The new Nuhu Ribadu
The fear of Ribadu was the beginning of wisdom in his years as the Chairman of EFCC.
Nuhu Ribadu was a tough cop. He has the reputation of having stood to slap an armed robber when he was a student at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he read law. I don't know how former president, Olusegun Obasanjo sourced Nuhu Ribadu when he wanted to set up the EFCC to stamp out corruption in Nigeria but only corrupt Nigerians and they are very many argued that Ribadu was not a good choice. The few Nigerians who bemoaned the evil that the scourge has done to Nigeria agreed that the contribution of Nuhu was great. Bolaji Akinyemi, an erudite professor of international relations and former Nigeria's minister of External Affairs said that the mere mention of the name Nuhu Ribadu sent shivers down the spine of corrupt Nigerians. He cited an example of a place in far away Osun state, where some local government officials were sharing money and somebody mistakenly mentioned the name of Nuhu Ribadu; everybody jumped out of the window abandoning the loot they were sharing. Ribadu, though gangling was a no-nonsense cop, feared even by Obasanjo's vice president, Atiku Abubakar. The fear of Ribadu was the beginning of wisdom in his years as the Chairman of EFCC. Even his bosses at the Nigeria Police Force from which Obasanjo picked him were afraid of him. When he eventually fell out of favour after Obasanjo left office, they made sure they cooperated with Umaru Yaradua, who succeeded Obasanjo in extracting a pound of flesh from Ribadu.
So when Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president appointed Nuhu Ribadu as his National Security Adviser, an office that had been dominated for as long as anybody can remember by retired military officers who had in most instances brought military arrogance into it, even under a democratic dispensation, Nigerians wondered what Tinubu has up his sleeves. Was he starting a revolution? Did he want to fight the Army? A friend doubted if the news that announced Ribadu was not fake social media stuff. Ribadu, he surmised would not be boss over the military because that institution that had illegally ruled Nigeria for so long and has seen itself as superior to all citizens of Nigeria will not submit to him. But the news turned out authentic and Nuhu Ribadu assumed office.
So far, we have not seen any conflict with Ribadu's subordinates in the security network but there is a recent development that may inform us that Ribadu is no longer the tough cop but a servant who has been moderated by exposure to the democratic lifestyle. Ribadu had contested for president as the candidate of Bola Tinubu's defunct AC party. He lost. He had also contested the governorship of his state of Adamawa. He didn't win. Exposure to the tedium of Nigeria's very cantankerous electoral process can be both frustrating and testy.
Ribadu's turnout in the recent labour crisis with the police and the presidency is a pointer to the newness in the man Ribadu. President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero had gone to Imo State at the NLC office to organize a workers' strike and had been beaten to a stupor and arrested by the police in the state. In what looked like a stage-managed event, the police having in the words of Ajaero himself, beaten him 'mercilessly', took Ajaero into their hospital and lied that they did not arrest him but put him in protective custody so that workers who opposed him will not hurt him. When Ajaero emerged in newspaper photographs, Nigerians saw a labour leader whose face was swollen as a result of obvious beatings. Ajaero said they not only beat him but also dragged him on the floor. As state governor, Hope Uzodimma, who was a candidate in the state's off-cycle election joined the police in the fabrication, saying Ajaero was in the state to organize a Labour Party campaign because he's a member of the LP.
Out of the police gulag, Ajaero and the NLC together with the Trade Union Congress, TUC called out workers all over the nation on strike. The Federal Government first approached the Industrial Court which issued an order restraining NLC and TUC from carrying out that strike, an order which was allegedly disobeyed. Anarchy had set in. If the government will not keep the rule of law and fundamental liberty of the citizens, if the Nigeria Police do not respect the rights of the citizens whose taxes pay their salaries, NLC and TUC also we're ready to meet the anarchy of the Police with disobedience of the court. Bayo Onanuga, the president's Special Adviser on Media issued a statement condemning the looming strike action describing it as self-serving and personal to Ajaero and not Nigeria's interest. Bayo Onanuga seems to have forgotten that the elections are over and that his principal is now in office serving Nigerians and that the propaganda strategy of the election period will not serve the present time.
The star of the time is Nuhu Ribadu who in a very calm tone issued a statement apologizing to labour saying those who attacked labour leader Ajaero have been arrested. He begged labour to call off the strike. Rather than tell lies as the Imo governor, Imo State Commissioner of Police Mohammed Barde who was later reassigned by the IG of Police and Bayo Onanuga, Ribadu condemned the attack on Ajaero. Within a few hours of Ribadu's statement via his strategic communication aide, labour met and called off the trike. It is the pleasant surprise of Nigerians including this writer that Ribadu who a few years ago was smoking hot with corrupt Nigerians has turned over a new leaf apologizing where a government agency had maltreated a prominent citizen. Inspector General of Police, Egbetokun had reassigned the Imo Commissioner of Police, an action which takes the normal route by which similar offences are buried in officialdom. Nuhu Ribadu will not do that. He arrested the attackers and issued an apology, respecting the truth that Nigerians are the bosses of everybody in government both elected and appointed.
Other officers in the presidency had better learn this civil approach of Ribadu and stop lying to the citizens or deceiving them. We are not in a military regime where soldiers think they are bosses, we put those who serve in offices there and that must be recognized. President Bola did not have a cordial relations with labour union when he was governor of Lagos State. In a dispute with the nurses association, he promised to deal ruthlessly with the nurses because they gave him a moniker during a demonstration which he didn't like. The nurses association had to beg him before he rescinded his threat.
Today, Bola Tinubu is now president of a much complex nation and that kind of intransigence will not work at the federal level. As it is, serving at the sub-national level is different from running the Leviathan Federal Government. If anybody ever beat labour leaders in Nigeria, it must be during the colonial period or the inglorious military years. The Tinubu treatment given to the labour leader in Lagos State, Comrade Ayodele Akele, now late, after which the man was eventually fired by Tinubu is not a recommended model for Tinubu's new assignment. The police, all security outfits and all government officials must deal with Nigerians with decorum. Meanwhile, the former Imo State commissioner of police Barde must be retired. He has outlived his usefulness.
Tunde Akande is both a journalist and pastor. He earned a Master's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.