Let Ribadu stay

The Inspector General of Police recently announced that the EFCC Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, would be going on a compulsory one-year course. It has been said that Ribadu would be back at the EFCC after the course but who is fooling who? It is so clear that the powers that be want the man removed so as to shield the indicted ex-governors and some others from prosecution, which Ribadu has vowed to pursue to its logical conclusion.

Be that as it may, you may succeed in removing Ribadu and replacing him with someone that can be ‘remote-controlled’ but that is the beginning of the death of the fight against corruption and the death too, of the popularity of this administration.

Why should a decision be taken to benefit only a few at the expense of the entire nation? The point to note is that, the EFCC is what it is today because of Ribadu. Cage or take away the man and what you have is an impotent EFCC. Nigerians will not be surprised if the indicted governors go scot-free.

Those who sold this obnoxious idea to the Inspector General of Police and President Yar’Adua are enemies of this country and we, the citizens of Nigeria, hereby call his Excellency, President Yar’Adua, to thwart their efforts because it will only make your government unpopular and all the good intention you claim to have for the country would be seen as mere pretence.

This is why Ribadu should stay and instead of seeking for ways of reducing his powers, we should empower him the more and give him all the encouragement he needs.

If President Yar’Adua allows the fight against corruption to fizzle out with the exit of Ribadu, then, posterity will not forgive him.

Dayo Adesulu,
29, Burma Road,
Apapa, Lagos.

Daniel and the new face of propaganda

If the truth be told, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, governor of Ogun State, in spite of being an acknowledged high-flyer in the area of service delivery has never had it easy with a section of the media. For example, when the evidence began to accumulate that Ogun State under him was in the grip of an economic transformation featuring several developmental projects, his critics sought to downplay him by dismissing the new structures as ‘white elephant projects’ of no economic value.

When that theory became unsustainable, and still in a desperate bid to stop his re-election, a section of the opposition sensationally burgled the state treasury and made away with vouchers which provided ammunition for a horrifying trial by a section of the media.

Recently, in the wake of a well-publicised lecture delivered in honour of the late Ganiyu Dawodu on the platform of the Afenifere, Daniel is once again being subjected to foul propaganda about his person, family and achievement spiced with fabulous stories of fictional wrong-doing and arresting slander. Hence, what began as a minor brickbat between one of his aides and a factional leader of Afenifere is fast dovetailing into a full scale propaganda war with the denunciation of Gbenga Daniel’s growing reputation as the coveted trophy.

Yet another hypothesis has it that Daniel is personally admired but is resented for using the platform of the PDP to hold a political career and to seek the leadership of the Yoruba by recreating the leadership qualities and patterns of the revered sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

One of the central issues in the ongoing public debate is the nature of Otunba Daniel’s relationship with the former head of state. When it suited Daniel’s critics, they played him up as the fawning political godson of Chief Obasanjo. At other times, however, Daniel’s critics have played up what they called alleged resentment of him by Obasanjo, who, they argued at one point, will never allow him a second term.

In a latter day version of politics as a replay of the brutality of the Yoruba civil wars of the 19th century, Daniel is portrayed as a scheming, double-faced political figure, a wife beater and an irascible person. This propaganda images of Daniel contrast robustly with his superb governance strides attested to by persons as diverse in temperament as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Professor Wole Soyinka, Yeye HID Awolowo and Professor Charles Soludo.

Indeed, several ministers in both the Obasanjo and Yar’Adua governments have openly held up such policies as employment creation, poverty alleviation and the revived farm settlements in Ogun state for national emulation, while Professor Wole Soyinka, hardly a flippant commentator has often given kudos to the dynamic and vibrant pace of administration in Ogun State.

It is possible, therefore, that Daniel is being baited to fight on a dark slippery terrain where his nationally acclaimed achievements will no longer count. If this were the case, the path of wisdom would be for him to refuse to be drawn into an unprofitable dirty war and to focus on his area of core competence, namely, performance-oriented and excellent management of men and resources. That is what will count in the eyes of the ordinary citizen and posterity.

Dele Olukoshi,
Political analyst,
Lagos.