Ribadu does not qualify to be the man of the year in Nigeria. Certain things are too obvious to miss. To continue to deny the obvious things or to continue to polish fallacies to make them acceptable or conventional is crime in itself. Any reasonable person in Nigeria who followed Obasanjo’s intentions knew that he wanted to have a third term as the civilian president. His greatest tool was the use of Nuhu Ribadu as EFCC chairman to torment ALL voices of opposition or perceived antagonism. Ribadu executed the herculean task with precision. He went after Obasanjo’s enemies and spared the friends. The common thing between the friends and enemies of Obasanjo and Obasanjo himself remains the fact that they are all corrupt. They are all looters!

When the rubbishing game started as Obasanjo’s plot thickened, Ribadu had a choice to resign as the EFCC chairman but he didn’t. He openly and happily executed Obasanjo’s grand design but in the end, both Obasanjo and Ribadu failed. The opposition to the third term bid was too strong to smash. The ordinary masses who are victims of corruption spoke out loud and clear and the National Assembly had no way around it. They could not amend the constitution.

Ribadu is not a saint. He had the opportunity to be one but he screwed it up. When he was supposed to nail Andy Uba, he didn’t. The extremely corrupt guy had used Obasanjo’s jet to ferry dollars across the world. We all knew that was a golden moment for him to cast out the doubts that some of us had about his anticorruption crusade and the mechanisms. He flopped big time! Ribadu boasted about what he would do to all the corrupt governors in Nigeria after May 29. What he did in the end was to commit very serious crimes against the people of Nigerian and the nation. Plea bargaining of the EFCC under the leadership of Ribadu is equally as serious as the charges of corruption against the governors/politicians themselves. Such a process made Ribadu an accessory to crime. A thief is a thief and should not be encouraged in anyway no matter the circumstances. Plea bargaining is a tool that encourages looting and the further spread of hopelessness in Nigeria. The people are suffering and dying worthlessly in the process. Mass poverty continues to spread like a wild fire.

Corruption is organized in Nigeria. Truly, It is not a job for one man to fight. More so, since nobody would resign in Nigeria even if they are asked to bow to Okija a hundred times over to do a dirty job, there is still a little room to hail Ribadu. He had some notable achievements and the most significant seemed to be the arrest/prosecution of Mr. Affidavit James Ibori, an ex-convict and ex-governor. Ribadu succeeded before the end of his reign to put Ibori behind bars. Ibori is alleged to have supported Yar Adua with funds meant for Delta state indigenes. My sympathy to the honest people of Delta State. I may soon send my congratulations to the worshippers of Ibori. Their man is on course.

I will not engage in the argument of whether Ribadu should have been retained or sacked. In Nigeria, things are not always the way they seem. Under an illegitimate Yar Adua, joining words with people parading stolen mandates is not wise. What is certain though is that the real fight against corruption in Nigeria is yet to begin. When it starts, possibly when 140m takes to the street on the same day, the likes Of Obasanjo, Babangida, Atiku, Anenih, Igbinedion, Adedibu, Odili, Etteh and David Mark would know where they belong. The list would grow to encompass those who demeaned Nigeria from 1960 to 2007. They would land in court or end in jail and the real turning point in Nigeria would begin. Even Yar Adua and Iwu would not be spared in a real fight against corruption. The likes of the Ubas and Aondoakaa at that time when we start to fight corruption will understand the real meaning of the rule of law.

Ribadu did some jobs very well but his score sheet is not enough to earn him the title of the man of the year in Nigeria as published by the Guardian Newspaper. That is an insult to people who are honest and going about their jobs in the most dignified manner. I am quite convinced that if a public opinion had been conducted, we may have found one or two men in Nigeria who are saving lives without being medical doctors or deceitful men of God. We could have found a man who had created, through honest means, a way for others to escape poverty or penury and not a person like Ribadu who under his leadership, encouraged such vices. We could have gone to a primary school or a high school somewhere to find a teacher who is changing and molding lives under extraordinarily unusual circumstances. We could have gone to a community somewhere and find people who are volunteering to do the jobs that the governors have neglected. There are individuals in Nigeria who are doing the work of local government councilors out of their own personal earnings.

The list of contenders would have been so long that the eventual winner would have gone home with tears of joy in his eyes and not a fat pocket. Indeed there are people in Nigeria who have retained 100% integrity and honesty through thick and thin. Ribadu is not such and he therefore does not qualify for that title.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Thy Glory O’Nigeria…!

Robot  # 1 | 02.01.2008 11:16

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Mikky jaga  # 2 | 02.01.2008 13:02

I do not like the man, Ribadu. I believe he is not doing justice to the war against corruption. He is too compromised by his blind loyalty to Obasanjo to be of any use in fighting corruption. That said, however, I believe Ribadu qualifies to be the Man of The Year 2007. Tell me, how many Nigerians would give the President so much sleepless nights deciding how to remove him without losing face? How many Nigerians would generate so much controversy by their being asked to proceed on a course? How many Nigerians would their sack receive comments from Soyinka, Gani, Falana, NBA, Keyamo etc? How many Nigerians had generated and is generating so many articles and posts on NVS as Ribadu? How many Nigerians would make the high and mighty in our midst, by just the mention of their names, quake like Ribadu? And how many Nigerians could put the Chief Law officer himself in his place that he has to seek help from IG of Police to remove his nemesis? Only Ribadu meets all of the above requirements. He is therefore qualified for the Man of the Year 2007. A man of the Year, in my own thinking, is the man whose activities within that year affect the largest number of people for good or for ill. Ribadun fits that bill very well

RAYNOSA  # 3 | 02.01.2008 14:32

This proves that majority of us NIGERIANS are hypocrites. To me the MAN OF THE YEAR ought to have been given to the Police officer who found and returned about £100,000(N24million) in NIGERIA. Nobody mention that as an unbelievable thing to happen in NIGERIA let alone from the cop. To me Ribadu Nuhu might have rejected the £15million bribe because he knows this might be a ploy to blackmail him. Come to think of it how would the have paid that kind of money without a trace.

fxo  # 4 | 02.01.2008 15:46

Maybe, The Guardian's criteria for the choice of 'Man of the Year' is not excellency of virtue but excellency of mediocrity. Maybe they will like to set the record straight.

NWANZA  # 5 | 02.01.2008 16:02

=RAYNOSA;4294977058>This proves that majority of us NIGERIANS are hypocrites. To me the MAN OF THE YEAR ought to have been given to the Police officer who found and returned about £100,000(N24million) in NIGERIA. Nobody mention that as an unbelievable thing to happen in NIGERIA let alone from the cop. To me Ribadu Nuhu might have rejected the £15million bribe because he knows this might be a ploy to blackmail him. Come to think of it how would the have paid that kind of money without a trace. Saddam Hussien Dug a hole in the ground and buried $75,000 and himself. During the 3rd term debate, there were gana must go bags with billions of niara. Some ministers insist on being paid by $bills during OBJ regime. If you have a shovel, I will tell you where to go treasure hunting in naija....bring Nuhu or somebody scary.

Faddy  # 6 | 02.01.2008 16:31

Nice article, l really enjoyed it. You are absolutely right, "Corruption is organized in Nigeria." Come to think of it, majority of Nigerian will always kow-tow to corrupt politician, soldiers, public servant etc despite the fact that the individual know that the person is corrupt. Hopefully one day, Nigeria will move away from the "get yours mentality" apology to Obugi.

Frisky Larr  # 7 | 02.01.2008 16:42

A well presented argument that is flawed in reasoning. Thought along this line, every Nobel (peace) prize would be subject to questioning like they always are. The ultimate goal however, is what virtue the prize seeks to promote at the given time. Since one can only pick on one choice, it should be a choice with maximum impact and not the virtue of a police officer who returned lost and found. The police office was honest and that would have meant promoting honesty. But the wind would have blown it away from political relevance after a few weeks if not months. With Ribadu, a political point has been made and the prominence of the matter focuses the searchlight on the credibility of the government. That is most relevant at this point in time.

Frisky Larr  # 8 | 02.01.2008 16:44

Furthermore Gentlemen, What is conspicuously obvious in this debate is the folly-bound rationale of not comprehending that Nigeria has never being a normal country that can be measured with the yardstick of normal societies. Ribadu's OBJ-loyalty led to a one-sided probe that was characterized by double standards. But was there any standard before that at all? The prevailing standard before Ribadu was "stealing till thine kongdom comes". The bold start was made by Ribadu's double standard and that should be built upon. Ribadu represents a thaw on the ice of untouchables. He has now crossed the threshold that shields high office holders. If empowered, this same Ribadu could have been redirected to broaden his fight. So strange how Nigerians choose to be too bitter about irrelevant issues and confine themselves thereafter, only to one-sidedness in reasoning. Was Iyabo OBJ not slowly being dragged into the net? The political atmosphere of 2007 that facilitated Ribadu's loyalty is long gone. Only politicians who seem to have lost stakes in that process will maintain this sort of deep-rooted and strictly biased and destructive animosity in denial of a constructive forward movement! Ribadu's removal at this point in time is simply wrong and it sends a very wrong signal as well as betrays the President's obvious intentions no matter what cosmetic actions may follow soon.

Dapxin  # 9 | 02.01.2008 18:14

=Frisky Larr;4294977072>Furthermore Gentlemen, What is conspicuously obvious in this debate is the folly-bound rationale of not comprehending that Nigeria has never being a normal country that can be measured with the yardstick of normal societies. Ribadu's OBJ-loyalty led to a one-sided probe that was characterized by double standards. But was there any standard before that at all? The prevailing standard before Ribadu was "stealing till thine kongdom comes". The bold start was made by Ribadu's double standard and that should be built upon. Ribadu represents a thaw on the ice of untouchables. He has now crossed the threshold that shields high office holders. If empowered, this same Ribadu could have been redirected to broaden his fight. So strange how Nigerians choose to be too bitter about irrelevant issues and confine themselves thereafter, only to one-sidedness in reasoning. Was Iyabo OBJ not slowly being dragged into the net? The political atmosphere of 2007 that facilitated Ribadu's loyalty is long gone. Only politicians who seem to have lost stakes in that process will maintain this sort of deep-rooted and strictly biased and destructive animosity in denial of a constructive forward movement! Ribadu's removal at this point in time is simply wrong and it sends a very wrong signal as well as betrays the President's obvious intentions no matter what cosmetic actions may follow soon. Your excellency, :) While I have disagreed with your analysis most of the time in the past. This is spot on. Its amazing how we forget! Pre NR, there wasn't even any form of discourse on anti-corruption issues. At a time, when NR + his efcc gang can be forced to do away with the determinable flaws of their processes, some of us are asking that the whole wheel be reinvented. Sounds like what programmers call recursion. One piece does it job, and calls itself again...only this time in the building of a wrong structure. I am waiting for what Yaradua and his abuja gang will make of the the days ahead post NR @ the efcc.

K_Station  # 10 | 02.01.2008 18:21

=Frisky Larr;4294977072>Furthermore Gentlemen, What is conspicuously obvious in this debate is the folly-bound rationale of not comprehending that Nigeria has never being a normal country that can be measured with the yardstick of normal societies. Ribadu's OBJ-loyalty led to a one-sided probe that was characterized by double standards. But was there any standard before that at all? The prevailing standard before Ribadu was "stealing till thine kongdom comes". The bold start was made by Ribadu's double standard and that should be built upon. Ribadu represents a thaw on the ice of untouchables. He has now crossed the threshold that shields high office holders. If empowered, this same Ribadu could have been redirected to broaden his fight. So strange how Nigerians choose to be too bitter about irrelevant issues and confine themselves thereafter, only to one-sidedness in reasoning. Was Iyabo OBJ not slowly being dragged into the net? The political atmosphere of 2007 that facilitated Ribadu's loyalty is long gone. Only politicians who seem to have lost stakes in that process will maintain this sort of deep-rooted and strictly biased and destructive animosity in denial of a constructive forward movement! Ribadu's removal at this point in time is simply wrong and it sends a very wrong signal as well as betrays the President's obvious intentions no matter what cosmetic actions may follow soon. Frisk my man! It is only you that could me make comment here today. I realise that some people just don't get it, and may never do no matter how you try to make them see reason. But it's okay and like I said earlier, whether you like or dislike Ribadu, we are all in this together and time will tell. You and I with millions of Nigerians see the 'cup' (the achievements of the EFCC under Ribadu) as half-full in a country where the cup is almost always empty. Many cannot see the 'cup' as anything but half empty. I am waiting to see who will replace NR, and see where the EFCC is in six months. Typical Nigerians, we'll now start saying things like, "Things were never like this during Ribadu's years..." Take care my man as I wish you and other progressives on the NVS a happy prosperous 2008.

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