Time To Take Another Look At Ribadu

By Ochereome Nnanna

How times have changed! Once upon a time in this country, the mere mention of “EFCC” (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) literally caused tremours among politicians, public officeholders and other highly exposed persons. But today, young men are popping up on Tiktok, boldly dancing on top of the Naira and daring EFCC to come and arrest them. Over the years, the Commission has lost its fear factor due to the malfeasance of its helmsmen.

Back then Nuhu Ribadu, EFCC’s pioneer boss, was feared more than President Olusegun Obasanjo who appointed him. Ribadu prosecuted and jailed a serving Inspector General of Police and one of Obasanjo’s political henchmen, Tafa Balogun, and confiscated over N16 billion allegedly found in his possession.

While riding the crest of his fame, Ribadu openly called three serving governors – Bola Tinubu of Lagos, Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia and George Akume of Benue names and vowed to jail them. Today they are his friends and mentors. He has since denied ever saying so. He gave Najatu Mohammed a 14-day ultimatum to apologise for recalling that episode in an interview. It expired, and nothing happened.

In a hilarious turn of irony, Tinubu appointed Ribadu the presidential candidate of his – the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the 2011 presidential election. However, he reportedly went behind Ribadu to help the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Goodluck Jonathan, to win the election.

Despite Ribadu’s outbursts against Tinubu as an Obasanjo lackey, Tinubu has a soft spot for him. That much was evident in Ribadu’s appointment as Tinubu’s National Security Adviser, NSA. The NSA is the coordinator of a regime’s security architecture. Ribadu, who retired in 2007 as an Assistant Inspector General, AIG, is the first ever policeman to be NSA. His appointment rang bells.

Having been Tinubu’s pawn in the 2011 political chessboard, Ribadu and another trusted Tinubu political flunkey, Femi Gbajabiamila, started seeing themselves as possible president and vice president after Tinubu. Gbaja, the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, is Tinubu’s Chief of Staff.

Both started throwing their weights around at public functions, going everywhere with the president and looming so large. Following criticisms, especially the rumours of the duo’s reported political positioning, Gbaja wisely decided to duck into the shadows. But despite Ribadu’s steadily deteriorating security portfolio, he has continued to bath in Tinubu’s limelight in a manner unbefitting of that office. The real Ribadu is on display. At a recent public event, he chose to bow with both hands on his knees when Tinubu was about to take over the podium from him. Ever seen such a thing? Is this how to do the NSA job?

In November last year when the military announced the arrival of a new terror group called “Lakurawa” in the North-West, Ribadu saw it as an opportunity to beat Tinubu’s drums: “The so-called Lakurawa or whatever you call them, are making a mistake. Nobody dares Tinubu and wins – nobody! We will kick the so-called Lakurawa out of our country”. Seven months later, Lakurawa waxes stronger around the Kebbi-Sokoto-Zamfara axis. Not only that, a new jihadist terror group called “Mahmuda” has recently arrived in Kwara State. The jihadists are inching closer into the South-West.

I strongly believe it is time to take another look at Ribadu. He has allowed himself to be distracted by the allures of power politicking and political celebrityship. When the problem you were appointed to solve keeps getting bigger after two years, that is the meaning of FAILURE! Security is not one of those areas where you are allowed to repeat when you fail. We are talking about Nigeria’s territorial integrity, protection of the lives and property of defenceless citizens and removal of criminals, terrorists, jihadists and bandits from our bushes and farmlands. You cannot be chasing rats while your house is on fire.

Thirdly, under him, Fulani herdsmen militants have slaughtered thousands of people, especially in Benue and Plateau. They are making steady incursions into Enugu. In fact, there is no State where they are not terrorising Nigerians. It is Ribadu’s duty to coordinate efforts to wipe them out.

Instead, he went to Benue State and accused those lamenting Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism as “playing politics”. Ribadu sounds to me like a prominent Northern traditional ruler who wants to “deal with” the social media for exposing the expansionist agenda of his kinsmen from all parts of Africa.

I don’t see the difference between his utterances and those of openly pro-bandit Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, who has called on President Tinubu to allow Fulani herdsmen terrorists “guard our forests”!

I commend the President for his intention to form the national Armed Forest Guards, AFG, a synergy between the Federal and State governments. But I caution that Ribadu should be moved to where he can play politics.

Ochereome Nnanna is a columnist with Vanguard