Ribadu: Between Politics And Integrity

Everything was fine in
the Adamawa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) until the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, defected to the PDP.
Prior to Ribadu’s defection, the PDP in Adamawa State had remained a strong force and poised to take back power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) where the ousted Governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako belongs. With Ribadu’s apostacy and his resolve to vie for the governorship position on PDP’s platform, the party, both at the state and national levels, is in for serious crises. The PDP is already polarized.
Based on our peculiar type of party politics, Ribadu’s movement to the PDP should not come to anyone as a surprise. Inter-party defection has become a popular trend and something Nigerians have been forced to live with. It gradually assimilates into our political system.
But a situation where a ‘saintly’ or ‘puritanical’ Ribadu and an avowed anti-corruption crusader treads a doubtful political path duly occasioned by his political ambition is indeed astonishing and precarious. The anti-corruption czar is not alone in the gale of defections. A former Lagos State governor and army general, Buba Marwa, and many APC chieftains in Adamawa State have also defected.
These men moved swiftly when they saw that the handwriting on the wall was as clear as daylight that waiting a bit longer would spell doom for them. They defected when the APC was in power and while the former governor was still in the eye of the storm, having fallen out of favor with the lawmakers.
As pioneer head of the EFCC, Ribadu was invincible and commanded inexplicable respect. He was a legend in the country. His words were god, and they were as sharp as his deeds, particularly when dealing with anti-corruption issues.
He was a national figure whose influence crisscrossed the country. Any wonder then that he took the highly-favored President Goodluck Jonathan to the cleaners in Osun State in the 2011 presidential election.
However, following his recent action, those who thought Ribadu to be sagacious and upright may have to eat their words. This was a man in whose mouth PDP became a subject of daily vituperations and abuses. He had once described the ruling party as the cancer that ate deep into the essence of the Nigerian society.
He described how the PDP, with its almost 16 years in the saddle, had nothing to show for it; and how it was a party of murderers etc. Now, can Ribadu tell Nigerians what changes have occurred to warrant his defection to the party? Can he state why he thinks it is only in the PDP he can seek and actualize his gubernatorial ambition? Will it surprise anyone then if he returns to the APC if he loses the ticket in the PDP?
It will hardly amaze anyone neither will I be over-stating the fact if I say the former EFCC boss is treading in the footsteps of his master and a former Nigeria’s Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who once had the ticket of the opposition party, ACN, contested but lost and returned to the PDP.
Torn between integrity and his political ambition, Ribadu appears obviously unwell politically. He is ambition-drunk and excessively desperate for political power. For how long shall we continue on this path? When will Nigeria’s democracy be old enough to have men of integrity who will remain in their party come what may?
Ribadu’s declaration that both PDP and APC are one and the same and that both parties have the good and the bad, is nothing but an afterthought to justify his ignominious action. This is a volte-face that would haunt him hereafter.
The PDP and other political parties in Adamawa State should be wary of political office seekers in the mold of Ribadu, who parade the corridors of political parties in search of elective positions. They should settle for tested and credible candidates that will not betray them afterall.
If Ribadu could betray and ridicule a party that generously entrusted him with a presidential ticket, what is the guarantee that he will not act in the same way to the PDP should he be denied the gubernatorial ticket he seeks from the party? That is a food for thought for the ruling party.

Arnold Alalibo