Nuhu Ribadu (Photo: Nuhu Ribadu/Facebook)
Nuhu Ribadu (Photo: Nuhu Ribadu/Facebook)

Former Chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu contested the country’s presidential election of 2011 as the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Naturally, he became a member of the All Progressives Congress when the ACN and other parties merged and chose that name. Indeed, he was seen as one of the politicians who worked assiduously to see to the birth of the new party which eventually won the presidential election of 2015 and replaced the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the ruling party at the federal level.

Ribadu still had his eyes on the presidency after the emergence of the APC until General Muhammadu Buhari was elected as its presidential candidate in 2014.

Given his tall stature within the All Progressives Congress, and having made a go at the presidency in 2011, it was quite shocking to many Nigerians when he defected, in August 2014, to the then ruling party, PDP. The motivation for that defection was not hidden as former President Goodluck Jonathan and some other chieftains of the PDP thought he could easily win the governorship of Adamawa State.

Nuhu Ribadu did contest the Adamawa governorship but he lost. The All Progressives Congress’ candidate,  Umaru Jibrilla Bindo won. Since that election and given the general defeat suffered by the PDP in 2015, Ribadu like many relatively respected politicians in Nigeria, had remained largely quiet.

Last Thursday, Mr Nuhu Ribadu decided to journey back to the APC. He announced his return on his facebook page and gave reasons for his decision. Read his statement:

“I have finally heeded the calls on me to return to the All Progressives Congress (APC), a party of which I was a founding member.

“I re-registered as a member of the APC on Thursday through the party’s online portal. After that, the leadership of the party in my Bako ward of Yola South Local Government Area visited me in my Yola residence to welcome me back to their fold.

“My decision to return to the APC was triggered by my believe that all politics are local. Almost everyone around me, and with whom we started my political journey believed the time had come for us to make sacrifices and make concessions. That is in addition to the unbelievable love that my friends in the APC have showered on me in the past months.

“They demonstrated in words and action that they wanted me back home.

“I also did a deep and long reassessment of the circumstances that warranted my exit from the APC in the first place. I left the APC in 2014 owing to fundamental disagreements with the ways the chapter of the party in my state was run after it fell into some hands.

“Some colleagues and I tried hard to save the then APC administration from an orchestrated impeachment plot which was unfortunately carried out with active collaboration of some ranking APC members in the state.

“However, events in the last 15 months have addressed many of the issues and healed some of the wounds. More so, with the genuine and sincere invitations I received since last year to retrace my steps into the party, I decided to return after consulting family and political associates at all levels.

“I would like to appreciate all those members of the party who privately and publicly prodded me to return to the party. My appreciation also goes to the leadership of our party, from my ward in Bako to the national leadership, for the enthusiasm they showed in having me back.”

NR