NUHU RIBADU MAY EMERGE PDP CHAIR

Weeks after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was defeated in the 2015 general elections, indications have emerged that the pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, may emerge its next chairman.
LEADERSHIP learnt that the leaders of the PDP are zeroing in on Ribadu because of the public perception that he has integrity to match that of Buhari who is now APC’s leader which could be used as a bargaining edge in successive elections.
PDP apparatchiks believe that the party lost the last general election because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption credentials.
The PDP national convention where Ribadu and other Board of Trustees (BoT) members of the party will emerge is billed for August.

RIBADU TO PDP LAWMAKERS: PURGE YOURSELVES OF CORRUPTION FIRST BEFORE CHALLENGING APC

A Former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, has advised elected members of the National Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party to demonstrate integrity and probity if they want to be successful in their new task as opposition members in the national assembly.
He urged the PDP lawmakers to champion reforms in the National Assembly that have to do with full disclosure and pay cuts, to reflect the fiscal realities of the moment, which will also give them the right pedestal to engage the government.
Mr. Ribadu, who was speaking at a one-day retreat organised for members of the National Assembly elected under the PDP, said lawmakers, especially of the opposition stock, can be in charge of governance if they strictly hold on to their dual role of lawmaking and oversight.
“My first charge of you, therefore, is to urge you to be champions of probity in the workings of the National Assembly in itself, as well as in the Executive-Legislature relation. If Nigerians do not know how monies earmarked for the National Assembly are spent, or how much money a legislator earns, they will not support you casting any stone elsewhere.

BRING BACK NUHU RIBADU BY DAN AGBESE

When the then President Obasanjo appointed Mr. Nuhu Ribadu as the pioneer chairman of EFCC in 2003, he was an unknown quantity. Some of us saw his appointment as a sick and cynical joke in the so-called war against corruption that has generated intense heat since 1966 but no fire.
There was a good reason for our cynicism. It had to do with Ribadu’s primary constituency, the Nigeria Police Force. The force has been nobody’s idea of a knight in shiny armour capable of rescuing our distressed country from the iron grips of corruption. It was too much to expect Ribadu to fight corruption when many of his colleagues in the force were proud of the palm oil on their fingers. As we say, where would he start from?
Ribadu proved us all wrong. Within a few months of taking up his appointment and despite the initial lack of logistical support from the president himself, he showed that he did not see his appointment as part of the cosmetics of the war against corruption. His passion was proof of his commitment; his commitment was proof of his determination to help clean up our country and gain it some respect in the international community. He was the real fresh breath of air in a stuffy country that had lost its way trying to fight corruption in a dark tunnel.

RIBADU’S AMBITION IN JEOPARDY AS PDP SENATORS DEFECT TO APC

Less than three days to the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections, the gubernatorial ambition of the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has suffered a major setback as key stakeholders of his party in Adamawa State have moved in droves to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The defectors, alongside thousands of their followers, said their choice of the APC’s candidate was reached after a careful scrutiny identified him as the best candidate for the job, hence their total support of his ambition.

RIBADU: YOU DON'T CHANGE A C-IN-C IN THE MIDDLE OF WAR

Citing the latest successes recorded by the military in the ongoing campaign against terrorists and the recapture of territories previously occupied by Boko Haram insurgents, Anti-corruption czar and former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Saturday warned that changing the Commander-in-Chief in the middle of war would be inimical to the consolidation of the victories achieved so far.
Ribadu, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police and gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Adamawa State, therefore urged Nigerians to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan in this month’s election so as to sustain the tempo of the ongoing onslaught against Boko Haram, a deadly group that has killed about 13,000 people, captured territories in the Northeast and displaced over one million people in the past six years.

RIBADU: WHY NIGERIA BUYS BLACK MARKET WEAPONS TO FIGHT BOKO HARAM

The Nigerian government has been obliged to buy black-market weapons to fight Boko Haram because the West refused to give it any military help, a prominent member of Nigeria’s ruling party says.
Nuhu Ribadu, a former Nigerian anti-corruption czar who is now a star candidate for the ruling party in a northern state where the Islamist radical militia has wreaked havoc, said Nigeria was “desperate” for military supplies and had to turn to the black market because Western governments were unwilling to help.
“The world might regard this as illegal, but we were being stopped from getting help and our people were being slaughtered,” Mr. Ribadu told The Globe and Mail last Friday.
“We were being wiped out, and the world didn’t give a damn. Nigeria was forced into the black market.”

RIBADU SHOULDN’T BE GRANTED WAIVER – EDWIN CLARK

Elder statesman and a former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has warned the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party against granting waiver to a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Clark, at an ongoing press conference at his residence in Abuja on Thursday, said Ribadu would be used to betray President Goodluck Jonathan at the end.

He said the former anti-corruption crusader was known for raising false alarm against governors elected on the platform of the party in the past while serving as the chairman of the EFCC.

PDP GOVERNORS PLOT AGAINST RIBADU

SOME governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have started making moves to stop a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, fromemerging as the party’s governorship candidate in Adamawa State.
The governors, who were part of a meeting in the Akwa Ibom State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja on Monday night, believed that it would be dangerous to allow Ribadu to get near the Presidency and the PDP.
The former EFCC chairman defected from the All Progressives Congress to the ruling party on August 16 and a few days after, he picked the PDP nomination form for Adamawa State governorship election scheduled for October 12.
He thereafter applied for a waiver to enable him take part in the primaries which will hold on September 6.

RIBADU: I CAN SERVE IN ANY CAPACITY

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who is now seeking to fly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag in the Adamawa State governorship bye-election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said he is ready to serve in any capacity to better the lot of his people.
Ribadu, who submitted his nomination form yesterday at the PDP National Secretariat, was reacting to the question on why he decided to vie for the governorship, having contested for the presidency. The former EFCC chairman said he is passionate about the people of Adamawa State.
“I am prepared to serve. Even if you ask me to be a sweeper in any part of Nigeria, I am ready to do it. I am passionate about myself to address the challenges of Adamawa State. I will work hard to succeed. I do intend to leave no stone unturned”, the former anti-graft boss added.

I DIDN’T INSULT AMAECHI, KWAKWANSO AFTER DEFECTION, SAYS RIBADU

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has finally spoken up on the purported statement were he was believed to have insulted the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some of its key members. Ribadu defected from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party last week and his expected to run for the position of governor in the 11 October bye-election in Adamawa state.
In a statement on his Facebook page, the former Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said he never belittled the APC. “My good friends, I know how difficult it may be for you to come to terms with my defection to another party. But I must assure you that it’s a carefully considered decision for which I do not wish to hurt anyone’s feeling.

RIBADU DEFENDS DEFECTION TO PDP

A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Sunday justified his defection from the opposion All Progressives Congress to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, saying the APC was not better than the PDP.
Ribadu, who was the 2011 presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, forerunner of the APC, said there was no difference between the PDP and APC, in terms of the character of the people who constituted both parties.
The ex-EFFC chairman, who spoke through his spokesman, Mr. Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, said this while fielding questions from one of our correspondents in Abuja.
He said, “In Nigeria, especially in politics, you can’t say that this is an exclusive party for the people who are thieves or this is for good people.

RIBADU JOINS PDP

A former presidential candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria and ex-chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, has defected from All Progressives Congress to the Proples Democratic Party.
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that Ribadu’s siblings registered for him at his Makama Ward in Yola South and sent the registration card to him in Abuja to enable him pick the PDP governorship form for the Adamawa State governorship election.
It was also gathered that he would likely address journalists on Monday on his governorship ambition.
When contacted, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party said it was not aware yet that the former EFCC boss had defected to the party from the All Progressives Congress.

IT WILL BE POLITICAL MISTAKE IF YOU JOIN PDP, KWANKWASO TELLS RIBADU

Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, has disclosed that if the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, joins the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he will be the biggest loser and a big political mistake.
Kwankwaso said: “Ribadu is widely known as a man of integrity and I can remember that when he was the chairman of EFCC, he did his job very well. My advice to him is not to join the PDP because at the end, he will be the biggest loser.”
Speaking with a panel of journalists in his office yesterday, Kwankwaso said: “Most of those in the PDP were indicted for corruption by him and now they want him to join them; I believe at the end, they will also begin to haunt him.
“If he joins their party, which I believe he cannot make that mistake, but if he joins them, that means all what we are talking about him is wrong. In my opinion it will be a big political mistake.”

APC REPRESENTS THE CHANGE NIGERIANS ARE YEARNING FOR, SAYS RIBADU

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, on Friday in Yola said the party was representing the change Nigerians were yearning for.
Ribadu told newsmen that the on-going defections to the APC was a manifestation that it would be the party to beat in 2015.
``People are leaving PDP for APC because they needed change. APC symbolised the position of majority of Nigerians.
``We are happy to be the platform for change that Nigerians are yearning for", Ribadu said.
The former EFCC boss said APC was committed to fighting the endemic corruption destroying the country.
"APC is going to stop corruption for sure. Corruption is destroying Nigeria and we must put a stop to it", Ribadu added. (NAN)

OKIRO BEHIND ATTEMPTS ON MY LIFE, SAYS RIBADU

AS the hearing on confiscation of assets of former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, reached its fifth day at the Southwark Crown Court last Friday, prosecution witness, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, revealed to the court that the then Inspector-General (IG) of Police, Mike Okiro, was behind the two failed assassination attempts on his life and not Ibori himself.

I HAVE NO INVESTIGATION FILE FOR JAMES IBORI’S $15M BRIBE – RIBADU

As the confiscation hearing of assets of former Delta State Governor James Ibori entered its fifth day in London, yesterday, the former EFCC Chairman giving evidence of how Ibori offered him $15m bribe, said under oath that neither he nor the EFCC had an investigation file, notes of calls, meetings, briefings or records detailing the offer of the alleged bribe between him and James Ibori.
Cross- examined by Ibori’s lead counsel, Ivan Krolic, Ribadu said that the only notes he had on Ibori’s alleged offer of $15m bribe was his personal notes which he lost during the period he was being persecuted by the Federal Government when he was removed from office.

IBORI GAVE ME $15M BRIBE IN BAG –RIBADU

Desperate to halt a probe into his finances, former Delta State Governor James Ibori tried to bribe anti-corruption boss Nuhu Ribadu in 2007 with $15m in cash in a bag so heavy one man alone could not lift it, Ribadu told a London court on Thursday.
Reuters quoted Ribadu as telling the court that he pretended to take the bribe because he wanted the cash as evidence to use against Ibori in a prosecution, but rather than keep the money for himself he had it taken straight to the Central Bank of Nigeria to be kept safe in a vault.
Ibori was governor of oil-producing Delta State in southern Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. In 2012, he pleaded guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering and was jailed for 13 years.

JUDICIARY AIDS CORRUPT NIGERIANS – RIBADU

A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has said there are many corrupt Nigerians getting away with corruption with the help of the judiciary.
He stated this in an interview he grantedZero Tolerance, a magazine published by the EFCC.
Reacting to a statement that former Delta Governor, James Ibori, was cleared of corruption by the judiciary in Nigeria, he asked, “How many people have been cleared by our judiciary?
“A judge even said one man should not even be taken to court. So, there are many Nigerians getting away with the help of the judiciary. The judiciary is also part of the challenge. Not to say that all judges are bad, no. There are judges that got a lot of them convicted.

RIBADU CONDEMNS PRESIDENT’S ANTI-CORRUPTION WAR

Former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan and other key officials of the government of rubbishing anti-corruption war in the country.
Ribadu, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, presidential candidate in the 2011 general election, said: “So many corrupt people get away with their acts, largely because of their relationships with heads of institutions that ought to counter or expose their abuse of office.

OIL SECTOR PROBE REPORTNIGERIANS SHOULDN’T KEEP QUIET – RIBADU

Former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss and presidential candidate of the Action Congress in the 2011 elections Nuhu Ribadu speaks exclusively to Weekly Trust  on the Petroleum Task Force, which he headed, among other issues. Excerpts: