Kaduna — A university lecturer has argued that the exiled former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, is not corrupt but that he is a decent police officer who was only being haunted as a result of his commitment in the anti-graft fight. In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP in Zaria, Dr. Bashir Kurfi added that Ribadu in the course of his anti-corruption fight might have made mistakes but that the good he offered the nation cannot be thrown away except on political grounds to nail him. This is coming on the heels of Ribadu's recent outburst that he would not return to the country to face allegations against him but would continue the campaign against corruption.

"Malam Nuhu Ribadu is not a corrupt police officer. He is a very decent person and I respect him very greatly because no body can tell you that he made deals with Ribadu. And even before he joined EFCC everybody knew that he was not corrupt. I have tremendous respect for him. There could have been some mistakes here and there but those people Ribadu dealt with are crooks."

On what the country missed in Ribadu, whom he further said had significant information on dubious Nigerians who retarded the country's development, Kurfi, who teaches at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said: "We have missed a decent cop who loves his country to address the problem of corruption but it is a question of time. He has to come back and do something but I would not advise Ribadu to come to Nigeria at this material time because I know criminals will be after him and it will be a total loss for us to lose him considering the amount of information at his disposal and also because of his bravery."

Commenting on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Kurfi said: "One of the major disasters of Nigeria is the Obasanjo regime." The Obasanjo regime, he said, laid a bankrupt economic foundation that created what we are having now. "It is the Obasanjo regime if you remember that talked about power and how much money they had spent on it. By the time he left, there was nothing. The same Obasanjo regime did the worst crime by perpetrating rigging in the election, thereby installing in office people who do not have the interest of people at heart. "I am sure from any village you are people will tell you that there was no election. Somebody who you didn't elect cannot represent you."

It would be recalled that Ribadu on Sunday in an interview with the BBC, stated that he would not return to the country to face charges levelled against him during his tenure in the EFCC, stating that he left the country after two unsuccessful attempts to assassinate him, and that his concern about Nigeria's underdevelopment arose from bad leadership whom he accused of siphoning resources meant for the good of the country. Ribadu had said, "This is what is supposed to be used to solve the problem that we are facing. Look at how it is being wasted. See what is happening to our people. Today, they use our collective resources to fight for their own survival. They give it to lawyers across the world, and they buy private jets. There was a clear signal that no-one should do anything about fighting corruption. That is very sad. Some people were hired, and their responsibility was to get me. They came quite close. The individual behind the driver brought out his hand and shot three shots at my car. Luckily, my car is bulletproof. When they attempted that, I left the country the next day.

"They'll try everything. They will attempt to bribe you. If it fails, they will blackmail you and try to make a mess of your name. One of them gave me $15 million in cash. Raw cash. American dollars. I got my people to take it to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and deposit it there. We used it as an exhibit in the trial against the individual. We got him locked for about two or three months in jail while I was in office."