last Sunday, Nuhu Ribadu stunned Nigerians by visiting Bisi Akande, former interim chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and one-time Osun State governor. Mallam Ribadu was the standard-
bearer of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 presidential election. He won in Osun State. He was also the founding but controversial and yet effective chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and in 2015 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Adamawa governorship race. He is a man of many parts. Described by some political analysts as a good choice who came at the wrong time, Mallam Ribadu lost the election to the APC’s Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow. Starting out as a progressives presidential candidate in 2011, then defecting to the PDP in 2015, and now appearing to be inclined towards defecting to the APC, Mallam Ribadu has managed to run the gamut of political emotions and principles.
He has, however, not agreed he is defecting anywhere. “Baba Akande is a very important person to all of us,” he began mysteriously and self-effacingly. “He is a father in the true sense of the word. From the day I decided to venture into politics, I have benefited from his guidance and wisdom.” Mallam Ribadu probably knew he would find it hard convincing anyone the visit didn’t have something to do with politics. Perhaps, on that score, he had armed himself with an explanation. “I have not seen Baba in a long time,” he continued, “So I feel this is a good time to come and greet him at home. Of course, I have never been far away from Baba’s fountain of wisdom. Party differences cannot be a reason to abandon old ties.” Chief Akande himself has indicated that the visit was non-political. But it is unlikely many people will believe them, not to talk of taking them seriously.
But it is not Chief Akande who is controversial in this circumstance, nor the one who stands to lose anything. He is aging, and he has fought a good fight, staying principled throughout, and promoting himself as a dependable politician of strong character. Once he joined the ACN, he never wavered. He will likely go to his grave a fulfilled politician with a great legacy. Conversely, it will be difficult to pass the same judgement on Mallam Ribadu. When he defected to the PDP for the singular reason of running for the Adamawa governorship, this column had wondered whether he gave the decision a good thought. He had better ensure victory, this column warned, for to do otherwise would sentence him to unbearable political ridicule, if not ignominy. Alas, he lost.
If he truly hopes to explore the possibility of defecting to the APC, of which before the governorship election he claimed he was really not a member, he will astound many of his supporters and enemies, many of whom he made during his stewardship as EFCC helmsman. He is bright, talented, hard working and a conscientious person. His leadership of the EFCC remains a tough act to follow. In addition, like Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former boss of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he belongs to a unique generation of northerners with wide contacts in all parts of the country. Had he been a little more principled in his politics; had he been less obscenely ambitious; and had he taken the terrible defeat he suffered in the 2011 presidential poll much more gamely and stoically, he probably would have been less susceptible to the stirring mistakes he made in the past few years.
It is not clear how his defection would resonate, assuming he eventually bites the bullet. But many would consider him as opportunistic as former vice president Atiku Abubakar, as unprincipled as former Kano State governor, the eloquent Ibrahim Shekarau, and as shortsighted as former president Goodluck Jonathan. But one event or one year is nothing in politics. Between now and 2019, many permutations will occur to change the face of Nigerian politics, displace front runners, and elevate those who appeared at the beginning to be heading for political oblivion. Nobody should ever be ruled out in politics, where often the most gifted fail woefully, and the most unaccomplished triumph spectacularly.
Until he actually defects, it is safe to say Mallam Ribadu is still weighing his options. Hopefully he will do what is right for himself, quite unlike what he has done so far or seems capable of doing. For a man of his talents and accomplishment, it is indeed strange that he has apparently not given a thought to assembling and leading a group of Young Turks to take over the leadership of the drifting PDP. Maybe he needs money and doesn’t have any. It is, however, significant that he has said nothing about the character and leadership challenges facing the old and dying PDP. Perhaps Mallam Ribadu, like the agitated and feisty Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, never really has a stomach for the long haul, not to say the extended, costly and brutal war of attrition required to disembowel the PDP’s ancien regime and build a new and changed political party and society.
