Muhammad Al-Ghazali
23 June 2009
opinion
Abuja — "People should know there was(sic) differences in our work. This Obasanjo I didn't even know him; it was work that joined us and he gave me freedom and have (sic)never said 'Nuhu come and do this....but you cannot stop people with their different impressions. I investigated him and found nothing against him but I got his daughter."
-- Mall. Nuhu Ribadu
Adversity evokes different emotions in human beings depending, of course, on their character, temperament and the depth of their belief and faith in their maker. Those who adopt destiny as their compass to life, and are also conscience of the transcient nature of all things human, take every advesrsity in their stride with remarkable calm and fortitude.
Almost as a rule, they refuse to blame third parties for their misfortunes even as they routinely undertake the delicate post-mortem of their past activities with an eye on the future. As students in the remarkable journey called life, such people are not necessarily immune to adversity, but their outlook to life equips them to mock it at every turn without necessarily becoming prisoners of their past.
But there are also others who would rather tempt faith at every misfortune by ignoring their own individual failings. They also betray less than absolute faith in God when they fail to see his hand in their unfolding destinies. To this group, adversaries - real or imagined- are always to blame for their every misfortune.
And being such poor students of history, they will always qualify to be regarded as passengers in the maze of life in book. For a member of my own generation, I am saddned to declare that for what he did in office and the manner he continues to react to his fall from grace and prominence, the erstwhile Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, easily falls into this latter group.
Ribadu, like others foolish enough to regard the world as their eternal bride, always give the impreesion that they know everything better than the rest of us and can hardly qualify to be regarded as 'students' in whatever guise. They are masters of the present but never the future.
But as they revel in the present, they also forget that nemesis will always remain the indefatigable recoil of nature that it has always been since Adam ate the forbidden fruit. They ignore the fact that the trapdoors of nemesis are always primed to ensnare even the wariest of transgressors let alone those who deluded themselves in the cult of infallibility.
And so today, Ribadu by his own admission, is a relunctant exile going by the details of the interview he granted the BBC over the weekend. Voluntary exile has always been a fovaured course of action adopted by public officers on principle or the lack of it. Some do it to escape justice while to some it remains a tool of scoring political points in the hope that their presence abroad would draw attention to perceived injustices in their countries.
Now, going by the details of Ribadu's interview, there can be few illusions on why he took temporary leave of the land of his birth. What ranckles however, were the reasons he gave for doing so. Even more perplexing was his unqualified claim that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua forced him into exile!
According to Ribadu, the incumbent government was disdainful of the way the EFCC under him worked in the past and relentlessly witchunted him until he fled the country.
He accused the President for being personally responsible for his present trevails and even went spiritual at the end with the admission that "God knows I did this job with nothing and without greed."
I have no intention of holding brief for the president here because he has far greater resources to do so. Yet, I am compelled to respond because of the manner people like Ribadu continue to turn history on its head.
Not too long ago, Ribadu indulged in virtually everything he has accused the president of doing to him and more. What about the contrived impeachment of governors and other extra-judicial methods adopted by the EFCC under his watch? He talked about doing his job without greed but forgot that it could manifest in various forms. Greed is obvious when we nurse inordinate ambitions for higher office and also accept accelarated promotions to positions we are not due.
Ribadu's predicament explains why I have always advocated on these pages that public officers are better off when they seek refuge in the fountain of equity and justice. The only way we can escape the wrath of nemesis, is when we treat others like we would prefer to be treated ourselves.
Ribadu failed to do that, which explains why he was roundly mocked when he sought relief from the same judicial system he rountinely scorned with impunity when he thought tomorrow would never come. Which is why if Ribadu did not have a twisted notion of his reponsibilities, it is actually immaterial to Nigerians whether he succeeded in getting Obasanjo or the daughter for as long as justice was served in each case.
Regular readers of this column can easily recall that against my unsolicited warnings, Ribadu actively courted the media which he used to pass judgements on many accused politicians even before they had their day in court! He qualified and disqualified politicians from contesting elections and in time arrogated to himself powers he never had in the service of his boss, Olusegun Obasanjo.
What he forgot was that the same media which gleefully reported the extravagances he seemed to enjoy are also well-equipped to sensationalize his fall from grace with gusto, especially when given the benefit of additional information previously denied them by the former lords of the manor.
If Ribadu had worked to strengthen the EFCC as a viable institution and made it less susceptible to political manipulation, there is no way anyone could have regarded the anti-corruption fight as finished even after his departure. But he allowed himself to be used and has now realized too late that he was a mere pawn in the delicate power game that he hardly understood. His predicament is what waits all those currently in power who might be tempted to believe that their actions would never be subject to review in future.
Which is why, as we struggle to heal our wounds and also come to terms with our past, what Ribadu owes the nation is unqualified silence for the terrible damage his action and inactions have inflicted on the polity when his master was the lord of the manor. If he does that, he will come to realize with time that Nigerians are a forgiving people. What they don't ever do is to forget. Which is why his attempt to rewrite history so soon is a monumental folly.
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