The Ribadu clan of Adamawa State have told Nigerians to weep for the country, and not their son, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who was controversially removed recently as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
They said that he had not only served the country to the best of his ability, but also upheld the virtue of integrity and courage that the family was famous for.
Two members of the family, Mallam Ismaila Ribadu and Alhaji Lawal Ahmadu Ribadu, spoke exclusively to Sunday punch in Yola, the state capital, on Friday.
The EFCC boss is going on a one-year study leave at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State.
Nuhu Ribadu is the 21st of the 29 children of the late Alhaji Mahmud Ribadu.
He graduated in 1984 and did his NYSC at the Federal Ministry of Commerce when his kinsman, Alhaji Mahmud Tukur, was the minister in the ministry.
Ismaila, who is the younger brother of the outgoing EFCC boss, claimed that the family suffered some deprivations because their kinsman was the arrowhead of the war against corruption.
He said that while the family had nothing to lose from Ribadu‘s removal from office, they were only worried about the possible long run implication on the war on graft.
Ismaila said, ”We, the family members of Nuhu Ribadu, the EFCC boss, are not disturbed over the speculations of the plot to remove him from office, because what he is doing is service to humanity, especially the masses of this country, and not service to the Ribadu family. So, we are sorry for the people of this country if Nuhu Ribadu is removed from office at a time Nigerians need his services most.”
He said that members of the family suffered several acts of injustice at different levels as a result of Ribadu‘s leading role in the war against corruption in the country.
Citing himself as an example, Ismaila claimed that members of the Adamawa House of Assembly refused to ratify his nomination for the post of the clerk of the House just because the EFCC moved against them sometime in the past.
”The members of Adamawa State House of Assembly rejected my appointment as clerk of the House simply because they were arrested and detained by my elder brother (the EFCC boss) on corruption charges. This is part of the injustice I was talking about as a result of our brother‘s operations as the boss of the EFCC.
”However, we [the family members] see him (Nuhu Ribadu) as a sacrifice to rescue the country from the hands of corrupt leaders because the interest of Nigerians is above the family interest.”
He accused those currently accusing his elder brother of corruption of engaging in cheap blackmail so as to tarnish the image of Nuhu Ribadu.
He said, “Our late father, Mahmud Ribadu, brought us up in a God-fearing way and because of his training, all of us have that culture of transparency and accountability.
”Our father was the first Minister of Defence of Nigeria. He was appointed in 1964. Besides, he was the first Commissioner of Finance in the defunct North-East Region and held many other positions. But when he died, what was found in his bank account was less than N100,000. Can you say that such a person was corrupt?”
He said that they could vouch for the EFCC boss that he had not acquired any other building apart from the one he owned in Adamawa.
He advised those behind the campaign of calumny against their son to know that the family did not have the penchant for acquiring property.
”Since Nuhu Ribadu built his private house located at No 55 Girei Street in Jimeta in 1985, when he was working as the Personal Assistant to Alhaji Mahmud Tukur, who was a Minister of Commence, he has not built another house or bought one anywhere in any part of the world, because our father did not teach us to acquire property at the expense of the public.”
On his part, Alhaji Lawal, who is the Head of the Ribadu family (Dangaladima of Adamawa), however, said that the family did not see anything unusual in Nuhu Ribadu going back to school.
He said, “To me and the entire members of the Ribadu family, we did not see anything bad about the government‘s decision to send him back to school; it is government policy.
“After his graduation, the government may decide to return him to the EFCC or give him a higher responsibility. So, I don‘t think there is a hidden agenda over the issue.”
The former lecturer at the University of Maiduguri appealed to Nigerians to desist from the culture of misinterpreting government policies to avoid misleading their leaders.
“Even if the government decides to remove Nuhu Ribadu today as the EFCC chairman, another person will take over where he stops. He cannot work throughout his life as the EFCC boss. The government may want to put him in another place where he can also serve the nation.”
The head of the Ribadu family maintained that Nuhu would continue to enjoy the support of the family and Nigerians in general as long as he continued to work for the development of the country and humanity.
He dismissed the allegations that the EFCC boss corruptly enriched himself, pointing out that Nuhu had only one house. ”Our family will support anybody that can prove corrupt charges against Nuhu Ribadu to take him to court,” he said.
By Andy Gerfa
The Punch
January 13, 2008
