Ribadu Must Advise Tinubu Wisely -By Ochereoma Nnanna

The appointment of Nuhu Ribadu as the National Security Adviser carries a warhead of meanings. As the premier Chairman of the EFCC under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Ribadu once listed Tinubu (then Lagos State Governor) as one of the corrupt governors. He said Tinubu was being investigated for “an international crime”. In February 2007, Ribadu said: “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would not escape justice but would be made to face the full wrath of the law”.

Four years later, the same Nuhu Ribadu emerged as the presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, led by Bola Tinubu in the 2011 presidential election. Tinubu was not yet ready to run for president, so he put Ribadu on the ballot of his party. The question on the lips of many astounded Nigerians was: what happened?

Here is how Moses Ebe Ochonu, an academic, author and Professor of African History at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, USA, depicted Nuhu Ribadu’s character in an elaborate article he wrote in the 5th April 2011 edition of Sahara Reporters:

“In Ribadu, you have a man who has mastered the art of pretending to be a progressive populist while he is at core an establishment man, willing to engage in the most despicable moral compromises in order to secure power…But was Ribadu an effective anti-corruption figure? The objective answer, as I outlined in previous articles and online commentaries, is negative”.

Here was Ribadu who, after a celebrated media trial of Bola Tinubu for alleged corruption, turned around to become his political disciple! Ribadu has not told Nigerians if he was wrong in tagging Asiwaju Tinubu for corruption. All we see is that they suddenly became very close. Tinubu not only gave him the presidential ticket of his then rapidly rising political party, but went ahead to appoint him as his number one presidential security aide! Whatever could have led to this thriving partnership?

This story says one more thing that Nigerians need to know about the dude who bestrides Aso Villa as their President. This man does not have the typical shallow mindset of a Muhammadu Buhari who was driven by raw primordial fancies in taking decisions. He always goes for whatever or whoever will help him to his objective. Tinubu does not operate by sentiment, well not too much. He “reached out” to a naïve chatterbox Ribadu and converted him to a nice little pet, leveraging on two real or imagined “sterling” attributes of the policeman: patriotic passion in public service and his largely positive public image.

I am not sure if, as Ochonu observed above, Ribadu was exactly a flop as EFCC Chairman. But one thing you cannot deny of him is that he gave the EFCC a mystique which has stayed with it till today despite the open nest of corruption it has become. I have heard a number of negative things about Nuhu Ribadu, but I have not heard that he “stole” as his successors – Farida Waziri, Ibrahim Lamorde, Ibrahim Magu and Abdulrasheed Bawa – were accused.

Wait a minute – does it mean that only Northerners and Muslims can be EFCC chairmen? I ask this question because even the new guy appointed by Tinubu (Abdulkarim Chukkol) is also from that background. Is there anything in their ethnic and religious backgrounds that equip them to fight corruption better than Southerners and Christians? Just asking for a friend.

As I was saying, Tinubu has demonstrated throughout his remarkable political career that he can work even with his arch enemies if that is what it will take for him to reach his goal. That is a good leadership quality. Tinubu can negotiate deals. Just pray that what he is after is not evil.

Tinubu obviously believes in Nuhu Ribadu. Now is the time to taste the pudding. Will the real Nuhu Ribadu step forward? The killings in Zamfara, Southern Kaduna, the Plateau and Benue are intensifying. If nothing is done and pretty soon, Fulani herdsmen militants will deploy again beyond Benue, Plateau and Southern Kaduna. Under Buhari, Fulani militants posing as herdsmen were not even regarded as terrorists despite emerging as one of the most murderous terrorists in the world according to the World Terrorist Index. The bandits in the North-West and North-Central are still killing and abducting.

Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, leader, Maazi Nnamdi Kanu is still in state security custody despite a court directive for his unconditional release. The Biafra separatists are watching to see how Tinubu and his security architecture will approach their issue. Tinubu the dealmaker must also get going in that direction. The Igbo or Biafra question is a giant item on the Nigerian agenda. National security is not only about killing people or hoping to crush their spirits. You only multiply and intensify your battlefronts. Tinubu must never get tired of talking to aggrieved Nigerians.

Nuhu Ribadu must advise him wisely.