14 Dec 2008 |
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Before engaging myself fully in this intervention let me make my position very clear from the outset. I am not anti-Ribadu in the critical sense of the word. And I am not pro-Ribadu either! I am rather patriotically pro-EFCC, pro-rule of law and pro-due process in the entire system. I'm not wholly anti-Ribadu because I believe there are some evidence of persecution and victimization here and there against his person. When one fights corruption corruption is bound to fight back. And when one fights corruption selectively victims are bound to hit back having suffered undue exposure to ridicule and dehumanisation. But let me hasten to add here that Ribadu is a victim of his own desperate schemes and controversial stewardship as the EFCC Chair. No one in his or her right senses can ever deny Ribadu his place in history as former anti-graft czar who scored above average mark in his battle contre fraudsters and political thieves. I'm not pro-Ribadu because a lot of emotions and passions are running wild in every direction befuddling issues at stake and showing undeserved solidarity with a fallen czar out of favour with the establishment. The polarised Nigerian media and well-known partisan commentators are somewhat united in their vociferous lionizing of Mallam Ribadu whose tribulations are not without some contradictions. Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission primarily to subdue his political and economic opponents especially those opposed to his mooted but failed third term bid. And secondarily (albeit half-heartedly) to fight executive and economic graft. He achieved the former objective than the latter even if third term was happily defeated at the Senate. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is embattled in all fronts, he is a glorified victim of the same system that once brought him some feelings of invincibility and a sense of immunity from the claws of the law; he must have been feeling fagged out by now! Ribadu cannot be more than (or above) the system that threw him up in the first instance. Nothing in life is constant but change. A change in status has occured and he must tow the line or be swept away by forces greater than him. Ribadu, a so-called lawyer, would have displayed a stupid sense of judgement if he had ever thought that his life depended on the EFCC or that he was indispensable. Hard facts and deeds about Ribadu have been exaggerated by an intellectual mob, at home and abroad, to cast the Adamawa-born bespectacled ex-EFCC boss as a national hero beyond reproach whose achievements merit nothing but accolades by ordinary Nigerians and cannonization by the state. This attitude, no matter how popular, is damn wrong! How many of the ex-Governors Ribadu's EFCC investigated and charged to court have been convicted? Are Joshua Dariye, Ayo Fayose, James Ibori, Lucky Igbinedion, Chimaroke Nnamani, Orji Uzor Kalu, Saminu Turaki, Boni Haruna and Jolly Nyame not fre today? Was Ribadu's charge sheet not convincing enough to warrant indictment or the wheel of justice is slow and compromised? Where are the 31 former Governors we were told garrulously by Ribadu were stewing in high-wire corruption whom would be arrested and prosecuted after their tenure and immunity must have expired? Come on, I think there is a missing link somewhere. Nuhu Ribadu would have made a better publicity-courting show-biz man than the police vocation he chose for himself. Undoubtedly he is relishing the hype, the media attention focusing on him and what he did right or wrong as the strongman in the EFCC. Ribadu knew the power of the media and packaged himself very well before many men of the press. He often fought graft more in the pages of newspapers and news-magazines than in his office. He courted the media to no end providing sometimes some comic relief to a nation blinded by mindless looting of public funds. The options available to Ribadu post-Obasanjo were limited. But he chose to stretch his luck too far. He should have resigned without much noise after his godfather-benefactor left Aso Rock or stayed put and face every storm that came his way without complain. He should have gone on exile rather than playing victim (after victimising many unjustly) at every given opportunity. Playing small god with delegated power (which has now been withdrawn) ought to be denounced. Wisdom recommends that he quietly took his fate with equanimity after his demotion and humiliation at NIPSS in Kuru-Jos. In any case he invited his humiliation to himself: how could anyone, if not out of arrogance and contempt for the system, have attended a certificate-awarding ceremony of a strategic institute like the NIPSS without your service uniform on? He voluntarily and deliberately made himself the odd man out! Why, if one may ask, is Ribadu afraid to wear the uniform that made him? Or he feels too important and the uniform too cheap or worthless for him to wear? When he was posted to Benin City to assume duty by his superiors Ribadu, knowing that he was fraudulently promoted in the force by an Obasanjo that had his own self-succesion agenda, should have obeyed, and arriving there, decked in his DCP uniform. But summons after summons from the force headquarters Ribadu has shunned each and every summon emanating from IGP Okiro's office, exhibiting a crass insurbodination that calls for nothing but dismissal as the disciplinary committee has recommended to the PSC. In the eyes of the Police Service Commission Ribadu remains an over-rated beneficiary of a fraudulent promotion -- something that must be undone in the interest of justice, due process and police procedure. What about the missing files in the EFCC? Ribadu and his henchmen have been accused to have aided and abetted the disappearance of classified documents from the EFCC offices. Why did he say Obasanjo was not corrupt since there was no evidence of fiscal misdeed when we all know that the Ota farmer smelt corruption from head to toe? Who and who played a part in the criminal smuggling of vital files from EFCC's offices prior to the resumption of Mrs Farida Waziri? Truth be told: Nigeria is a haven for executive corruption with impunity. Yes there is an institutionalised corruption in our dear country. But this cankerworm cannot be effectively fought outside the civilized context of rule of law and due process. Going public with high-profile allegations of corrupt practises against power wielders (with little or no sound proof or water-tight charge sheet) betrays tactlessness and pettiness. More than ever before the EFCC post-Ribadu must be de-dramatised and the Ribadu saga which has assumed a dramatic proportion must be de-dramatised as well. If the current EFCC management must achieve positive incontrovertible results then all hands must be on deck. Nigeria deserves no less! Mrs Farida Waziri is going about her onerous task with dignity, without the noise and showmanship associated with the Ribadu era of razzmatazz. She may surpass Ribadu's records with determination and patriotism. She needs our collective moral support and prayers rather than unwarranted criticisms and PHD (Pull-Her-Down) syndrome. Postscript: Now that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has allegedly fled abroad in morbid fear of many powerful enemies he created for himself it is to be believed that at long last the Ribadu riddle has been cracked for good. Tasting the bitter pill (exile) he forced many to swallow may not be seen, after all, to be a bad thing. That Saul-Paul Damascus experience might transform him! SOC Okenwa
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