Ex-Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Sunday justified his defection from the opposition All Progressives Congress to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, saying he did so because the APC is not better than the PDP.
Ribadu, who was the 2011 presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, forerunner of the APC, said there was no real difference between the PDP and APC, in terms of the character of the people who constituted both parties.
“In Nigeria, especially in politics, you can’t say that this is an exclusive party for the people who are thieves or this is for good people.
“It’s just like saying that all Yorubas are this or all Igbos are this. In every group of people, there must be good people and there are bad people. Of course, the good may be more than the bad or the bad may be more than the good in any group.
“But there is no any party that is exclusively for the good people or for the bad people.”
Ribadu stated this in a chat with Punch through his spokesman, Mr. Abdulaziz Abdulaziz.
He said that his defection was not borne out of his desperation to realise his political ambition but was based on his patriotic zeal to serve the country and his people.
Abdulaziz said, “It is not true that he (Ribadu) was desperate to realise his political ambition. This is because this decision was taken in the overriding interest of serving the people.
“What matters for him is service. That is why even when he was a member of the opposition party, when government asked him to serve the country, he accepted the offer and he did a wonderful job that everybody hailed except those who don’t want change in the system. If you are ready to serve the people, sometimes you will have to do something that is not even palatable to yourself.”
But another of Ribadu’s close political associates in Yola told Punch that Ribadu’s defection had to do with his governorship ambition and fears that he might lose out in the race for APC ticket.
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