Sad End or Good Riddance?

I have compiled below statements made by some individuals on the removal of EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu.


"seven senior police officers have been selected. All the police officers going on course are not idle. Their going would make them perform better. He [Ribadu] is going on course not only to develop himself but to also develop the Force. There should not be any hue and cry from the general public. AIG Nuhu Ribadu is not being sent on course for any ulterior motive other than the reasons I have explained; he is not being sent to NIPSS on the prompting of any external body or bodies. He has met the conditions of service and qualifies to be nominated to attend a course at NIPSS”, Mike Okiro, Nigeria Police Boss.

"the day he (Ribadu) leaves office will be the day the credibility of Nigeria's 'war on corruption' is entirely destroyed", Chris Albin-Lackey, Researcher on Nigeria at Human Rights Watch.

"It’s like after electing a governor you are sending him to Harvard to learn how to govern. They should be courageous enough to sack him so that it can be business as usual. Ribadu is not indispensable; they should not play on the intelligence of Nigerians; sending him to Kuru is a ruse", Femi Falana, President West Africa Bar Association.

"the removal of Nuhu Ribadu is not about the removal of one individual. We are talking about signals, portents for future conduct, about the erosion of credibility, abandonment of principle, all of which of course transcend any individual. The timing, when viewed with the recent call to re-open the case-files of unsolved political murders, will be regarded as a coincidence only by starry-eyed innocents from space – good luck to them. Those of us who have the slightest knowledge of behind-the-scenes manipulations since the trail of detection moved ever closer to the very apex of governance under the past regime, know that the nation was being brought closer and closer to the dismantling of one of the most sinister and corrupt governance machines that this nation has ever confronted – including even the incontinent reign of Sanni Abacha. Ribadu’s removal is therefore not an individual predicament. The situation here does not permit of the familiar cliche of any one individual being less than an institution or agency – no, that is not the issue! The issue is that an effective agency has been tampered with, unnecessarily, but with transparent motivations that constitute an assault on the corporate integrity of the nation. The trust of the nation has been abused - that is the issue. Instead of reinforcing the autonomy of an organization that is clearly dedicated to probity and political integrity, notice has been sent to all four corners of the nation, and to the international community that, at the slightest threat to the hegemony of corrupt rule, the credibility of even the most laudable institutions will be eroded", Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate.

"Though Ribadu has been associated with the war against corruption and shown enough courage, he also has his own excesses. I am not comfortable with the idea that cleansing the society from corrupt activities should be built around an individual. That is wrong, the war against corruption should be built around institution”, Prof Itse Sagay (SAN).

“Yar’Adua is not doing the right thing. He is not fighting corruption. Yar’Adua is PDP and PDP is corruption. He has done nothing against corruption since he came in. The most corrupt elements in PDP want to get rid of Ribadu and Yar’Adua has succumbed to them. Corruption is the fundamental problem of Nigeria. God sent Ribadu and he is the greatest asset against corruption. If you remove him, we are back to square one. His removal is very sad”, Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), Human Rights Activist