Why I accepted task force job, by Ribadu

Mallam Ribadu

Nuhu Ribadu, the former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chair, yesterday said his appointment as Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force chief is “a national call bigger than personal ego”.

In a statement entitled: “When the nation calls”, which he personally signed, Ribadu explained why he took the job.

But the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the party on whose platform Ribadu ran for president last year, said he took the job in his personal capacity without the support of the party.

Ribadu said: “I was greeted to numerous calls and mail yesterday when the administration announced my name as Chairman of the 21-man Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force.

“Given my recent political pedigree, many inquirers naturally wanted to understand what was happening, and whether it was true that I was consulted and whether I would accept the offer.

“The history of my life is a history of public service, and if we cast an honest look to the recent protests in the wake of the oil subsidy removal, it will be clear to all that the biggest single victory Nigerians scored was to put the question of corruption squarely back on the top of our national policy agenda.

“Regardless of our affiliations, our differences and our engagements, it is at least safe to say that we have a national consensus on the deadly impact of corruption on our march to greatness, and on the capacity of our people, particularly the youth, to earn a decent, promising, life.

“If we would effectively isolate and defeat this scourge, therefore, we must all see it as a preeminent national security threat.

“We must see it as a war within our borders, a war that has assumed a systemic and endemic character, but to which all must now urgently enlist with our different capacities, or accept to all go down with the ship.

“At this point in my life, it is also easy to answer the honest question if it is inappropriate to invest my modest talents and capabilities to my country what I have readily offered many foreign communities, from sister nations in Africa to far flung places like Afghanistan.

“This, if nothing, makes my decision very personal, freeing all affiliations [social and political] of complicity, but investing the decision also with the unique character that when people reach evaluations in favor of their larger communities, it doesn’t necessarily blemish their moral identity.

“This, therefore, is a national call. In answering it, I go back to the template of my own parents who taught me that honest public service is the greatest asset a person can offer his community.

“It was the same lesson I learnt from his biographical example when my own father returned home as a federal legislator in Lagos to take job as a local council official in Yola — it is all about the community, and it is sometimes bigger than our personal egos.”

The ACN reiterated its long-standing position barring members of the party from accepting appointments from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government.

In a statement in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the decision to re-state that position followed the appointment offered to Ribadu.

“As a political party, we wish to reiterate our position barring any member of our party from taking any appointment whatsoever from the PDP-led Federal Government. Any member of our party who takes such an appointment does so in his personal capacity,” it said.

ACN said, however, that as a leading opposition party, “it will continue to play its role in ensuring good governance and contributing to nation building through its regular constructive criticisms which, hitherto and unfortunately so, have fallen on deaf ears”.

The party said despite its efforts, as well as those of other parties, individuals and organisations, in offering well-meaning suggestions to the inept Jonathan Administration, the Administration has not demonstrated good faith in this respect.

“For instance, on the vexed issue of removal of petroleum subsidy, it is on record that our party responded with patriotic and constructive suggestions during a meeting with the President in Abuja. At the end of that meeting, President Jonathan promised to further consult with us before taking any further step in respect of the matter.

“To our amazement, and true to the deceptive nature of this Administration, we all woke up on January 1st, 2012, to learn that the government has unilaterally removed subsidy from petrol. How then can we, in good conscience, work with such an Administration?

“How can we be sure that these slew of appointments are not being used by the Administration to shore up its sagging - or totally sagged - credibility?

“We believe that when a party as clueless and inept as the PDP finds itself incapable of solving the myriad of problems facing it, as it is currently the situation, the party should be humble and honest enough to accept its failure and cluelessness and openly seek help from the opposition parties.

“However, rushing to poach credible personalities from the opposition without first accepting that it is overwhelmed by the problems facing it smacks of underhand tactics aimed at decimating the opposition and also tarnishing the well-earned credibility of such personalities.

“After all, one can never be sure - going by the deceptive nature of the PDP - that the kind of appointment now being offered to Malam Ribadu is being made in good faith or just to get credible people to launder the government’s badly damaged image and credibility.

“There is also the possibility that booby-traps will be deliberately set for such credible personalities to guarantee their failure in their stated assignment, after which they will be ridiculed and dumped like an ordinary chump!” the ACN said.