Ribadu statement's reckless, hypocritical - Presidency

By The Rainbow

The Presidency on Monday reacted to a statement credited to a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, which likened Nigeria to a sinking ship.

It described the statement as reckless, hypocritical and self-serving.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, in a statement, defended Jonathan's democratic credentials against the charge of tyranny by Ribadu.

Ribadu had in his address delivered at a public lecture organised by the Students' Representatives Council of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State on Saturday,  described Nigeria's democracy as one full of tyranny.

Abati said there was no tyranny greater than the tenure of Ribadu at EFCC when governors were removed through undemocratic means and illegally barring some persons from contesting elections.

Ribadu, the statement said, ought to be grateful to the President for saving him from self-imposed exile, restoring his rank in the Nigeria Police and converting his dismissal from service to retirement.

'We find it very sad and utterly deplorable that Nuhu Ribadu has resorted to shameless wolf-crying, the peddling of arrant falsehood and the denigration of the elected government of his fatherland in furtherance of his selfish quest for continued national political relevance after his wholesale rejection by Nigerian voters in 2011.

'If Nuhu Ribadu wants to talk of tyranny then he should talk of the days when he orchestrated the impeachment of governors with an illegitimate quorum of legislators who had been threatened by the EFCC under his watch. It beats the imagination that Nuhu Ribadu, a man who once presided over an EFCC which in 2007 compiled a list of disqualified politicians aspiring for office without a court order or legal backing now has the guts to accuse the man under whom Nigeria has had the most credible elections in this Fourth Republic of being the leader of a 'sinking ship'.

'Can there be a greater tyranny than the tyranny of removing governors via undemocratic means and barring legally entitled persons from contesting elections?' The Presidency queried.