Reuben Abati
I Saw Ribadu In Rwanda, Reuben Abati
I ran into him at the reception lobby of the
Hotel Des Milles Collines in Kigali. He had just
arrived and was trying to check into the hotel:
Nuhu Ribadu, the erstwhile Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
who lost his job under rather controversial
circumstances, and who is regarded as having
been unfairly treated by the Yar'Adua
government. I hugged him. He had lost nothing
of his humility, his sense of humour and his
humanity. He didn't look like a man who had
just been rough-tackled by the unpredictable
Nigerian state whose moral compass is subject
solely to the whims and caprices of whoever is
in charge, and not necessarily principles and
values.
The following morning, we sat together on the
same long table, and I slipped a note to him. I
wanted an interview with him for The Guardian.
It is about time he told his story at great
length. He read my note, and picked up his pen.
I noticed that he is a Southpaw, and I chuckled
remembering how so many southpaws tend to
find themselves in the hot corners of history. In
his response, he had said "we would discuss."
We were both attending a conference organised
by UNECA in collaboration with UNDP to assess
the efficiency and impact of anti-corruption
institutions in Africa. There were anti-corruption
chiefs in attendance from various African
countries.
Ribadu wouldn't grant an interview, but he was
ready to discuss. "I think it is better for me to
remain silent now", he says. "I am using this
period to reflect on what we did. You know
when I took up the job in 2003, I resolved that I
will try my utmost best. And walahi, I tried. I
took the assignment seriously. Maybe I failed,
but at least we proved that it is possible. So, I
have been thinking and trying to figure out
what further should have been done or could
have been done differently." We were soon
asked to introduce ourselves. When it was
Ribadu's turn, he told the meeting: "I am Nuhu
Ribadu, former Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria,
currently recuperating from a bloodied nose".
The hall cracked into laughter. But the other
anti-corruption chiefs and operatives would not
laugh later when Ribadu took part in a country
case studies panel.
There has been so much speculation about
Ribadu's whereabouts in the Nigerian press. But
the fact is that he is currently a Senior Fellow
at St Antony's College in Oxford University in
the United Kingdom, working with Professor
Paul Collier, the leading authority on African
economies and politics. St Antony's College has
become the sanctuary for many progressives
who get into trouble in the developing world.
Ribadu stays in a residence that was recently
vacated by Anwal Ibrahim, the embattled former
Prime Minister of Malaysia whose only offence
was that he fell out of favour with his boss,
Mahathir Muhammed. "Such a nice man",
Ribadu says. "he left me his plates and cutlery
and kitchen utensils." One of the persons
Ribadu met on arrival at St Antony's is John
Githongo, the Kenyan newspaper columnist and
anti-corruption campaigner who had to flee
from Kenya in 2005, after he discovered that the
majorly corrupt persons in the country are his
own colleagues: Ministers and the big men of
Kenyan society. Githongo got their confessions
on tape, but they told him bluntly that they are
the ones milking Kenya dry. One fateful day,

Githongo packed his bags and fled to London,
from where he sent a letter resigning his
position as Permanent Secretary for Ethics and
Governance in Kibaki's NARC Government. He
has now returned to Kenya where he enjoys
massive media and civil society support, and
his book, written by Michela Wrong and titled
It's Our Turn To Eat will be released in London
on February 23. It will go on sale in Nairobi the
same day. read more

http://mobile.saharareporters.com/article/abati-2009-i-saw-ribadu-rwanda-reuben-abati

abati again, abeg why all digging
anyway the guy is an

Poor Abati. I bet he wishes he could render all Nigerians unable to read and write currently so that we won't be able to read his past utterance now coming back to haunt him.