Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, on Tuesday, lampooned a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, saying he failed to serve the country properly when he was head of the anti-graft commission.
Musa, who made this view known in an interview, said though Ribadu may have had the intention to serve the country, he was overwhelmed by the system.
The statesman said this while reacting to the explanation Ribadu gave for his recent defection from the All Progressives Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party, where he (Ribadu) said his motive was “service to the nation”.
Musa said, “Ribadu had the greatest opportunity to serve the country and he couldn’t serve the country. He was made the chairman of the EFCC with great power to deter even the President, but who did he deter? He may wish to serve the country better than he did as chairman of the EFCC but he cannot. What did he do about the corruption in this country? He couldn’t do much because he didn’t have the capacity and the commitment to do so.
“If he had the capacity and commitment to do it, by now we wouldn’t have all these thieves around. He should have dealt with them because he had the power. He could not do it because the system subdued him. What makes him think the system has changed and that he would be able to do anything now, even if he is given power that is greater than what he had as EFCC boss. There is no evidence that he can cope”.
On the former EFCC chairman’s aspiration to become the governor of Adamawa State, Musa said he had fears that Ribadu may not succeed as governor of the state.
“What can he do, when he couldn’t do much with Federal Government power? How can he, for instance, match the local mafia of Adamawa State, who are prominent even at the national level?” he said.
The politician added that the gale of defections by politicians would continue before 2015, because Nigerian politics was not based on ideology, but greed and quest for power.
