Removing Ribadu
By Reuben Abati

I am surprised that many of the commentators on the removal of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have been sounding as if something strange and unexpected has just happened. Ribadu's removal was foreseeable.

The signals as I had argued in this column in "Yar'Adua, The Attorney General and the EFCC", were evident early enough in the desperation with which the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation was being used to harass the EFCC and its Chairman, and to obstruct the work of the Commission. First. the office of the Attorney General, specifically Michael Aondoakaa, the Attorney General himself, had sought to take over the functions of the EFCC waving Section 174 of the Constitution. Second, the same Attorney General of the Federation played an insidious role in the trial of James Ibori by a London Court when he chose to upstage the EFCC and provided such information that freed Ibori at the time from the strictures of the British judiciary.

Third, Michael Aodoaaka has been flying the kite of the possible merger of the various anti-corruption agencies, the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and the Code of Conduct Bureau following a so-called petition by Ebonyi state about a duplication of functions. But it is obvious enough that Aondoakaa is not just acting his own script. He is an agent of the President and of a clique within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, which under the Yar'Adua administration is playing a familiar game of deception.

Corruption is a way of life for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), and its associates, including their children and other family members, in and out of office. Although Ribadu is an appointee of the PDP, he was beginning to behave like a man who could turn against his own sponsors. By May 29, Ribadu had become larger than life, larger than the political party that put him in power. In his statements and in the protestations of his supporters, he was beginning to sound like a special creation that is superior to government. Such expression of independence, no matter how patriotic the intent may be, is unacceptable to the usual cabal that is in power in African states. African politicians like to send only one message: "I am in charge!".

It is these same forces that stopped Soludo's Naira redenomination policy and his reference to a certain law that grants the Central Bank of Nigeria autonomy, that have now moved in to stop Ribadu. Soludo had argued that the CBN Act empowers him to act on monetary and fiscal policies without reference to any superior authority. He had to be stopped, if only to remind him that the President is the superior and final authority. Ribadu and his supporters insist that his removal is illegal. They rely on sections of the EFCC Act dealing with his tenure of office and grounds for his removal and appointment. They argue that he has a renewed four year tenure, which has not yet expired and that the EFCC Act does not talk about a study leave such as has been imposed on him. They argue further that although the EFCC Chairman is a police officer, he is not under the control of the Inspector General of Police.

What the Yar'Adua government has done is to explode all of this by asking the Inspector General of Police to send the EFCC Chairman on a year study leave at the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). What President Yar'Adua has done is to put Ribadu in his place. This is yet another decision that has been taken purely for egoistic reasons. We may not believe this, but we are dealing with a President who cannot tolerate prima donnas. The politics of Ribadu's removal is obviously more important than its legality. We are dealing with an expression of power in an elemental form.

I stretch this argument again to cover my submissions last week here, in "Obasanjo's nemesis." The assault on the CBN, the EFCC, the harassment of Nasir El-Rufai over his tenure as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and other reversals of the planks of the Obasanjo administration and legacy amount in the end to an attack on former President Obasanjo. To be his own man, President Yar'Adua has to dismantle the old order and its agents within the system. Those who are have been sounding as if they are bereaved with Ribadu's exit should simply realise that we are confronted with a power contest within the PDP, a political party where individual egos are more important than issues.

But the danger is that this kind of politics shortens the length of our democracy and subverts in this instance, the initial gains of the anti-corruption war. I had argued that President Yar'Adua is not in a position to fight the war against corruption. His hands are tied. He has too many political IOUs to pay. His government is itself the product of a grand scale act of political corruption.

What I do not like, though, is his cowardice. President Yar'Adua must learn to act decisively. If he wanted Ribadu out of the way, he could have done so the moment he came to power. Nobody doubts the fact that the law grants him the powers to sack the EFCC Chairman. He can if he also wishes, dismantle the EFCC. Going about the same task in a deceptive manner is sloppy and time-wasting. The clear message is that the Yar'Adua administration is not serious about the anti-corruption campaign. The President should be ready to stand by his convictions and stop playing games.

The EFCC under Ribadu may have had its excesses, and these have been well noted (the charge of selectivity, the politicization of the work of the Commission, Ribadu's windbaggery, the use of the Commission by Obasanjo to target perceived enemies etc). But the same EFCC helped to raise the level of international confidence in Nigeria. Its work in the area of financial crimes helped to effectively criminalize the theft of state funds by public officials.

It further drove financial scammers, the notorious 419 underground. The Financial Action Task Force which had blacklisted Nigeria as at 1999 found cause to lift its embargo on Nigeria as a destination for investment capital. We also got better ratings on the Transparency International Index. Stolen wealth began to flow back into the Nigerian economy, it accounts largely for the boom in the Nigerian stock market in the past three years.

In the long run, it is the Yar'Adua administration that is in the dock. Ribadu is out, so what next? No man is indispensable, and nobody has said that Ribadu's name is written into the EFCC Act as Chairman for life, but how strong is the EFCC as an institution? Can it continue to function after the exit of its high profile Chairman? Is the EFCC bigger than one man or is it a one-man show?

And more importantly, how willing is the Yar'Adua government to sustain the war against corruption? Ribadu's exit surely provides an opportunity to test the strength of the EFCC as an institution and the commitment of the Yar'Adua government to the anti-corruption war. The easiest way to circumvent this charge is to bury the EFCC along with its Chairman and create as they have been proposing, a new anti-corruption body under a new leadership. Even if they do so, both civil society and the international community will remain interested in how the Yar'Adua government deals with the challenge of corruption and therefore subject its every move on this score to close scrutiny.

The second danger that I see is that the repeated policy somersaults now defining the Yar'Adua government and the seeming wholesale reversal of the work of the previous administration, without coherent explanations, sends a dangerous signal to investors in the Nigerian economy. It deepens the level of uncertainties in the system. It is a sign of instability. Who knows what the Yar'Adua government will dismantle next? Investors in the economy need to be reassured that this government will not continue to act in a manner that turns uncertainty into a veritable mechanism.

President Yar'Adua must realize that he will be judged on his own records. He has been quite active reforming the past. But when will be begin to focus on the present? Nigerians have lost seven months already, "turning and turning in the wildering gyre" under this Presidency. Effectively, there is just about 18 months left, before President Yar'Adua and his colleagues begin to ask for a second term in office, and when that campaign begins, governance will more or less grind to a halt. Nigerians would have been short-changed again.

As for Ribadu, he is exiting from the EFCC, with glory and mixed fortunes, but not disgrace. He has done a great job of drawing attention to the depth and spread of corruption in the land and the need to sanitise the polity. At great personal risk, he pursued his assignment with gusto The moment has now come for him to learn a few lessons about power politics. But if he wishes to force the issue, he can call their bluff and resign from the Nigeria Police Force right now, and thus make it impossible for the Inspector General of Police to send him on any study leave.

Since the EFCC Act allows the Chairman of the Commission to be a retired Police Officer, the Presidency will then be required to make up its mind and act courageously if it so wishes. There is a second option of course: Ribadu can eat the humble pie, act like an obedient servant and go off to the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, where his bosses think he will receive the further training that he needs!. He definitely has a choice in this matter.

Akintunde Asalu (1942 - 2007)

The death of Akintunde Asalu, 65, President of the Nigerian Shareholders Association (NSSA) marks the passing of major voice in the Nigerian civil society. Asalu devoted his time and energy to the promotion of the rights of shareholders of Nigerian companies. He gave the small, vulnerable shareholders a voice, by speaking up in the media and at nearly every Annual General Meeting to protect the rights of shareholders against the tendency of managers of Corporate Nigeria to abuse those rights.

He became a media personality in the process and a well known shareholder activist. Long before the boom in the stock market occasioned by the consolidation in the banking and insurance industry and the repatriation back to Nigeria of stolen wealth, Asalu had made the purchase of shares popular. He used to sound like a lone voice pursuing a peculiar objective but he soon found many followers as the population of ordinary Nigerians seeking wealth through investment in the capital market increased.

A 1967 graduate of the University of Lagos and a former staff of West African Portland Cement, Lever Brothers and RT Briscoe, Asalu, a one-time Gubernatorial candidate, was the author of a popular book titled "My Life of Stocks".

He bought his first shares, ten shares of Daily Times Plc in 1963, as a student of the University of Lagos, and rose to become a director of many quoted companies and one of the more active investors in the capital market with an investment portfolio of about N400 million. He had investments in over 150 Nigerian companies.

Company directors feared and respected him at the same time. He was the enfant terrible who was not afraid to stand up at Annual General Meetings to ask questions about the management of resources. He gave hell to bad managers. He encouraged good ones. He made inputs into government policy. He encouraged Nigerians to invest in the stock market, and at every turn, he took it upon himself to promote the cause of business.

Before his death, other shareholders associations and shareholder activists, obviously inspired by his example had emerged. These include the Independent Shareholders Association, the Progressive Shareholders Association and the Consolidated Shareholders Association. Asalu took up a simple assignment and raised it to a level of national importance. He will be remembered for his passion and commitment.

His campaign for a better deal for company shareholders remains relevant especially now in the face of sharp practices in the stock market. So frustrated is the House of Representatives about this issue that it has now threatened to stop further public offers by Nigerian banks. Again, the House of Representatives is merely making noise. It has no right or powers to issue such orders.

But that the Nigerian shareholder is suffering, or that there are sharp practices in the capital market, is not in doubt. Companies offer false information about the health and status of their stocks. Shares certificates are not released on time; meanwhile shareholders funds are held down. The Stock Exchange and the Securities Exchange Commission have been talking about changes in this direction, but the effect is not yet evident.

The task to which Asalu devoted the better part of his life, and for which he was recognized, was worthy of his effort. He was the Asiwaju of Ejigboland and a promoter of the power of civil society organizations. He will be greatly missed.

Robot  # 1 | 30.12.2007 09:52

It is the same forces that stopped Soludo's Naira redenomination policy and his reference to a certa...Read the full article.

akuluouno  # 2 | 30.12.2007 10:03

Le etat cest moi (not Arap Moi) was coined before UMYA came to power thru iwuruwuru 07:D:D The man is in charge and should be seen to be in charge. All bucks stop on his desk as theyankees will say. Now NR has really bestrode the EFCC and the comcommitant fight against corruption like a colossus. No doubt about that. I just do not like the personificiation of jobs or duties. Le EFCC may not be est NR:idea::idea: But as I have said earlier the devil is in the timing of the removal of NR (At a time when Ibori is in Kaduna threatening to sing a song not too romantic or good for tango and Lucky Igbinedion planning to return to Nigeria). Coups and coruption are two monozygotic monsters that you fight in Nigeria at your own peril.:evil::evil:

blondie  # 3 | 30.12.2007 10:48

Abati has just said exactly what I have been saying. Nobody has said that Ribadu is indispensable. But the fact is that we are bound to cry blue murder when we consider that this government has been obscenely fixated on undermining Ribadu and his EFCC. I mean in a space of seven months Aondoaaka has not hidden the fact that his major preoccupation is engaging in a battle of wits with EFCC. He and UMYA make it all look like their raison d'etre is that Ibori and all corrupt former governors must be shielded from the force of the law. I only hope that this does not turn out to be a pyrrhic victory for UMYA and the AGF and PDP. Thanks Abati for this writeup. At least this comes close to delivering the coup de grace that people say that they do not seem to see you deliver in your articles.

Firma  # 4 | 30.12.2007 11:50

Thank you so much Abati for your write-up. I am also of the opinion that we need more than one Ribadu all over the country. I see this removal of Ribadu as a test to show us what Mr President can offer beside the existing structures. I will wait and see the next steps before I comment whether it is good or bad the exit of Ribadu from the frontline. Happy New Year in advance and hope 2008 will bring along more effective, just and impartial war against corruption in Nigeria.

aguabata  # 5 | 30.12.2007 12:23

I wish to take this opportunity to say that Abati is back again, he has lately been pussy footing on some articles, this article is powerful and conclusive, that said I'm not a fan of Ribadu, if he had played ball with OBJ (IF) why wont he play ball with the new boys in power in PDP. They simply wanted him to keep the old list of sacred cows, why he tore that list I dont know.

MrOneNaija  # 6 | 30.12.2007 12:28

TIME TO ARREST AND PROSECUTE RIBADU As I did argue elsewhere, the Yar'Adua administration has objective and credible reasons informing the commendable sacking of Nuhu Ribadu whose position as EFCC chairman had become untenable on account of his unpardonable treachery against the Nigerian constitution and the citizenry. Those reasons are stated in a commentary I wrote last July and in which I specifically called for the removal of the deeply compromised Ribadu. The article bears the title "Still a Vote of No Confidence: Why Nuhu Ribadu Must Go" (By Aonduna Tondu). It is freely available on the Internet, including, especially, on the Nigerian Village Square. Most discerning Nigerians will agree with the position taken there-in. As errand boys and active collaborators in the premeditated destruction and looting of Nigeria under the Obasanjo tyranny of 1999-2007, Nuhu Ribadu and the likes of el-Rufai played principal roles in the visiting of untold hardship and misery on the people of the country by perhaps the most depraved dictator in the history of Nigeria. That sordid legacy alone warrants the arrest and prosecution of Ribadu and his confederates. That Ribadu seems, for now, to be leaving the EFCC and heading for a training course instead of a prison cell is a mark of the generosity of the Yar'Adua government. If indeed Ribadu were an honourable person, he would have tendered his resignation the moment his political master and creator left office after his failed Third Term gambit. Nuhu, Ribadu, like el-Rufai, is a scoundrel and any attempt to impose a false and flattering image of him on unsuspecting Nigerians should be deemed as quite unfortunate. As for Yar'adua, his dismantling of the evil empire of the last tyrant at Aso Rock is a welcome development. For Abati and his likes to imply that such a dismantling exercise that targets an essentially anti-people administrative legacy is causing instability, amongst other imaginary negative consequences, is to minimize the gravity of the rot and havoc Obasanjo and his associates inflicted on the polity. And there is nothing inherently wrong with Yar'Adua wanting to wean the PDP from the sinful clutches of Obasanjo and his mafia. As a matter of fact, it is in the interest of the president and more so, in that of the Nigerian people, to remove the PDP from the stranglehold of anti-democratic forces represented by Obasanjo and his acolytes in the Bode George and Ribadu mould. If getting rid of the tainted Ribadu will facilitate that move, so be it! I'll reiterate here what I have said elsewhere: If Yar'Adua and his government want to atone for the nature of his ascendancy as president, they should systematically and purposefully pursue the dismantling of the callous and ill-advised anti-people policies of the last Obasanjo regime. Nigerians will admit that the extent and scope of the destruction left by the previous kleptocracy call for tough and courageous measures that should not spare the egos of wayward apostates. I repost here my reaction to the articles by M. Aluko and W. Soyinka on the sacking of Ribadu as EFCC boss. My commentary, "Still a Vote of no confidence: Why Nuhu Ribadu Must Go", is also included in my response. Happy reading! Iwu and Ribadu deserve to be in jail for their crimes against the people of Nigeria. Anybody canvassing for the continued operation of the two scoundrels within our socio-economic spaces should re-examine their moral choices... In some key respects, Nuhu Ribadu is by far a more pernicious fixture on the Nigerian political landscape. With Wuruwuru, aka Iwu, you know where you stand. Iwu makes no qualms about his brazenly corrupt identity. Nuhu Ribadu is a more crafty and yet more dangerous character. A notorious blackmailer, Ribadu seems to have mastered the art of duplicity and subterfuge. This disciple of reckless and criminal impunity operates with cold and opportunistic precision. He is a continuing and permanent danger to the Nigerian democratic project. The earlier Ribadu is permanently neutralized the better for the polity. The Yar'adua administration must not succumb to immoral pressures by reversing the commendable and long overdue destitution of Ribadu. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: Re: Exit Ribadu? - A Commentary by Wole Soyinka "GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH"! The sack of Ribadu as EFCC chairman, if confirmed, should be seen as a rare piece of good news emanating from Nigeria these days. Citizens will rejoice in the realization that one of the most brazenly rascally characters whose militancy in a profoundly depraved mafia organization led by the Nigerian Caligula called Obasanjo has at long last been forced to take an exit from an otherwise noble pulpit he desecrated with abandon. Together with his master, the Chief Thief, the thug called Nuhu Ribadu did inflict untold destruction on the Nigerian democratic process with his corruption-stained shenanigans. That Soyinka is expressing support for such a sleazy quantity speaks volumes. It is one more indication of just how much Soyinka seems out of touch with the moral issues of our times. At any rate, an individual who has demonstrated poor judgement in his embrace of the reckless tyrant known as Obasanjo cannot be trusted. Readers are strongly advised to refresh their memories with a re-read of my article on Soyinka's moral choices. It bears the title "Soyinka: Beating the Drums of Intolerance and Sectarian Regimentation". The commentary is availabe on the Internet. As for Ribadu's demise as a loud mouth who abused his official position by serving the devil instead of the people, let's just say that discerning minds did anticipate it. The following article is a case in point. Quote: Still A Vote Of No Confidence: Why Nuhu Ribadu Must Go By Aonduna Tondu Wednesday, 25 July 2007 There seems to be general consensus today that the anti-corruption outfit that goes by the acronym of EFCC (The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) is bedeviled by a serious credibility problem. Of course, it goes without saying that the moral crisis confronting the EFCC is largely self-inflicted and has to do with a leadership under an individual that lacks the discipline and sobriety required of a public officer in his position. To compound matters, Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC is still rightly perceived by Nigerians as essentially a partisan contraption in the service of the ex-tyrant from Ota and his confederates whose desperation to hang on to power as well as protect their suspected expropriation of the nation’s collective assets is fueling the continued selective hounding mainly of figures opposed to the former dictator called Obasanjo. For those who thought that the formal end of the disastrous eight-year rule by Kabiyesi would lead to a semblance of transparency and consistency in the way the corruption-fighting body operates, they must be shocked to learn that what citizens have been treated to since the installation of the Yar’Adua regime are the same loud media-driven antics on the part of Nuhu Ribadu and his associates. The EFCC under Ribadu is still essentially a mischief-ridden entity that pays lip-service to due process and is inhabited by the demon of political partisanship that plays to the gallery in an insidious war that dares not declare itself . Nigeria and the rest of the world should be alert. We have for too long been taken for granted by the very forces whose reckless disregard for the rule of law and the common good has in no small measure led to the profound sense of malaise the country is experiencing these days. The post-May 29, 2007 era has been one of acute societal anxiety. It is also a period of fear and trepidation on the part of those elements whose misrule between 1999 and 2007 in particular has inflicted so much suffering and misery on the average Nigerian. Precariously ensconced in their comfort zones, Obasanjo and his fellow riders on the Nigerian gravy train are increasingly feeling insecure and desperate. A case of post-Third Term blues, no doubt. On account of their sordid legacy, these revelers wrongly believe that a frontal attack on their political foes would ensure their stranglehold on our socio-economic spaces, hence the Ribadu/EFCC weapon of revanchist zealotry and impunity. That Yar’adua appears to have thrown his lot with the ex-tyrant and his foot-soldiers in the Ribadu mould in what is by all intents and purposes a continuation of the egregious war of attrition the Ota potentate and his acolytes have waged against much of Nigeria is a sad commentary on the former Katsina governor. Yar’Adua should dispel the impression that he is helping protect those politicians whose support – financial or otherwise – was partly responsible for his controversial emergence as president. The people must be prepared to fight Yar’Adua on this issue of critical national importance. He and his government should be made to realize that the anti-corruption struggle, for it to be credible, must be seen as above board, transparent and not tailored to cater to the whims and caprices of Nigeria’s scoundrels suffering from messianic delusions or their hangover. The point needs to be reiterated that under the PDP-led Obasanjo tyranny, most of the well-documented corruption in the nation’s public service was located at the presidency. The World Bank and the Auditor- General’s office under the former Acting Auditor-General, Azie, have remarkably added their voices to the chorus of damning testimonies regarding the rampant corruption and mismanagement under Nigeria ’s last ruler. A logical question then arises: Why are the EFCC and Yar’Adua so obsessed with some governors while at the same time refusing to turn the searchlight on that altar of infamy called the presidency under Obasanjo? For almost the entire duration of his profligacy, Obasanjo made himself the de facto oil minister. The oil sector in general was run like a primitive private enclave with neither transparent accounting nor the will to see to it that the great majority of citizens did benefit from a natural resource so strategic in their lives. Together with the oil domain, the so-called privatization scheme of the Obasanjo interregnum was reduced to something akin to a barbaric and wanton plunder of national gems in the likes of hotels, government houses, communications outfits, steel complexes and refineries, etc., to the extent that while lazy rent collectors and shylocks – friends or fronts of the regime’s main actors - of a decadent and convenient laisser-faire ploy indulged their gluttonous appetites and continue to make merry at the expense of the nation and its children, the country’s schools, hospitals, road infrastructure and industries, just to name but a few, have all but collapsed. Where then is the justice? Those who have greatly contributed to the state of anomie in the country today are not just the governors Ribadu and his political master, Kabiyesi are gleefully persecuting cheered on by a largely complacent national media. The principal character that presided over perhaps the worst type of corruption – election rigging – in the history of the country coupled with the systematic looting of the nation’s collective patrimony must be made to face the music. And, as a parenthesis, Nigerians will make Obasanjo account for his terrible human rights record. More than any other individual, the ex-tyrant and his former ministers should be probed considering the compelling wealth of evidence pointing to the widespread and unprecedented corruption within the federal administration in the past eight years. Nigerians must not forget that under Obasanjo, the federal government alone reportedly retained about 58 % of funds shared amongst the various tiers of government. Instructively, one of the former governors arrested by the EFCC has reportedly stated through his aides that a big chunk of the money he is accused of stealing did go to fund the notorious Third Term scam of the Ota tin god. It is unacceptable for the EFCC to hide behind forlorn excuses by flippantly refusing to probe the allegations made by Senator Turaki. There is also the matter of the money smuggling scandal for which an Obasanjo adjunct named “Andy” Uba has been indicted by the American authorities as revealed by court records. Again, the EFCC under Ribadu has invoked rather spurious arguments in their hypocritical refusal to investigate this damning scandal with potentially far-reaching implications. Where then is the justice?. “Andy” Uba, it should be remembered, it is who smuggled about one hundred thousand dollars ($170.000.00) on the presidential plane on which Obasanjo was a passenger. Court records show that a sum of forty-five thousand dollars of that amount was used for the purchase of equipment for the Obasanjo farms at Ota! Nigerians and the international community deserve to know the source of the money involved in the said scandal and to what extent it may constitute the tip of the iceberg in a suspected pillaging of the public treasury. And there is also the small matter of the over six billion naira swindle called the Presidential Library fund whereby highly questionable donations of suspected public money were made by corporate bodies and individuals. Surely, this scandal also deserves to be probed. The list is long but one must start somewhere. If Yar’Adua truly wants to be taken seriously, he should be on the side of the people and begin without further hesitation the probe of Obasanjo, his former aides as well as ministers. Fighting corruption has to be seen as a holistic enterprise and not just one informed by the vagaries of partisanship and opportunism. It will involve all and sundry. The conduct of the media will be crucial here. A situation whereby an indolent national media has due to its complacency and knee-jerk posturing contributed to the current *******ization of the necessary anti-corruption struggle in the land should be viewed with utmost concern. What has come to be derisively known as the Kabiyesi press because of its genuflecting and subservient mien vis-à-vis those in positions of authority has so far played a largely disheartening role. Merely echoing the partisan positions of agents of the EFCC obviously beholden to the ex-dictator from Ota, the Lagos-Ibadan axis of the national media in particular has helped Ribadu in the pursuit of his unwholesome ways. These days, the favorite tactic has been the planting of unsubstantiated rumors in the media that anonymous powerful forces are out to get him because of his supposedly principled stand! The aim, as always, it seems, is to whip up uncritical support for the shenanigans of an operative apparently imbued with a credibility deficit and his discredited outfit. Under Ribadu, our collective determination to truly fight official sleaze has been bogged down – frittered away in a swamp of contradiction, inconsistency and a tendency to grandstand emanating from the man and his political allies as was recently demonstrated by the orchestrated and illegal overthrow of former governors in places like Anambra, Oyo, Ekiti and Plateau. The immediate challenge for the Yar’Adua administration is therefore to help in the national effort to have Ribadu fired without further delay. Or, better still, the current EFCC chairman should voluntarily hand in his resignation. He should also publicly declare his assets. One more thing: The EFCC should render a transparent account of all the money and other assets recovered from looters. It is hoped that under a new and more credible leadership, the anti-corruption campaign will regain momentum and respectability which have been sorely lacking under Nuhu Ribadu and the previous Obasanjo regime. Aonduna Tondu New York P.S. In my very first published commentary on Ribadu and his antics, I did call on fellow citizens to stand up and fight the lawlessness of Obasanjo's errand boys under the direction of Nuhu Ribadu. Still available on the Nigerian Village Square and the web, the article in question bears the title "Driving Nuhu Ribadu Out of Town". __________________ 2007: Post tenebras lux.

K_Station  # 7 | 30.12.2007 12:30

Thank you RA for hitting the nail on the head. As ridiculous as this move is on the part of the UMYA govt, it is the fastest way to bring out their true color. Six months from now, we shall all see for ourselves. Will Ribadu's limited successess be reversed or advanced, we shall see.

Frisky Larr  # 8 | 30.12.2007 12:32

An astounding presentation by Reuben Abati, which shows how clearly he is able to see and analyse when his hatred for Obasanjo is not the focus. He has hit the nail truly on the head and my take on this issue that will be due on the NVS late next week is not saying anything different. In the end, the removal of Ribadu is grievously compromising an institutional fight. The fake power struggle within the PDP is in my own view, an outright smokescreen. It is obvious which interest group UMYA can afford to alienate within the party and how far he can also afford to alienate them. Why not simply focus on developmental projects and damn the interest groups to be a man of your own? In the end, the bottomline is simply power shift to the north with some consolidating safeguards. Nothing else!

Mikky jaga  # 9 | 30.12.2007 12:34

There is no way a government that preaches due process will be comfortable with Nuhu Ribadu. In spite of all efforts to bring Nuhu to realize the fact that things are no longer what they were under OBJ's jackboot democracy, he still goes about making himself out as some untouchable fellow, bigger than the people he is supposed to be representing. That was his mistake. Soludo tried the same impunity route, but mercifully retraced his steps early enough and things have quietened in that sector ever since. Ribadun has shown that he is not a team player in the fight against corruption. He wants the whole world to see him as the only bulwark against corruption in Nigeria, and some other people have to tell him he is quite wrong. I wish him success in school, and hope there will be no cans of worms when somebody else takes his seat at EFCC. It would be just too bad if we find out that our anti corruption god has clay feet.

aguabata  # 10 | 30.12.2007 12:58

Try and read Emma Nwude's (scammer) ordeal with EFCC operatives and how they handled the sale of his assets,and you will see the reality. I dont believe every accusation Mr Nwude made against EFCC nor is Nuhu Ribadu directly in the picture, he is indirectly responsible and it shows the soul of the organisation. But any experienced Nigerian should know roughly what happened to his properties.

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