It was a glorious and beautiful day. I woke up at 5.00am and got ready to go out by 5.30am. Actually, I didn’t sleep deep that night because one sentence kept reverberating in my head through the night

Walk for Light!

I ran to my mentor’s room to find out if he was ready and soon after we set out for the airport (Omagwa International airport, Port Harcourt). We had had a great time that weekend starting from saturday. We landed in Port Harcourt around 6 pm and went straight to Presidential Hotel from the airport for “Purple Night”. A event with over 700 people in attendance. My mentor spoke powerfully at the event and I met a few friends and members of my team there. It was a fun-filled event.

On Sunday, we went to church and then had to do 2 seminars on Holidays and Cash in the evening. My team in Port Harcourt were already having seminars at Little Africa Restaurant, Woji Road, GRA, Port Harcourt by 4pm and we needed to be there to support them. After which we moved to Landmark Hotels to hold another seminar for an older, larger team. I also took a trip into town to see my babe’s sister’s family and didn’t get back till quite late. I eventually went to bed in the wee hours of the morning all the while thinking about what the next day(Monday) held in store.

Me at "Walk for Light"

I had been waiting in earnest anticipation for the “Walk for Light” day. We had been told earlier that we’d march on protest to the governor’s office in church and that August 12 or so would be the date. This was announced around May/June. August came and went and nothing happened. I was beginning to think that the leadership of my church (Daystar Christian Center) were growing cold feet with respect to taking responsibility for our underdevelopment and lack of good leadership in this Nation.

The church has proved to be very passive and irresponsible in my view in the last few decades with respect to the emergence of a New Nigeria. They have neglected their responsibility to take action and substituted it for making long and ineffective prayers for God to do what they should do.

Statistics have it that 45million Nigerians go to church every sunday. That is all the critical mass needed to change a Nation of 140million people if they would only take responsibility. The church had taken a back seat too long and were becoming irrelevant as opposed to light shining in darkness.

On the backdrop of this, I felt my own church even though it has shown what church is supposed to be by engaging in empowerment and community development on a large scale, was retreating in the face of imminent confrontation. That is why when it was announced that the walk would happen on Monday, October 19 by 10am, I was ecstatic. Finally, we are going to let the world know that we don’t agree with the black state of our Nation (epileptic power supply) and we were going to do something about it.

Rev Sam Adeyemi, Pst Nike Adeyemi, Pst Godman and other ministers at Daystar's "walk for light"

So, that was the reason why I was so restless knowing that I was far removed from the site of the walk. We got an early flight that day though we missed the first one out of PH and I almost ran through the arrival lounge pushing my luggage trolley. Since we landed at Murtala Domestic Airport in Lagos, I had been communicating with a couple of friends who were already gathered at the church venue for the commencement of the walk. My mentor and a friend who I travelled with kept making fun of me as they saw my eagerness to get united with other Walkers for Light.

We got into the car quickly that came to pick us at the airport and told the driver directly that he should do his diligence to get us as close as possible to the walkers since we had already found out that the walk had commenced. We caught up with the first set of walkers around Radio busstop, Obafemi Awolowo way in Ikeja, jumped out of the car and immediately joined the nearest platoon of walkers.

We stood out as the odd ones for a while because we had no “Walk for Light” t -shirts which had been handed out to everyone to wear before the commencement of the march. We chanted and sang songs demanding for Light and expressing our sorrow, discontent and disapproval of the current situation of lack of power in the country. Many people laughed at us, some encouraged us, others wandered at us and some where disgusted at us.

Light walkers at the Governor's office in Alausa

We couldn’t care less. We were on a march for light. After all, we were the light of the world and the least we could do was “Walk for light”. We caused quite a traffic jam because over 4,000 people turned up for the walk. What amazed me the most was that people took time off from their regular jobs to participate in the walk.

Finally, I started feeling in my heart that

Maybe we are on our way to change after all.

Maybe the church is recognising that if only they’d get involved and committed to the New Nigeria project, it would move from being a mere dream to a reality our eyes will see in our own lifetime.

Anyway, by and large we got to the governor’s office in Alausa and expressed our compelling reason for marching in protest.

Let there be Light

Afterall, that was God’s first creation on earth.

If we must therefore rebuild a Nigeria that has become void and lacks any sensible form whatsoever, our first assignment must be

LET THERE BE LIGHT.

Very many years ago, when Africa was simply geographical statistics to Europe; when the land was divided and passed from on european Nation to the next as gifts regardless of the diversity of those who lived in that geographical region, the church stood alone as a body that had a singular role of developing and building the region.

Missionaries from different parts of the developed world stormed the then jungles of Africa bringing with them a message of salvation through Jesus Christ and education as an essential tool for development.

In times when the colonial masters and native government of the African people couldn’t be bothered about the responsibility of education, rather, they were encumbered with acts of milking the land dry of its rich resources and making gains by that, selfless missions started schools to educate Africans and teach them how to read and write.

So focused where these missions, that they shouldered funding almost completely, getting no funds from the colonial masters or the native leaders in the building of the school structures or payment of the teachers who actually doubled as missionaries then.

With time, the schools moved from single class schools to multiple class schools. Curricula were drawn up and very soon, africans started competing on almost level grounds with European students all around the world.

Teaching the African man to read was the first step in the direction of his liberation and that responsibility was taken on by the church.

Now, there are schools everywhere in an african country like Nigeria. Government has gotten involved though on a paralytic level in education. The church has shirked its responsibility and is focused on making profit especially now that churches have millions of naira come in by way of offerings, tithes and other giving vehicles or projects from the upwardly mobile professionals and middle class citizens who must attend church because religion is a culture.

The church now is involved in financial blessing seminars and faith conventions featuring night vigils with prayer requests of financial abundance and prosperity at the expense of National development.

Church members have grown a thick skin against the deep poverty that is eating the land and have turned their face away from other members who are in church to come in contact with their “angel” (who will probably provide their next meal). Loads of young lads and ladies have no one to pay for their education and are stuck as a result at secondary school education and forced to go do manual labour. Some are even jobless

Yet, in most churches in the land, the congregation gathers, enjoy worship with scintillating music and dancing, listen to the word, pray and go home while the Nation regresses in illiteracy and bondage. Pastors now live a “larger than life” life especially in an environment where “God gives the power to get wealth”. A large percentage of them can not give proper account of the monies that they spend as they have an unhindered access to the church account and spend at will.

The church is sleeping is why a Nation’s government is killing innocent citizens in the niger delta and not much noise is being made about it. After all, the vice president dines with the leadership of the church associations regularly and they wouldn’t want to corrupt the goodwill that is between them till date. 

Loads of youths have dreams to be successful in the arts (music, graphic arts, dancing etc) and even sports but lack an enabling environment and a platform to launch and the doors of the church are locked from monday during the day to friday during the day with so sort of empowerment going on. 

How long shall this neglect and wickedness continue. If this nation, Nigeria must develop, the church must take it’s rightful place again in taking responsibility for the building of this nation academically, spiritually, financially and even politically.

Our values are flawed because the church is sleeping. LET THE CHURCH ARISE AND LET THE ENEMIES OF NIGERIA BE SCATTERED.

Person 1

Person 2: gd

Person 1: na wa o

Person 1: you no see wetin dey happen for ekiti?

Person 2: nna ur pple be as they get o!

Person 2: though i had a feeling it was gonna happen

Person 1: no be dem o

Person 1: na the party dey set them up

Person 2: as the PDP can not afford for pride to allow them lose ekiti

Person 1: exactly

Person 1: you get the picture totally

Person 2: it would show that they had lost their foothold in the west

Person 1: you r too much

Person 1: you r saying the same thing i told people yday

sola adepoju: lagos gone, ondo gone, ogun going, and now ekiti?

Person 1: and they wont succeed

Person 1: edo gone as well

Person 2: i wont be surprisd if when they declare ido-osi, they declare like all the registered voters voted for pdp

Person 1: oh! they’ve declared it earlier

Person 2: its jst crazy and the antics of our distinguished and very honourable senators ao arise and femi kila

Person 1: 15,000 votes to pdp

Person 1: and 3,000 to ac

Person 2: they declared like 15k for pdp and 3k for ac

Person 1: and there are not up to 10,000 registered voters in ido osi

Person 2: do they think we are idiots?

Person 1: they are silly guys

Person 2: i think i am a prophet

Person 2: the same thing wld happen in oye 1 n 2

Person 1: you r my brother

Person 1: yes o

Person 2: still there?

Person 1: but God no go gree them

Person 1: i’m really sa

Person 1: d

Person 2: who r the pple in d streets supporting?

Person 1: this is the same PDP who kept saying AC was importing thugs through fayose and fayemi’s fathers’ burials

Person 1: fayemi is the popular candidate

Person 1: with the grassroots

Person 2: who have the power to import more thugs, or thugs in police uniform, fake soldiers and all

Person 1: very dirty of the PDP

Person 2: all in all, i think we are approaching our rebranding the wrong way

Person 1: i didn’t want to be partisan before but now i can see that staying on the fence is tantamount to supporting evil

Person 2: lets start first with the pdp, or change the pay-off to “Nigeria, good pple, bad leaders”

Person 2: LOL

Person 1: PDP stalwarts are dealing with journalists as if they were the opposition

Person 1: lol

Person 1: not bad at all

Person 1: i’ll write a post today with that topic

Person 2: Edmund burke once said “the only thing needed for evil to succedd is for men of goodwill, to be unconcerned. or something like that

Person 1: yeah….the only permission darkness needs to prevaill is for light to refuse to shine…..my paraphrase

Person 2: i am really pissed with the situation

Person 1: not as much as me man

Person 1: i’m repulsed

Person 1: but i’m sure that the will of the people will prevail

Person 2: but the more important thing for me is that good governance should be entrenched.

Person 2: as the onus is for the opposition to show that they are up to the task.

Person 2: the onus is for oshiomole, mimiko and fayemi, if and when he is eventually allowed to be governor to show that they are a credible alternative to the PDP.

Person 2: Fashola is already laying a good foundation in Lagos

Person 2: i was in ogun last weekend and someone jokinly said that come 2011, they wld kidnap fashola and keep him in hiding for four yrs so that he can be telling whoeva becomes their governor how to make impact in the lives of pple.

Person 2: his only remedy wld be if he agrees to govern both states together.

Person 2: pple are now appreciating good things.

Person 2: at least pple are voluntarily paying taxes now seeing that government is having direct impact on their lives.

BUZZ!!!

Person 1: sorry man

Person 2: ore u still there?

Person 2: got to go work beckons.

Person 2: catch u some other time!

Person 1: yeah

Person 1: i feel you

Person 1: the opposition must rise to the task ahead

Person 2: k

Person 1: for me, i didn’t feel segun oni was a bad governor at all

Person 1: his only problem was that he had a disconnect with the grass roots

Person 2: that is the only way, if not they would just be part of the problem

Person 1: i believe both candidates are good 

Person 2: fayose was not also a bad governor but he had a lot of excesses.

Person 1: i agree

Person 1: fayose touched the grassroots but failed to discipline himself

Person 2: and the excesses eventually did not allow for much progress in the state.

Person 1: the people still feel that he was the best governor ekiti ever had till date

Person 1: not at all

Person 1: u served there abi?

Person 2: lets hope and pray and act so that the opposition can show that there is a beta way.

Person 1: you must have seen that the basic benefits of democracy is lacking in about 80

Person 1: percent of the state

Person 1: abi o

Person 2: fayose really had a way of connecting with the masses though it was all PR gimmicks. 

Person 2: i was there

Person 2: really got to go now.

Person 2: i’ll keep this conversation and like use it when i eventually write an article on ekiti state.

Person 2: be good ore mi busy

Person 2: bye

Person 1: no wahala

Person 1: thanks for yarning

Person 1: i’ll drop in to see you soon

Person 1: cheers man

Person 2: k

Person 2: looking 4ward to it

I had been given a mandate by the future movement to go and set the ball rolling with respect to organising a political debate between the political aspirants of the annulled April 18, 2007 elections. Elections had been annulled in 10 out of 16 local government council areas by an Appeal court and a re-run had been ordered. The election rerun in the state is billed to take place on the 25th April, 2009.

As a result, the whole of the nation has it’s eyes fixed on Ekiti and the re-run elections. What will be the outcome? Will the sacked governor return or will a new governor be sworn in? The question on everyone’s lips “Oni or Fayemi, who will it be?” Well, back to the purpose of my trip. I was sent to a particular Pastor who had a passion for seeing a new Nigeria emerge and another interesting young man who lived for the ideals of a new Nigeria.

I set out with so much unknown yet so much anticipation. I had prayed and was sure that God will direct my steps and put a smile on my face when I returned to give the report to the uture movement. I arrived Ekiti about 2pm yesterday afternoon, after a four and a half hour journey and after waiting for two hours at the bus park. I met with my young friend after a couple of phone calls and we both went to meet with the Pastor at his church’s new building site.

About a dozen people were engaged in one activity or the order, dirtied from sand, mud and dust, they were either pushing wheelbarrows laden with construction materials or mixing with spades or carrying head pans “pon-pon” filled with mixed concrete to pour in the mould that was made for the foundation of the building. The Pastor himself was dressed in very old clothes I discovered as he approached to welcome me and his hands very dirty with mud. He smiled as he welcomed me warmly and hesitated at my stretched out hand, showing me his mud covered ones and asking if I didn’t mind. I said I didn’t and locked his right hand in a very strong handshake despite the the dried dirt on it. Afterall, I was at home and was meeting with my own kin.

Immediately, I launched into the agenda of my visit and he came up to speed quite quickly with it. Anyway, according to him, it had been a burning desire on his heart so it seemed to be happening at the right time. We discussed together the factors we needed to take up immediately with regards to the seminar/debate. In a few mins, we had set out deliverables and he had assured me that if I was going to wait till the next morning, he’d give me an update on the reaction and decision of other key stakeholders he would be speaking with yesterday evening. I instantly assured him that I’ll be waiting till the next morning ofcourse. I had vowed to take responsibility for the political state in Ekiti and needed to begin to relate even more closely with its people as well as stay in the state a little more than before.

I left his place after we spent several minutes discussing the polity of Ekiti state and was picked up by my Auntie who serves as the chairman of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives-Ekiti Branch and we drove to her house where I spent the night. I was treated to a very large and delectable meal of pounded yam and efo riro soup with eja kika and beef.

Shortly after I loaded up with the food, my friend Kunle Alashi came calling and we had a good discussion on many aspects of life. I spent some time feeling the vibes of politics in the state while discussing my mission to my Auntie. She gave me some insight into why she preferred “the devil we know to an angel we don’t know”. Those were her exact words in referring to the two major gubernatioral aspirants.

I slept soundly feeling very strongly the fresh and very cool breeze of the country. I almost didn’t get out of bed excepting the fact that I had an appointment by 7am. I met our Pastor friend again and he gave me updates on the situation. Needless to say that he gave some very encouraging news and promised to tie up the loose ends by the end of the week. He set up a small committee to work with me on the project and I the feeling of excitement at the success of this project was thick in the air as I discussed it with them.

I was told that I had to make another trip to Ekiti by next week to tie up the loose ends and that what was most important now was getting the consent of the aspirants to appear for the debate. By and large, I left Ekiti this morning in high spirits dreaming about the program and its resultant success and ofcourse the effect of that success on the people of Ekiti state.

Enlightened followership would have been created and the middle class who usually don’t take  responsibility by voting will have been encouraged to vote. The title of the seminar/debate is “Your vote,your voice” and the name of this gracious Pastor friend is Tunde Afe of the House of Faith Church, Ado Ekiti. I’ll write about updates of this meeting as they happen and I believe another Barack Obama scenario is in the making. Ekiti state will be the pilot and the rest of Nigeria will surely follow. God bless Nigeria. God bless Ekiti State.

Hi guys. It so nice to have me back again aint it? I can hear some of you screaming “when will that guy write an article again?” It’s 11:48pm and I don’t want to sleep before I send this post. I got sent this link while I was networking online. I decided to check it  out immediately especially  because it was sent to me by one of my mentors.

One of Nigeria’s journalists of renown, Reuben Abati’s name  jumped out at me as I got to the site. I discovered it was a link to an online Nigerian newspaper. The fact that that the article was posted in the weekend edition also piqued my curiosity even more. This piece will be interesting, I told myself.

It was an insight into what the erstwhile Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairman, Nuhu Ribadu thought about corruption and it’s effects in Nigeria and how from a trailblazer point of view, they tackled corruption without fear or favour during the Obasanjo administration.

He also gave a highlight into what life as a deposed and disgraced public servant and super policeman is now. The first ever policeman to charge sitting governors and senators to court over corruption and even send one to jail. The first cop to investigate the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and charge his daughter to court over corruption. The first cop to jail a sitting bank MD and handcuff  and jail a police Inspector General. He suddenly has become Public Enemy No. 1 because the current political proponents and crooks are out to deal with him for his selfless service and commitment to the eradication of crime in his Motherland.

Never before have I been this touched and impressed about the testimony and resolve of a Northern Nigerian. In fact in the discussion, he pledged his life to the fight against corruption. Hear him,

I swear by the Almighty that wherever there are people who are trying to make Nigeria a better country, I will be among them. Walahi.”

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu thus qualifies as a Hero for me and as a voice and face of The Future Movement and ultimately a New NIGERIAN. Three happy cheers for him. HURRAY! HURRAY!! HURRAY!!! What are you doing to take responsibility?

Please find the full article below.

I Saw Ribadu In Rwanda
By 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.

Unlike Githongo, Ribadu did not run away immediately he discovered that he had fallen out of favour. He stayed and tried to fight the system. He was sidelined and sent to a course he didn’t ask for in Kuru near Jos. Behind his back, they gave his job to someone else, without regard to the security of tenure. Then, they demoted him in what looked like a routine administrative exercise, but the political undertones were writ large. When he tried to resist the system, they shoved him out of the graduation hall at Kuru, and his employers, the Police sent him to Siberia: what Nigerians would call the Ogbugbuaja treatment. Ribadu got lawyers and again tried to fight back. He refused to report for duty. He refused to wear the uniform of the new rank.

One day, assassins trailed him and pumped bullets into his car. Having served in the Nigeria Police for more than two decades, he could spot a warning shot if one was fired in his direction. So, Ribadu succumbed to the logic of Bob Marley’s lyrics: “He who fights and runs away, will live to fight another day.” He is not likely to come anywhere Nigeria for a while. Those who do not like his face and his work have effectively driven him out of town. But he is a determined man. “What has happened to me is just a temporary setback”, he concludes. “I am a fighter, I don’t give up. I don’t believe the people who think they have dealt with me will have the last laugh.”

Like Githongo, Ribadu is spending his period in exile to think and write. “I am working on two books”, he told me. The working title for the first book is “The Problem of Corruption in Africa: The Nigerian Experience.” He explained: “You know corruption is the biggest problem we have in Africa. It is so central to the problems we have. But to fight corruption, the biggest man in government, the President or the Prime Minister must be honest about it. That is where it starts. Americans talk about Obama. We need change in Nigeria more than America does. What I discovered is that we have a challenge to give power to ordinary Nigerians, to ordinary people, to take it from the politicians. And we don’t have time. Change is important.” He didn’t have a working title for his proposed second book. But he offered an outline of its posssible contents.

“When I look back, I realise that some of the people who liked what I did also have issues with some of the things we did. I plan to do a second book to address some of their concerns. I intend to show for example that we deliberately went after grand corruption because that is where the problem is. We interrogated the Governors, the Senate President, the Vice President. I put a Bank Director, Bulama in handcuffs. The moment we did that, the banks knew immediately that there were no sacred cows. We needed to send a strong signal that corruption will not be condoned and the cleansing process had to start from the stop. The day I took the job, I knew that it could end up like this. I knew that I could be victimised or dismissed or killed. It could have been worse. That I am alive today is by the Grace of the Almighty and I am grateful. But my position is that some people just have to make the sacrifice to save our country. I swear by the Almighty that wherever there are people who are trying to make Nigeria a better country, I will be among them. Walahi.”

Another objective Ribadu intends to achieve in the second book is to comment on a number of case studies. “People go about saying that Obasanjo used me to go after his enemies, Obasanjo didn’t use me, in fact may be it is the other way round. If you check, you will notice that the people we went after were actually Obasanjo’s people. Alamiyeseigha was very close to the President. Odili was also very close to him. Saminu Turaki was an Obasanjo man. I deliberately did not go after the opposition. Yes, we investigated Orji Kalu. We also investigated Bola Tinubu. I know the President’s people would have wanted the EFCC to go after a man like Ken Nnamani. But we needed to start with the Obasanjo people to make a point that nobody is above the law. And that was why we investigated the President himself, And we went after his daughter. I was in Kuru then, but I knew about the Iyabo case. If we want to clean up our country, then let us do it. And that was why I went after Atiku. Atiku is from the same village with me. But Nigeria is more important. It belongs to all of us, not some powerful people.”

Ribadu’s book is also a response to questions about due process and the rule of law. “People complain that we didn’t obey the rule of law, that we violated due process and they use specific instances to criticise us. I plan to respond to all those criticisms. Take a man like former IG Tafa Balogun. I didn’t like what happened myself. I was against putting him in handcuffs. But I have to be sensitive to the people who work under me. They came to me and accussed me of double standards. When I accepted the job, I was inspired by the example of Jerry Rawlings of Ghana who went after the big fish and changed his country for good. So we decided that if we could put a Bank MD in handcuffs and follow that up with an Inspector General of Police, then Nigerians would realise that we meant serious business. That was what happened. I am a human being. I make mistakes. I admit that. But I was honest about what I did. So they say we abused the rule of law? What is rule of law? The same rule of law that has now been used to recapture Nigeria?”

I told Ribadu I can’t wait to read and review his books. When are they coming out? “This year. By July. We have to keep the anti-corruption campaign alive. For me personally, there is nothing left for me other than to dedicate myself to the struggle. I am not seeking to be an Obama. But people must be prepared to make the sacrifice. We need change more than America.” How is he these days? “I sleep well these days”, he said. “My needs are minimal. Look at this pair of slippers”. I checked: an over-abused pair of slippers with worn edges and threatening holes. “I have been wearing this since 2003 and I am okay. But I must tell you I have enjoyed a lot of goodwill since I left office. I was offered jobs by many international organisations. I receive invitations to attend conferences and to write books. I came here for example from Lusaka. I am happy to know that there are people out there who have faith in human progress and integrity.”

It was soon the turn of Ribadu to participate in a panel discussion focussing on country case studies. There were contributions from representatives of Nigeria’s EFCC and the ICPC, but Ribadu’s comments had a special accent which struck a chord among the participants. He said: “If you fight corruption, it fights back. If you go after petty corruption nothing will happen to you, But if you go after grand corruption, you’d be taking on the politicians and they have the money. And they will come after you, But you can choose to go to bed with them and you’d continue to be Chairman or Director, and you can go to conferences and enjoy tea and collect estacodes. But I made a choice, I decided to go after the big ones, even if they were the ones that put me there, I investigated President Obasanjo, I took his statement myself. I went after his daughter, a Senator, I went after Governors, I charged all of them to court. One of them offered me $500, 000 US and a house in Seychelles and an aircraft, but I rejected all of that. By the time I left EFCC, I had 275 convictions in a country that never had one on cases of grand corruption, I charged the Vice President to court – somebody from my village. I proved that it can be done.

“It is the most difficult work to do. To confront it will require people who make sacrifice like Mandela, like the people who fought for independence in our various countries. It requires people who have courage, people who do not think that they want to enjoy. If you want to enjoy, it is not the kind of work you can do. I have no regrets. It requires a strong will to make sacrifice. You have to make a fundamental decsiion. It can even mean you lose your life. They will try to compromise you, They will try to blackmail you. I survived an assassination attempt. I have bullets in my car. I intend to keep that car for life. I have no regrets. You have the media. You have to carry them along, be open, be accountable. I have never given a penny to anybody in the media, But there is no newspaper in Nigeria that has not made me Man of the Year, even though I charged some publishers to court and even threatened to close down newspapers. Which shows that people are good. If they see that you mean well, they will support you. I am out now, but Nigeria has changed. You need international co-operation. You also need to build capacity.

“We built a Financial Intelligence Unit, you have to be in control of Financial intelligence in your country. because money is at the root of all forms of corruption. If you track the money, you can stop the corruption. Be on the side of your own people. Don’t be on the side of the leaders. A President will go, but the country will be there, Those who are in control, it is only temporary. History will judge you and you will never regret.”

]]> http://busayoakanro.com/2009/02/22/public-enemy-no1/feed/ 3 http://busayoakanro.com/2009/01/28/is-our-foreign-ministry-jobless/ http://busayoakanro.com/2009/01/28/is-our-foreign-ministry-jobless/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:01:32 +0000 bussee http://busayoakanro.com/?p=226

The inauguration of the 44th and 1st black president of the United States of America was realised on the 20th of January, this year. With regards to America’s standing as the leader of the free world, it was imperative that most countries that had foreign missions in America would have been represented at the inauguration one way or another. To buttress this, invitations were sent to such countries to have their delegates ably represented at the event. Nigeria, by default also got an invitation. We are the most populous black nation and the fifth largest seller of crude oil to the U.S. It would have been quite surprising if we weren’t invited.

As if that was not honour enough, I learn’t that some state governors decided to go and witness history being made live. One can only hope that they were not just fascinated about Obama’s glory but that they would have critically observed his story and will take actionable steps to implement positive change in their various states.

Anyway, the governors are not my concern. Everyone has a free will to take 1 or 2 days off to be part of history. What I read concerning our foreign delegation is what irks me. President Barack Obama who was sworn in on that day has since started work in earnest. Signing in documents into law, meeting with members of staff of the white house and his cabinet, dealing with the shutting of Guantanamo bay, addressing the way forward in Afghanistan and so on. Our own foreign mission representatives headed by Ojo Madueke are yet to return from the United States.

I really am not angry at them after thinking through deeply. Afterall, you can’t acheive history like that in Nigeria and just let it go so unceremoniously. Firstly, since the gods have finally accepted our prayers, they must be duely appeased with all sorts of sacrifices and festivities. Also, God almighty needs to be given the praise for allowing it to happen, so we need to give him loads of praise and worship with a few popular bands (about 2o) declaring these praises for a few days. Also, since of course, the president would have become president on the platform of a particular party, that party would have to host the president to a high profile success party with the party executives in attendance where the monies spent earlier on other celebrations are re-spent and a lot more noise made through the media, musicians and so on. And because the president is from some local area in the country, then his community must host him to another party where the traditional ruler and high chiefs of his local community can congratulate him in person and where ordinary citizens from the area can catch a live glimpse of their “brother” who has just become president.

Unfortunately, all these didn’t happen in the U.S. though our foreign mission must have booked for about 2 weeks in their hotels not expecting that all will be over so soon. It may be also that I’m wrong. Possibly, the foreign mission delegates might just have thought to themselves,

“since we are already in America, even though on official assignment that has elapsed, can we just convert

sometime into vacation. After all, estacode that we collected must not be returned. We must spend it

by every means possible even if we have to stay back in America for 1 month or is there any other country

that is swearing in their president or rebel leader that we can visit officially?”

I really don’t know which it is but I appeal to our representatives to please return home ASAP. Thank you for representing us. It’s time for you to come and earn your keep and add value to your country by serving to the best of your ability. America is that way because people made it so. Come back and make your country so………Deliver the future if you can, and please resign if you wouldn’t.