Nigerians of different backgrounds have taken to the social media to give the sobriquet, “vomit licker,” to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, while asking him to resign from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government for lack of moral standing over his claim that Tinubu’s alleged criminal case was of international dimension
By Our Correspondent
Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), has lost the credibility and moral standing to continue to serve in the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigerians who voice their opinions on the social media have claimed. They maintained that Ribadu’s presence in the current administration poses challenge of credibility to the government. These citizens who show disdain for the person of Ribadu are irritated by the fact that he had alleged that President Tinubu’s looting spree as the governor of Lagos State constituted a criminal case of international dimension.
At present, Ribadu is being haunted by his grandstanding posture when he was appointed the pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Netizens insisted that his penchant to play to the gallery pushed him to labelling those in his indictment list, including serving governors, as criminals and looters even when no court had declared them so. One of the big fishes in Ribadu’s dragnet happened to be the incumbent President Tinubu.
Ribadu was regarded as a terror EFCC Chair. Although he succeeded in prosecuting a few ex-governors whom he charged for criminal looting of their states, in his selective approach to indictment which targeted mainly governors not in the good book of the Federal Government under his principal, Ribadu was widely perceived as an attack dog allegedly deployed by Obasanjo to witch-hunt his political enemies. One of such enemies was then governor Tinubu.
In his usual desperate moves, flippancy and pouring of vituperation on those in his watchlist, Ribadu had recklessly told the media some time in 2006 that “Governor Tinubu’s criminal case is of international dimension”. Not contented with sycophancy, in 2007, Ribadu would tell the bewildered members of the 4th Senate that “Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would not escape justice, but would be made to face the full wrath of the law”.
Earlier in 2007, precisely Sunday February 7 of the year, Ribadu was once again cornered by the media at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos whereupon he exhibited his flippancy against personalities in his list of indicted public office holders. Appearing as the incorruptible financial crimes buster, Ribadu slammed his alleged corrupt Tinubu to wit: “Tinubu and the rest should consider themselves very lucky, they ought to have been where (Joshua) Dariye, (Ayodele) Fayose and (DSP) Alamieyeseigha are today. They cannot escape. It’s a matter of time. They have the protection of the law; they enjoy immunity.
“We are after them because they still want to rule us again. The Constitution is against indicted people, after their tenure, they will be prosecuted. They remain indicted and are not fit to hold public positions”.
Based on these utterances, netizens argued that if Ribadu had morality and the prosperity of Nigeria at heart, he would not have accepted such offer of NSA which has pooh-poohed his reputation. Many insisted that Ribadu has lost trust and honour to remain among the top echelon of the country’s political leadership.
As if Nigerians had forgotten, Ribadu had enjoyed a relative peace as the NSA until recently when Hajia Naja’atu Muhammad, leader of the Northern Star engaged in a TikTok video whereupon she alleged that Ribadu was being dishonest for serving in the Tinubu government whom he alleged had international criminal case.
The video rattled Ribadu to the marrows. Since then, he has been struggling to wriggle out of the inevitable public odiom and backlash that have been trailing his allegations and indictment against Tinubu. Unfortunately for the sitting NSA, the more he struggled to save face by blatantly denying things he said on record, the more public condemnation and name calling keep trailing his path. It appeared that Ribadu would be damned if he ignored the TikTok video. But he has been damned the more for attempting to twist the facts while denying what he said.
Last week, Ribadu’s lawyer, Dr. Ahmed Raji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had on Ribadu’s instruction written a letter to Hajia Muhammad in which he demanded a public apology among others from the Northern Star leader within seven days or face litigation.
The letter dated February 4, 2025, and signed by Dr. Raji, read, “Clearly, in the text of your recording [reproduced and translated above] you stated that when our client served as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes, (EFCC) he allegedly named President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, alongside Sen. George Akume and Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu [all former Governors, and in that order] as the governors in Nigeria who stole the most from public treasury.
“You also stated that today, our client who once held the above odious view about President Tinubu has turned around to be his staunchest defender; especially, with regard to what you stated to be the government’s agenda to silence voices of dissent to the government, citing the alleged arrest of a certain Prof. Usman Yusuf as an example.
You also stated that our client’s alleged attitudinal change towards President Tinubu means that he has either become a liar or that he lied when he allegedly described President Tinubu, Sen. Akume, Sen. Kalu and other governors as thieves.
“Privately or publicly, our client has never expressed the above viewpoint about President Tinubu and/or Senators George Akume and Orji Uzor Kalu, which you attributed to him.
In fact, our client has never held such a viewpoint about the President; hence, it came as a complete surprise to him when his attention was drawn to the aforesaid publication by you against him.
“In the foregoing premise, our client hereby challenges you to provide evidence of your allegations therein against him; which have cast him as double-faced, duplicitous and deceitful in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society.
“Although masked as a clarion call to the North to rise up to your perceived injustice against the North by the government of the day, your publication is also inciteful of violence towards our client. Given this far-reaching ramification of your publication, our client will not sit back and watch his hard-earned reputation and goodwill destroyed by your malicious decision to not only lay false allegations against him, but also, to cause the same to be published for the world’s attention.
“Your intention to bring our client to public ridicule, opprobrium, scorn and shame etc., is laid bare when it is considered that you deliberately caused same to be published on social media, where it has since gone viral.
“Surely, the damage occasioned to our client by your deliberate but ill-advised action is unquantifiable. However, our client will be assuaged if you retract the said publication and tender an unreserved public apology to him in at least 5 [five] national daily newspapers within 7 [seven] days of receipt of this letter. If not, we have our client’s further instructions to seek redress against you in a court of law where exemplary damages will be claimed against you. Kindly be advised.”
Since then, Ribadu’s lawyer’s letter has sparked torrents of vituperative utterances against the NSA. First was from the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el’Rufai who said that Ribadu lied when his lawyer said he did not accuse Tinubu of corrupt enrichment.
The former governor of Kaduna State also accused the NSA of memory loss. Stepping into the matter el-Rufai who was FCT minister in 2006 when the statement accusing Tinubu of corruption was made, said records of proceedings in the Senate and even the Federal Executive Council (FEC), meeting would prove that Ribadu was lying.
While noting that Ribadu was being economical with the truth, el-Rufai said “Nuhu must have serious amnesia,’’ meaning loss of memories, including facts, information and experiences.
el’Rufai said, “The record of proceedings in the Senate will confirm that Nuhu made those statements, sometime in 2006.
‘’The subsequent Daily Trust report of February 2007, reconfirms the essence of the statements.
“The conclusions of the Federal Executive Council in 2006, which can be subpoenaed from the cabinet secretariat of the SGF’s office contain the allegations.
‘’In that special FEC meeting in which I was a member, Nuhu’s EFCC made similar presentations accusing many sitting officials, sometime in 2006. These council conclusions will further remove all doubts.
“This is for the record and to remind the morally-flexible that at some point in our national life, silence is no longer golden.”
