Waziri, would dispute this claim. We heard that you did not do much, that it was only on the pages of newspapers you fought corruption. They said there was nothing to the noise about Nuhu Ribadu doing this and that. They said there was no record of single conviction.
But you are in Nigeria. Are you not in Nigeria?
So, what is your own view about that?
Well, I asked the question. (Laughs) But the point is that I am not going to waste my time taking on the people who took over the job from me. It is waiting for another day because in the first instance, it is perceived as if I am an aggrieved person. And whatever I say might be misunderstood or misconstrued. So, I will rather leave Nigerians to judge. Nigerians will know those people who were brought to justice then, who were convicted. Nigerians will know whether public officials are being brought or challenged, like the way we challenged them. The international community will always decide. Almost every single case that is ongoing today, are my own cases. Every single case, I created them. I made them: Halliburton. It was I, personally. Siemens and Panalpina. International corruption cases, not to talk about Nigerian cases. Every single governor that is being brought to justice up till now is my own case. Not a single case came out since I left. So, what is it that I would talk?
We are going to leave the EFCC now because this interview is essentially not about that agency.
And I also don’t want to talk about the EFCC.
I understand what you mean. But I would ask this one last question on the EFCC and move on. For the records, did Atiku Abubakar bring you into the EFCC as he has claimed?
He did not. He did not bring me into the EFCC.
He said he brought you in; he identified you and they had to amend the EFCC Act to accommodate you since the position, by the Act, ought to be headed by an AIG or its equivalent. What really happened?
To be honest, this is not the right time for me to discuss this. I am going to simply say Atiku did not bring me to EFCC. The point is that those people who made it possible for me to be in the EFCC are still alive and please, endeavour to go and ask them. The reason I got into the EFCC was, first, because I was qualified and there were people I worked with. Before I joined the EFCC, I was literally responsible for almost all the most important cases in Nigeria. I was the one doing almost all the important cases in my country. Before I joined the EFCC, I was the one prosecuting the biggest names in our country. I was prosecuting the Abachas, Makanjuolas, the former speaker, Salisu Buhari, Oputa Panel. I was a member of the tribunals, almost all the tribunals; the religious disturbance tribunals and I was involved in the military tribunals that prosecuted coup plotters. I was involved in the failed banks inquiry. All these things, I was central. I was at the heart of all those things. I was central to the entire justice sector in Nigeria and I participated fully in all these things. So, in terms of qualification, when it came, when they were looking for someone to be the pioneer chairman of the EFCC, there was no dispute about it. I worked with Kanu Agabi when he was Attorney- General. I worked with him during the failed banks in the 90s and those were the things that made them to appoint me.
Now to your party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The leader of your party, Bola Tinubu, was governor of Lagos State and somebody brought it to my attention that he was one of those you listed as being corrupt at the National Assembly. How comfortable are you being in the same party with the man you allegedly once labelled as corrupt?
(Cuts in) I did not say so.
Ok, for the records, did you say he was corrupt?
Never, I did not say so.
What happened? Was he listed among those you were investigating for corruption?
Well, let me tell you, in fact, what is going on in my country today. You know, it is Bola Tinubu they are trying to get at. Whoever is doing that, I just want to look at it as a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) propaganda. This is an individual who fought PDP and refused to allow PDP to take over Nigeria completely. He stopped them at Lagos gate and he gave chance for the opposition to re-organise themselves and they are coming back to free Nigeria from this unbelievable strangulation of the PDP. He is their number one enemy and they are fighting him tooth and nail, everything. And when I joined the ACN on the basis of a party with so many people, like him who fought for democracy, who fought for democracy and have something to show for it, right from the NADECO days up to this one, fighting PDP is the biggest contribution towards addressing the problems of this country.
Therefore, they want to continue this fight in a different way. So, whoever is saying that, I am telling you, he is either a PDP man or a sympathizer. Or unwittingly, you are helping the PDP. So, that is not the case. When it comes to the issue of what I said before the National Assembly, I can assure you that I did not say that he was a corrupt person. No. Go back to the records and see. It was the National Assembly, the Senate specifically, that called me to brief them on the investigations going on then. And I went through it state by state and when it came to the turn of Lagos State, I said the investigation of the governor of Lagos had an international dimension because, at that time, I knew the Metropolitan Police of London were investigating him. I said that investigation was ongoing and that was it. I did not say anything other than that. And I am very happy. You see, God has a way of working out things for you. I believe that nobody could influence the Metropolitan Police. If they are doing an investigation, no one could stop them because you will not say you are used or misused by them or you used them or misused them. And whatever they do, it will be something that they can stand and defend and they have a justice system that works. At the end of the day, with all their investigations, I have not seen any action that they took against Bola Tinubu. He still goes to the United Kingdom (UK) freely; he transacts business there and certainly, it is not that they have anything against him. If they have had it, by now they would have brought him to justice. This is all I said with respect to Bola Tinubu, which is now being twisted simply because they want to continue the fight against him for what he did to PDP. And then, unwittingly, Nigerians are just being deceived.
For me, in fact, I thought Nigerians would even understand who Nuhu Ribadu was by simply looking at what happened then. He was the greatest enemy of the PDP and I was working with the government of the PDP. He was formerly the greatest enemy of the Federal Government, in terms of political enemy, that is what I mean, but nothing happened to him during my days. This just go to show about the issue of being selective. At that time, so many PDP people were being brought to justice. That tells you about me. I am what I am.
What’s your attitude to wealth? Is it that you don’t like money?
I am not a material person by nature and I am grateful to God, I have a simple life and I am ok. A little thing takes care of me. I am not really by nature, a material person and I am grateful to God. And I am not even impressed with anything material.
And you claimed to have rejected a whopping sum of money from your friend, James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State?
Of course. I mean, there were several others. James was one, but we rejected from several others and we even used it to show how public servants should be, could be and must be. And that is why when people are talking about integrity and fighting corruption, these are features Nigerians must pay attention to.
How do you feel now that he’s in a legal cul de sac? He’s going through a hell of a time.
Well, I feel sorry for James because he is a human being. I am not celebrating the fact that justice caught up with him but justice is justice. There is nothing I can do about it. But as a human being, I do not really celebrate such a thing, no. No, no, no. I have nothing personal against James Ibori. Honestly. If I see him today, I will shake hands with him. And he knows that.
Now, you are in the race. What are the three critical factors, three critical problems you will address if you are elected president of Nigeria? What are the three basic things Nigeria needs now to get working in your order of priority?
Very good. Which means you have to do it in the context of what you need to be, who you need to be and how you want to do it for you to achieve those things. You need to do absolutely, good governance. Change the way government is run. Are you getting me? Let it be a different thing all together the way we manage ourselves. And if you succeed in doing that, if you stop wastage, you know, corruption and mismanagement, those are the fundamental things we have to achieve, but it is not something Nigerians will see so soon. It is not something that you can take home now. The basic things that Nigerians would want to see, an improvement in their lives. For example, basic thing like power. It is something that can be achieved in no time, to get electricity to every home and industry in our country. We can get it done quickly because it can be a foundation to growth and development.
How long will it take you to do that?
Give and take, one to two years. Yes, you can achieve that to the level of saying we can provide electricity and Nigerians will see the difference in their lives. It is very possible. You can also address this problem of poverty. Honestly, people are extremely poor. You and I don’t know that but get out of Abuja, even five, 10 kilometers and see how people live there. The distribution of wealth is very unequal. So, many people are having a good life, too much good life. And these are a few people, but it is difficult for the rest to eat; to eat is a problem to them. So, we need to provide those basic things immediately that can give relief, like food security. We need to improve it quickly. We need to also provide security. Security means for you to live in peace and you are not afraid of the next person to you or you will not get into your house and be afraid that somebody will come in or afraid of kidnappers or afraid to get into town.
I was just on my way yesterday to spend my Christmas in Jos and suddenly, we encountered a terrible scene. Those are things that we need to sort out immediately. Security. The insecurity problem is big. From Niger Delta down to everywhere. That can be addressed immediately, so that Nigerians will not totally be in captivity of armed robbers, kidnappers, of religious mad people, crazy people who do not get it right at all.
You can fix it?
Oh yes! It is a priority. And likely for me, I am qualified to do that more than anybody. I can comfortably tell you that. I can beat my chest. I can do that. I can solve power very quickly. I can provide security because I am qualified to do that. The reason we messed it up so badly is that people who do not know what internal security is all about are managing us. The head of state is the most important. We have had military heads of states, whose only training was to kill enemies.
That is not their primary training?
No. Not to provide peace, stability and security. I mean enforcement of laws. This is what security is all about. They were not trained for that.
So, you believe when ex-soldiers say they can provide security they don’t really know what they are talking about?
They don’t know what they are talking about. I am telling you they don’t know. Nigerians are not their enemies for them to fight. When it comes to internal security, it is a specialised sector.
They can only compound it?
I can tell you that. I can assure you of that. And also, you do not pick people with no experience, who are never exposed to the Federal Government’s structure or establishment because security is the responsibility of the Federal Government. Part of the problems we have is that we have had consistently, either stale people or military people coming to be in charge. I was shocked when I got into government at a very close range, when I realised how empty, the lack of understanding of the basic security system and structure at the highest level of our country. People didn’t know and they still do not know, particularly the soldiers. They don’t know.
What’s your message to the young people of this country?
It is about their own future. It is the future of the young men and young women today, who are growing in our country. Everything that we are doing today is about them. It is about their own future. And it is the motivating factor. It is the reason we just have to do it. What do we have for them? It is their own country; it is their own resources. They must be given opportunity to participate, to be involved, to contribute to make Nigeria work. They are denied this chance today. They are not part of the system. They have been removed out of the scheme of things. Our young men and young women do not have jobs today. The money is being wasted. A situation where probably about 75 per cent of our own money goes to recurrent and less than 25 per cent goes to capital development is bad. This capital development is what is supposed to create jobs, what is supposed to bring new things in our own country. There is no hub. The entire resources goes to servicing government, servicing people who are in government, whether they are parliamentarians, whether they are chief executives, civil servants, parastatals, all these incredibly huge monster called government that has nothing to offer or to deliver right now. No idea of how to create jobs. Let me give an example of Abuja today.
Look at Abuja. As rich as it is, we do not even have factories to employ our young boys and young girls. It is all about servicing big men. Any young man or young girl that comes into Abuja now, the only available job is for him to be a houseboy or a house girl to a parliamentarian, minister or to a big man. It is a tragedy. It is not right.
This is the point. We are saying that the time has come for this resources to be used to create jobs for these young men and young women; for them to be given chance to contribute in the development of our own country, to redirect the resources away from wastage, going into small group of people, into few hands for the common good of all of us. To diversify, to give them opportunities for their own dream to be a reality. This is about the future of Nigerians. They are the ones who will make it possible. If we have the chance, that will be the priority.
You asked me the things I needed to do. Three things: you know I talked about power, security and job creation. How to get jobs for these young boys and young girls; these Nigerians who are also entitled to contribute, who it is also their legitimate right to participate in governance, in the affairs of our own country. And we can create jobs quickly. We can diversify; we can encourage private sector development; we can bring capital to help support initiatives. We can improve. For example, you know there are areas where our young boys and girls are doing extremely well and can compete at the international level. For example, the entertainment industry. It is a sector that can employ so many if it is well supported. There are other areas we can support. We can improve the agricultural sector to also provide jobs for the rural young boys and young girls.
If I become president, I intend to make sure that in every school, primary or secondary, will be provided something, like bread and egg for every child going to school. Through that, you don’t know how many jobs you are going to create. It is a continuous chain because through that, you are going to give bread, you will have the bakers and then you will have poultry and continuously, the chain and at the same time, you are also encouraging young boys and young girls to remain in school. And even parents to bring their own children to school because they are assured of this meal. These are some of the things, smart things that you can do to make a difference. I do intend to build houses. My intention is to repeat what UK did after the World War 11 when they embarked on building houses, mass housing. With this mass housing, you can imagine the number of jobs you will create. And if you manage it very well, it is not going to cost you a lot of money. It is not like what we have had before, where they will take billions upon billions, maybe only 10 or 20 percent will go to the real work. Invest five billion dollars into houses today and you will see the jobs you will create in addition to getting houses for our people to free Nigerians from this continuous fight with landlords. Imagine if you have one million houses in Abuja in the next two years.
And it is possible. I am telling you. It is not even possible, it is going to happen because I see myself as the next president of Nigeria and it will happen. You will see what is going to happen. Those are things that can easily convert these our resources into jobs for our boys and girls. And the economy will grow through that.
Somebody said you were like David fighting Goliaths, in terms of your opponents in the race?
And David succeeded. (Laughs).
You don’t subscribe to this issue of zoning or no zoning?
Yes. The job of a president should be for the best we can get in the country and it must be a constituency that is one constituency called Nigeria. Wherever you can get the best, I think we should go for it.
So, it doesn’t matter whether he is from North, South, East?
Absolutely. I am running as a Nigerian, who wants the best for Nigeria. And that is what matters and that is what is going to make a difference for our country. We need competence; we need people who can deliver. We need people who are unifiers. We will never do well if we end up with a sectional person who is going to become a national leader. My belief is that if you do not have Nigeria first, you will not have northern or southern Nigeria. Northern and southern Nigeria is there simply because there is Nigeria. And a president of Nigeria must be a president of Nigeria.
Eric Osagie
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has been speaking on his chances in the April polls, declaring himself God’s candidate.
In a Boxing Day interview at his Abuja residence, the lanky ex-cop, also threw punches at those who think he has little experience in politics to aspire to the nation’s highest leadership position.
He also spoke on the alleged ‘deal’ leading to his return from a two-year self-exile abroad, insisting he has no reason to be grateful to President Goodluck Jonathan under whose dispensation he returned.
Ribadu was asked if he felt comfortable being in the same party with Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State and ACN chieftain, who he reportedly once listed among the nation’s alleged corrupt governors. His answer? Wait till you turn the pages of this explosive interview.
The former EFCC boss also spoke about his narrow escape from death, the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, former Vice President Atiku, Abubakar, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as, his agenda for Nigerians if he is elected president.
You have never been a politician. You have been a lawyer. You have been in the police and you have also been in the public service. So, how would you describe your experience so far on the political turf?
Very interesting. Also satisfying. Not disappointing whatsoever. I am very happy and pleased with what has been the case so far. I was born into politics. I am from a political family, although I had never practised it. I decided, out of my own choice, to go into public service and I remained there all through my working life. My point of entry in politics now has opened up a new chapter altogether, a new experience. But the most fascinating one is the unbelievable interest, enthusiasm, which I have got. What I see daily, those that I meet on the way; the taxi drivers, the gentlemen at the airport, inside an aircraft…
Only yesterday (December 25, 2010), I was on my way back from Port Harcourt. Two people brought me cheques and said: ‘Nuhu, please, this is my own widow’s mite to help in this (cause).’ Those things have touched me. Unbelievable. They made me to believe in it more than ever before and it has also made me to understand that politics is not about money. It is not just about bad people who have always been at the forefront of it. It is about what people are yearning for and people are looking for the right thing and the good thing and they will come all out to support it. It is a massive encouragement. It made me to have new absolute faith in our future.
You mean you are shocked at the reception you have been getting?
Yes, pleasantly shocked. I never imagined that, because of the belief was that you must have money to do certain things. Or you have to be somebody with very deep pocket for you to make it. I had nothing when I got in, but we have achieved so much so far. I have seen people coming to donate property when we were looking for offices. An individual will come and say, ‘take it, I am not taking a penny from you.’ I have seen owners of property saying, ‘ok, pay only just half (of the rent) if it is your own office. I have seen young men and young boys, young guys coming in thousands, thousands and thousands all over the country for the first time in the history of Nigeria. You will see educated young boys, majority of them graduates, coming to give their time, their energy, their resources into this project, at no cost. If you go to my office, you see them 24 hours, not just in Abuja but also across the country. And there are so many of them in thousands and daily, it is improving; the Team Ribadu Group. So, these are all interesting.
And you never expected this?
No. Absolutely no. But you know, it is not just about the young men, even the older people. Our parents themselves are included and they are all shouting Ribadu! I met an old man who happens to be a colleague of my father in the parliament of the 60s. He said, ‘Nuhu, we are so proud of you. It means that everything that we did has not come to nothing. Please carry on. That was our dream and that is what we hope will become a reality. We have seen the hope in you, in what you people are trying to do.’ That, touched me. It shows that it is not about the young men and the future; it is also about those who attempted to do what was right and did something that was proud of. It is about the seed that they planted. They suddenly see it germinating. So, those things are issues that will be interesting and very pleasant.
Why did you decide to join politics and the presidency? Was it an inner conviction or you were dragged into it or you saw that the time was ripe for it?
It is a combination of so many things.
At what point did you decide to take the gauntlet? Was it when you were at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or was it when you were abroad? At what point did the presidency thing and politics come?
It was actually 2010. I might not say this is the specific date, but it is 2010.
After you came back?
Maybe about the process of coming back. But it all started a long time ago and it started with my resolve to go into public service. I made up my mind in 1985 to go into public service, not to go in the pursuit of money. I said that what will make me happy is that my calling will certainly be to serve; do what I consider the common good of all our people. And on my own, I chose the opportunity to be of public service. That was in 1985 when I joined the Nigeria Police after qualifying as a lawyer. I had several jobs; I had the option to go into private practice. I would have joined the multi-nationals. I had amazing opportunities to make money if that was what I wanted. I could have got out of the country. I had all these, but I said no, I think what will make me happy is public service. That was when I made that decision, but that decision was not to be a politician. So, I served in the Nigeria public service for 25 years, but it was terminated about two years ago abruptly.
Was it a very sad event for you?
Yes, yes.
You felt so bad?
Yes, because I thought it was not justified. I thought that there was no reason for it and I genuinely wanted to continue to contribute and help and work all my active public career life and it was stopped…
You were retired when you were not tired?
Absolutely. I was certainly not tired. As you can see, I am still not tired.
Well, it was stopped and this opportunity came now.
And then you went abroad?
Yes. Well, I cut off that part. Actually, Umar Yar’Adua stopped my own public service when he said he dismissed me, but I challenged it in court. The final nail was when this government retired me, which is this year. So, at the point of retirement, I will have to do something.
We heard that your coming back to the country was part of an agreement between you and the incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan?
(Cuts in) Never.
The story was that they would get you back and then make you special adviser on narcotics, drugs and all that and that they will retire you. Was it part of the agreement?
(Cuts in) No.
What agreement did you reach with him when he met you in US?
I never reached any agreement with him. Not at all.
But the presidency believes it did you a favour by bringing you back when Yar’Adua drove you out of the country?
Which favour? Did he (Jonathan) say so?
Well, that is the insinuation everywhere; that ok, he brought you back…
No. I am a Nigerian. You don’t bring me back to my own country. It is my own country.
So, you are not grateful?
No. It is not a matter of being grateful. What is it? I am a Nigerian and nobody said I have committed any crime or offence. So, you have to commit an offence, in the first instance, for you to be granted…
So, the pardon means nothing?
Nobody pardoned me. You pardoned me for what?
But you couldn’t come back for two years plus…
This is because they attempted to kill me.
Are you saying it was real?
Well, if you can go now, you will see… You have to go and take the picture of the bullets on my vehicle now. When we get out of here, you must take the picture. I survived it and I left the country on my own, voluntarily.
You haven’t told us how you left, whether it was through another route or through the famous National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) route?
(Cuts in) Of course, through the NADECO route. It is a democracy route. You need to go through it for you to qualify (laughs). So, I went out because if I had stayed, they would have killed me. No doubt about it.
Why did they want to kill you?
Well, I don’t know. I mean, there are so many people who were killed. It is not I alone. A lot of people were killed in this country.
You were removed as EFCC chairman and sent to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS)…
(Cuts in) They did everything you can imagine.
And got you out of the graduation ground and now you say they wanted to kill you? What is it that Nuhu Ribadu actually did? What, in your mind, did you do?
I think you need to help us to ask them. It will be good and interesting to find out because there are still some people who might just explain what really was the cause of that, but for me, I don’t know. I really don’t know.
And you came back?
I came back. I mean, it is my own country. Maybe it was God that made it possible. It is God, not anybody.
Since you came back, you started thinking of politics?
Certainly, as I was going to get back to the country, I do have fairly a wide network. I know people in this country a lot. I have friends and people who are close to me, know how much concern I have about my country and how interested I am to be part of whatever that can improve this country. And I have had a lot of people telling me ‘well, Nuhu, it is only right for you to be part of the process that will improve our country, to continue to bring the change that is needed.’ So, as I was going through that, of course, you know it is a transition year. And if you want to continue with public service and you are retired from the civil service, there is only one option and that is the only way you can go. It is only through politics that you can get an opportunity to contribute. So, that was ongoing and then. I still believe, a lot of people are talking about it, including myself, the need for this country to change. But we need to have a new beginning, to start afresh, to do things properly and correctly and I believe I am one to make that possible. I stand as a symbol of this change in my country and every opportunity for me to take a stand to help bring this positive development in our country, I will be the first person to take it. I will always stand by the Nigerian people. I will always take the challenge to help our people.
While this debate was ongoing, transition time, I came out, I was there in the United States (US). I had the opportunity to interact and work at that level. I knew what is needed for us to move forward as a country. I had a period of reflection; everything came together at the same time and I said, God, be by my side. God, you know my intention; God I want to continue to serve. Whatever that you have given me, in terms of my own education, in terms of experience, knowledge and network, God I want to continue in service. I want to continue to serve you, to serve my people; to serve my country is service to you as well. I want to take that opportunity in my belief that what matters most in this country today, is the position of leadership at the highest level. That is the greatest challenge. Ability for us to get a leadership that can do what is right. To lead with honesty, transparency, accountability, with respect for people, compassionate at the centre, listening. Leadership that can pull this country together and build unity. Leadership that can be a difference and not the one that we have had before. That is the biggest challenge at the highest level; the leadership that can bring this desired change that I am talking about and I am absolutely convinced and confident that I can provide that leadership because on the basis of what I have seen, what I have done, my own experience, I can do it. That is all I have got.
All my life, I have always taken challenges. When I joined the police in 1985, a lot of people, except those who knew me, were very, very angry saying, ‘Nuhu, how could you ever get to the police? What is in you that has anything to do with the police? Nobody in your family ever joined the Nigeria Police. This and that, you do not physically look like one. A qualified lawyer from northern part of Nigeria opting to join the police, is very unusual but something inside me was telling me to go for it, that it was the right thing to do. And I wanted to contribute my own part to the promotion of justice and fairness in my country. I wanted to fight injustice, whether in a very small way or in a big way. So, my mind was ready. The same thing happened when I started the EFCC. Everybody was saying how dare you? Heads of states tried it and they failed. Some of them got killed because of their attempt to address or fight corruption.
Who are you? How dare you? But something told me that I could do it. And I went for it and did it with fear of God and honesty and the rest is history. Nigerians know what happened. So, it is the same feeling that I have. God be my witness. I am getting in with His own fear and love for Him and love for my country and my people. I want a chance to pay back for what my country has done for me, to help rescue these our people. Not just me alone, but there are so many Nigerians with dream and this expectation. God count me in.
Did God answer you?
I believe so. That is why I am where I am today, because if it wasn’t so, I probably, would not be where I am today. With no resources, nothing. And it is daily growing and it is being taken very serious daily and I am very much convinced in God’s work.
Some people would have thought that if you are going to primary two, you start from primary one and you progress. How come there are other offices in the country and you just say look, I want to start from number one position, the presidency? Because people are saying oh, why can’t he run for other positions? Why can’t he go to the Senate or become governor? Why do you think you should be president of this country?
I have heard people saying that. One of the reasons I have decided to do this, is because that is where I think I will play my best role. I am a federal person. One of the reasons we got things wrong was because people who were unprepared for positions got in there. If you are a state man, you won’t know what the dynamics and the intrigues of the Federal Government is all about.
Are you referring to the late President Yar’Adua?
Yes. There are so many people like that because they didn’t know how the Federal Government is run. I have been a federal person for 25 years of my life and I am an international person. I fit in perfectly there. I have been an executive person all my life. So, if it is a matter of choice, it is better I go to the executive line than the legislature and I know where the problems are and where the solutions could come. The fastest way to solve the problems is the executive responsibility. You need a good person who is honest in that position.
Some people talk about political experience and they say look, this is not about police, this is not about security, this is not about EFCC. That you don’t know how the dynamics of government work. I mean, being in the executive position in a political setting. That how can Nuhu Ribadu think because he ran the EFCC, a small unit that is not up to a division in the Nigeria Police, he can be president?
My goodness! You need to be honest and be fair to me and look at my own history; what I have done in life and compare it with even those who have been president in Nigeria before and who even want to be president. First and foremost, I am a lawyer. I was a qualified lawyer before even starting my public service career. How many were lawyers who ever became presidents of Nigeria? Or even graduates? How many people served for 25 years of their lives before becoming president of Nigeria?
Not a single one ever. I put 25 years of my life into public service. Public service at the Federal Government level before aspiring to be president of Nigeria. Look at the history of Nigeria. Is there any single person with that history? How many people were, for example, prosecutors? In the world today, if you ask for leadership, whether it is Tony Blair or Bill Clinton, almost all of them went through this process in being lawyers, practising lawyers. I was a practising lawyer in Nigeria for years. How many had the opportunity to create an agency of government from the scratch? Look at the people who want to be president and all those who were presidents before. EFCC is not just about fighting corruption; it is about creating an agency that delivers; a government agency that has remained central to the remaking of Nigeria.
It is a household name today in Nigeria and outside the country. It is one of the most important outfits that changed the course of our history in this country. I created it. How many of them were in the economic team that managed the economy of Nigeria? I was a member of the economic management that rebranded the economy of Nigeria from A-Z, with very positive reserves. How many of them were fellows of such universities or any university in the world? How many of them went to Harvard University? How many of them have master’s degree in Law? How many of them worked at the international level? I worked at the Centre for Global Development. I addressed parliaments in the world, including the biggest democracies in the world. I did all that. How many of them would tell you that they have records or results of fighting corruption, which is our biggest problem? I want any one of them to come and show me on ground, put it on the table, their records or what they have to show for fighting corruption. Any one of them, all of them, including even people who claim to be men of integrity. Integrity is not just talk. It is what you see. I will tell you what I have. I will tell you the results of the work I did in fighting corruption. So, integrity is your greatest credential?
I am grateful to God for that. And it is not by mouth. Anyone who says that he has integrity, let him bring it on the table for integrity test. I can tell you, people gave me money, I took them to court and charged them for that. I tell you that after I left office, they came and checked me for many years. My enemies took over the EFCC and they could not get one pin as an evidence of my own wrongdoing. People tried everything on earth to get me.
Even if people don’t say Ribadu is corrupt, they say you were excessive during your stint at EFCC, pursuing people everywhere, that Obasanjo was using you?
Yeah, they will always say so. When you fight corruption, they will always say things like that. When they cannot get anything to nail you, they will always claim this and that.
Now, between you and I, did Obasanjo try to use you?
No, no, no my brother.
Was it coincidental that enemies of Obasanjo also became the targets of the fight against corruption?
You see, the point about fighting corruption did not just start today.
Was it coincidental?
Let me tell you. When General Ibrahim Babangida staged his military coup and removed General Muhammadu Buhari, the first thing he accused Buhari of was that he was selective. That was it. It is the same thing, but you have seen the result of what happened after that. It is not different from my own. Anyone who came to fight corruption, they will tell you that. They accused Murtala Muhammed of the same thing, of being selective. So, there is no difference in my own. The only thing I will tell you now is that anyone I brought to justice, please, let him come and I will tell him the reason I did what I did and Nigerians will judge. I have all the evidence with me up till now, in terms of what really happened. It is not about being selective at all. If you fight corruption, you will always, especially, if you are able to overcome those basic things, for instance, if you are not corrupt yourself and you could not be swayed away from doing the right thing, the cheapest and easiest thing for them to say is that you are selective and without even supporting it with evidence. I have been consistently telling Nigerians that anyone who says he was selective, let him come. I am waiting for him to come and I will still share with Nigerians why he was brought to justice and the reason we had to take the steps we took. There was nothing personal.
Almost all the people that I brought to justice, I swear to God, a lot of them are my friends because they knew and understood clearly that it was not personal. And honestly, it was not personal. It is a very difficult job. You needed to do it. Someone must do it, very tough one. But it has to be done. So, I did it. My job as EFCC chairman, if you do it honestly, you must really do those things. You must. There is no way for you to avoid it.
So, Obasanjo didn’t tell you to go after anybody?
Never. Even if he did, it never worked. The point about it is that if you are like that, you will never get result. That was the reason we succeeded. And we succeeded because the EFCC had a solid foundation.
But you made some mistakes also?
Yeah, let me just get to that point. I wanted to explain to you that the EFCC is standing today because of what we did. You will not succeed unless you avoid two fundamental things. We worked and got results. The results are for the whole world to see and they have seen them. You will never succeed if you are corrupt yourself. You will never succeed if you are selective. It would not work. These are the two things you must avoid. And if you are selective, I am telling you that others will not come along because it is not an area that you decide alone. The judiciary is out there. The judiciary will never come with you if they know you are selective. They will never. We succeeded in getting this conviction simply because they understood what was going on. The evidence we assembled were brought before them and they decided themselves. It was not we that decided those cases. I had over 90 per cent conviction record.
Well, your predecessor, Mrs. Farida Waziri, would dispute this claim. We heard that you did not do much, that it was only on the pages of newspapers you fought corruption. They said there was nothing to the noise about Nuhu Ribadu doing this and that. They said there was no record of single conviction.
But you are in Nigeria. Are you not in Nigeria?
So, what is your own view about that?
Well, I asked the question. (Laughs) But the point is that I am not going to waste my time taking on the people who took over the job from me. It is waiting for another day because in the first instance, it is perceived as if I am an aggrieved person. And whatever I say might be misunderstood or misconstrued. So, I will rather leave Nigerians to judge. Nigerians will know those people who were brought to justice then, who were convicted. Nigerians will know whether public officials are being brought or challenged, like the way we challenged them. The international community will always decide. Almost every single case that is ongoing today, are my own cases. Every single case, I created them. I made them: Halliburton. It was I, personally. Siemens and Panalpina. International corruption cases, not to talk about Nigerian cases. Every single governor that is being brought to justice up till now is my own case. Not a single case came out since I left. So, what is it that I would talk?
We are going to leave the EFCC now because this interview is essentially not about that agency.
And I also don’t want to talk about the EFCC.
I understand what you mean. But I would ask this one last question on the EFCC and move on. For the records, did Atiku Abubakar bring you into the EFCC as he has claimed?
He did not. He did not bring me into the EFCC.
He said he brought you in; he identified you and they had to amend the EFCC Act to accommodate you since the position, by the Act, ought to be headed by an AIG or its equivalent. What really happened?
To be honest, this is not the right time for me to discuss this. I am going to simply say Atiku did not bring me to EFCC. The point is that those people who made it possible for me to be in the EFCC are still alive and please, endeavour to go and ask them. The reason I got into the EFCC was, first, because I was qualified and there were people I worked with. Before I joined the EFCC, I was literally responsible for almost all the most important cases in Nigeria. I was the one doing almost all the important cases in my country. Before I joined the EFCC, I was the one prosecuting the biggest names in our country. I was prosecuting the Abachas, Makanjuolas, the former speaker, Salisu Buhari, Oputa Panel. I was a member of the tribunals, almost all the tribunals; the religious disturbance tribunals and I was involved in the military tribunals that prosecuted coup plotters. I was involved in the failed banks inquiry. All these things, I was central. I was at the heart of all those things. I was central to the entire justice sector in Nigeria and I participated fully in all these things. So, in terms of qualification, when it came, when they were looking for someone to be the pioneer chairman of the EFCC, there was no dispute about it. I worked with Kanu Agabi when he was Attorney- General. I worked with him during the failed banks in the 90s and those were the things that made them to appoint me.
Now to your party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The leader of your party, Bola Tinubu, was governor of Lagos State and somebody brought it to my attention that he was one of those you listed as being corrupt at the National Assembly. How comfortable are you being in the same party with the man you allegedly once labelled as corrupt?
(Cuts in) I did not say so.
Ok, for the records, did you say he was corrupt?
Never, I did not say so.
What happened? Was he listed among those you were investigating for corruption?
Well, let me tell you, in fact, what is going on in my country today. You know, it is Bola Tinubu they are trying to get at. Whoever is doing that, I just want to look at it as a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) propaganda. This is an individual who fought PDP and refused to allow PDP to take over Nigeria completely. He stopped them at Lagos gate and he gave chance for the opposition to re-organise themselves and they are coming back to free Nigeria from this unbelievable strangulation of the PDP. He is their number one enemy and they are fighting him tooth and nail, everything. And when I joined the ACN on the basis of a party with so many people, like him who fought for democracy, who fought for democracy and have something to show for it, right from the NADECO days up to this one, fighting PDP is the biggest contribution towards addressing the problems of this country.
Therefore, they want to continue this fight in a different way. So, whoever is saying that, I am telling you, he is either a PDP man or a sympathizer. Or unwittingly, you are helping the PDP. So, that is not the case. When it comes to the issue of what I said before the National Assembly, I can assure you that I did not say that he was a corrupt person. No. Go back to the records and see. It was the National Assembly, the Senate specifically, that called me to brief them on the investigations going on then. And I went through it state by state and when it came to the turn of Lagos State, I said the investigation of the governor of Lagos had an international dimension because, at that time, I knew the Metropolitan Police of London were investigating him. I said that investigation was ongoing and that was it. I did not say anything other than that. And I am very happy. You see, God has a way of working out things for you. I believe that nobody could influence the Metropolitan Police. If they are doing an investigation, no one could stop them because you will not say you are used or misused by them or you used them or misused them. And whatever they do, it will be something that they can stand and defend and they have a justice system that works. At the end of the day, with all their investigations, I have not seen any action that they took against Bola Tinubu. He still goes to the United Kingdom (UK) freely; he transacts business there and certainly, it is not that they have anything against him. If they have had it, by now they would have brought him to justice. This is all I said with respect to Bola Tinubu, which is now being twisted simply because they want to continue the fight against him for what he did to PDP. And then, unwittingly, Nigerians are just being deceived.
For me, in fact, I thought Nigerians would even understand who Nuhu Ribadu was by simply looking at what happened then. He was the greatest enemy of the PDP and I was working with the government of the PDP. He was formerly the greatest enemy of the Federal Government, in terms of political enemy, that is what I mean, but nothing happened to him during my days. This just go to show about the issue of being selective. At that time, so many PDP people were being brought to justice. That tells you about me. I am what I am.
What’s your attitude to wealth? Is it that you don’t like money?
I am not a material person by nature and I am grateful to God, I have a simple life and I am ok. A little thing takes care of me. I am not really by nature, a material person and I am grateful to God. And I am not even impressed with anything material.
And you claimed to have rejected a whopping sum of money from your friend, James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State?
Of course. I mean, there were several others. James was one, but we rejected from several others and we even used it to show how public servants should be, could be and must be. And that is why when people are talking about integrity and fighting corruption, these are features Nigerians must pay attention to.
How do you feel now that he’s in a legal cul de sac? He’s going through a hell of a time.
Well, I feel sorry for James because he is a human being. I am not celebrating the fact that justice caught up with him but justice is justice. There is nothing I can do about it. But as a human being, I do not really celebrate such a thing, no. No, no, no. I have nothing personal against James Ibori. Honestly. If I see him today, I will shake hands with him. And he knows that.
Now, you are in the race. What are the three critical factors, three critical problems you will address if you are elected president of Nigeria? What are the three basic things Nigeria needs now to get working in your order of priority?
Very good. Which means you have to do it in the context of what you need to be, who you need to be and how you want to do it for you to achieve those things. You need to do absolutely, good governance. Change the way government is run. Are you getting me? Let it be a different thing all together the way we manage ourselves. And if you succeed in doing that, if you stop wastage, you know, corruption and mismanagement, those are the fundamental things we have to achieve, but it is not something Nigerians will see so soon. It is not something that you can take home now. The basic things that Nigerians would want to see, an improvement in their lives. For example, basic thing like power. It is something that can be achieved in no time, to get electricity to every home and industry in our country. We can get it done quickly because it can be a foundation to growth and development.
How long will it take you to do that?
Give and take, one to two years. Yes, you can achieve that to the level of saying we can provide electricity and Nigerians will see the difference in their lives. It is very possible. You can also address this problem of poverty. Honestly, people are extremely poor. You and I don’t know that but get out of Abuja, even five, 10 kilometers and see how people live there. The distribution of wealth is very unequal. So, many people are having a good life, too much good life. And these are a few people, but it is difficult for the rest to eat; to eat is a problem to them. So, we need to provide those basic things immediately that can give relief, like food security. We need to improve it quickly. We need to also provide security. Security means for you to live in peace and you are not afraid of the next person to you or you will not get into your house and be afraid that somebody will come in or afraid of kidnappers or afraid to get into town.
I was just on my way yesterday to spend my Christmas in Jos and suddenly, we encountered a terrible scene. Those are things that we need to sort out immediately. Security. The insecurity problem is big. From Niger Delta down to everywhere. That can be addressed immediately, so that Nigerians will not totally be in captivity of armed robbers, kidnappers, of religious mad people, crazy people who do not get it right at all.
You can fix it?
Oh yes! It is a priority. And likely for me, I am qualified to do that more than anybody. I can comfortably tell you that. I can beat my chest. I can do that. I can solve power very quickly. I can provide security because I am qualified to do that. The reason we messed it up so badly is that people who do not know what internal security is all about are managing us. The head of state is the most important. We have had military heads of states, whose only training was to kill enemies.
That is not their primary training?
No. Not to provide peace, stability and security. I mean enforcement of laws. This is what security is all about. They were not trained for that.
So, you believe when ex-soldiers say they can provide security they don’t really know what they are talking about?
They don’t know what they are talking about. I am telling you they don’t know. Nigerians are not their enemies for them to fight. When it comes to internal security, it is a specialised sector.
They can only compound it?
I can tell you that. I can assure you of that. And also, you do not pick people with no experience, who are never exposed to the Federal Government’s structure or establishment because security is the responsibility of the Federal Government. Part of the problems we have is that we have had consistently, either stale people or military people coming to be in charge. I was shocked when I got into government at a very close range, when I realised how empty, the lack of understanding of the basic security system and structure at the highest level of our country. People didn’t know and they still do not know, particularly the soldiers. They don’t know.
What’s your message to the young people of this country?
It is about their own future. It is the future of the young men and young women today, who are growing in our country. Everything that we are doing today is about them. It is about their own future. And it is the motivating factor. It is the reason we just have to do it. What do we have for them? It is their own country; it is their own resources. They must be given opportunity to participate, to be involved, to contribute to make Nigeria work. They are denied this chance today. They are not part of the system. They have been removed out of the scheme of things. Our young men and young women do not have jobs today. The money is being wasted. A situation where probably about 75 per cent of our own money goes to recurrent and less than 25 per cent goes to capital development is bad. This capital development is what is supposed to create jobs, what is supposed to bring new things in our own country. There is no hub. The entire resources goes to servicing government, servicing people who are in government, whether they are parliamentarians, whether they are chief executives, civil servants, parastatals, all these incredibly huge monster called government that has nothing to offer or to deliver right now. No idea of how to create jobs. Let me give an example of Abuja today.
Look at Abuja. As rich as it is, we do not even have factories to employ our young boys and young girls. It is all about servicing big men. Any young man or young girl that comes into Abuja now, the only available job is for him to be a houseboy or a house girl to a parliamentarian, minister or to a big man. It is a tragedy. It is not right.
This is the point. We are saying that the time has come for this resources to be used to create jobs for these young men and young women; for them to be given chance to contribute in the development of our own country, to redirect the resources away from wastage, going into small group of people, into few hands for the common good of all of us. To diversify, to give them opportunities for their own dream to be a reality. This is about the future of Nigerians. They are the ones who will make it possible. If we have the chance, that will be the priority.
You asked me the things I needed to do. Three things: you know I talked about power, security and job creation. How to get jobs for these young boys and young girls; these Nigerians who are also entitled to contribute, who it is also their legitimate right to participate in governance, in the affairs of our own country. And we can create jobs quickly. We can diversify; we can encourage private sector development; we can bring capital to help support initiatives. We can improve. For example, you know there are areas where our young boys and girls are doing extremely well and can compete at the international level. For example, the entertainment industry. It is a sector that can employ so many if it is well supported. There are other areas we can support. We can improve the agricultural sector to also provide jobs for the rural young boys and young girls.
If I become president, I intend to make sure that in every school, primary or secondary, will be provided something, like bread and egg for every child going to school. Through that, you don’t know how many jobs you are going to create. It is a continuous chain because through that, you are going to give bread, you will have the bakers and then you will have poultry and continuously, the chain and at the same time, you are also encouraging young boys and young girls to remain in school. And even parents to bring their own children to school because they are assured of this meal. These are some of the things, smart things that you can do to make a difference. I do intend to build houses. My intention is to repeat what UK did after the World War 11 when they embarked on building houses, mass housing. With this mass housing, you can imagine the number of jobs you will create. And if you manage it very well, it is not going to cost you a lot of money. It is not like what we have had before, where they will take billions upon billions, maybe only 10 or 20 percent will go to the real work. Invest five billion dollars into houses today and you will see the jobs you will create in addition to getting houses for our people to free Nigerians from this continuous fight with landlords. Imagine if you have one million houses in Abuja in the next two years.
And it is possible. I am telling you. It is not even possible, it is going to happen because I see myself as the next president of Nigeria and it will happen. You will see what is going to happen. Those are things that can easily convert these our resources into jobs for our boys and girls. And the economy will grow through that.
Somebody said you were like David fighting Goliaths, in terms of your opponents in the race?
And David succeeded. (Laughs).
You don’t subscribe to this issue of zoning or no zoning?
Yes. The job of a president should be for the best we can get in the country and it must be a constituency that is one constituency called Nigeria. Wherever you can get the best, I think we should go for it.
So, it doesn’t matter whether he is from North, South, East?
Absolutely. I am running as a Nigerian, who wants the best for Nigeria. And that is what matters and that is what is going to make a difference for our country. We need competence; we need people who can deliver. We need people who are unifiers. We will never do well if we end up with a sectional person who is going to become a national leader. My belief is that if you do not have Nigeria first, you will not have northern or southern Nigeria. Northern and southern Nigeria is there simply because there is Nigeria. And a president of Nigeria must be a president of Nigeria.
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About Me
- Team Ribadu
- Team Ribadu is a youth driven, flagship volunteer movement for the Nuhu Ribadu 2011 presidential bid. It is “a political movement, founded in recognition of the legitimate thirst of Nigerian youth for a new kind of leadership marked by integrity and competence. It seeks to harness and support the tidal wave of young people, who are eager to get involved in the electoral process, in order to create political and social change”.