By Our Correspondent
The brand ‘’Ribadu” resonates throughout the north east beginning with first and second republics, as rich political legends and myths are woven around the members of the this illustrious family that actively participated in the political activity that pervades the era.
In the 1960s first republic, the late Alhaji Mahmudu Ribadu, a scion of the Ribadu dynasty and in fact, its patriarch, was a stalwart of the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, and had a larger than life image. According to myths, he was so powerful it was believed that even the late Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu bello, defered to him.
As minister of Defense in the first republic, the late Mahmudu, was second in command of the NPC team in the federal government administration. Although, he died in office in the 60s, his influence continues to impact on the political history of the country. The Nigerian armed forces, especially the Nigerian army, till today bears the handprint of this dexterous political sage.
Today, the Ribadu square is one of the major public occasions venue in Adamawa state named after Mahmudu Ribadu.
His younger brother, Ahmadu Ribadu an educationist and a top mandarin, featured in the second repulblic. He was one of the notable political figures that grouped together to form the NPN, when the soldiers under the leadership of General Obasanjo beat a retreat to the barracks in 1979.
As a matter of fact, he was one of the prominent northern leaders that constituted the inner caucus of president Shehu Shagari in the NPN.
Late Ahmadu Ribadu was the NPN governorship candidate in the defunct Gongola state now consisting of Adamawa and Taraba states. Considering his pedigree and top profile in the politics of the region, he was expected to win easily. However, what eventually became of the serial foray of the family in politics became legendary.
According to a Yola based policy analyst, Sahabo Gurin, there were a lot of factors going in his favour in the 1978 race until something snapped. One was the fact that the NPN was essentially seen as a Muslim party. The other was that his strong family pedigree was pitched against a lowly teachers ambition of Alhaji Abubakar Barde of the Great Nigeria People’s Party, GNPP and voters went for the underdog.
A further factor, then, was that he was perceived as a man of high integrity and seen as a virtually incorruptible man that could be relied upon to lay the groundwork for the development of not just the state but the region. But again, the rapacious elite of the then fledgling state preferred to continue business as usual, a factor that is likely to catch Nuhu Ribadu even today.
The then Gongola state, as in todays Adamawa was and still remains a miniature Nigeria. As its grander companion, it is fluid and strewn with polarizing political strains and nuances and plenty of banana peels.
The Late Ahmadu had contested the NPN primary election with Wilson Sabiya, a man of pedagoguish catechism and a deep hatred for the dominant Fulani stock. In the bitter aftermath to that race, there was a mass exodus to the alternate northern party, the GNPP, which had fielded Abubakar Barde its governorship candidate.
In the general elections, Barde with a large dose of ethnic minority votes edged out Ahmadu Ribadu. Gurin said the 1979 election introduced negative factors such as religion and ethnicity in the politics of the state.
He stressed that although it was generally agreed that the late Ahmadu had an edge over Sabiya, the protest votes from the ethnic minorities that identified with sabiya led to the defeat of the NPN.
Gurin said since then it had been very clear that there had to be ethnic and religious balancing for any party to achieve victory at the polls. Stating that the shortlived Bamanga Tukur, NPN, administration which swept the GNPP away in 1983, showed that such sensibilities can not be wished away.
The factors that denied the late Ahmadu Ribadu victory in 1979 could not be overcome to knit the highly fluid political situation that led to his downfall at the polls.
The same political forces and same scenarios are today facing his son Nuhu, who as the PDP governorship candidate in the 2015 general elections is a colossus that most states of the federation would gladly embrace as its governorship candidate, were he to come from there. But Adamawa remains a state that seems destined to self-destruct.
In 2015, as in 1979, Nuhu emerged candidate of the PDP amid highly controversial circumstances, that has fragmented the once formidable PDP in Adamawa state. But the situation according to pundits is not beyond repair.
Secondly, far more than in 1979, the state has become acutely underdeveloped and driven along ethnic and religious lines in 8 years of Murtala Nyako administration and further inhibited by 6 years of Boko haram insurgency. The consequence of these factors is tension and the collapsing social fabric.
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a retired AIG of police, former chairman of the once feared anti corruption agency, the Economic and financial crimes commission, EFCC, is a committed public servant, known beyond the frontiers of Nigeria for his integrity and passion to develop his country. He was last seconded to Pakistan and Afghanistan by the United Nations to broker peace in the insurgency – torn region. Nuhu was also endorsed by president Jonathan Goodluck, as being an internationally recognized public servant whose knowledge is needed to fight the twin scourge of insurgency and corruption that continue to dog the state.
Ordinarily, the candidature of Nuhu Ribadu on the platform of the PDP, would have provided a walkover for the party in the 2015 elections considering his qualities and pedigree but like in 1979, this Ribadu like his father, is haunted by deep friction and sundry religious factors.
Today the PDP in Adamawa which from the start of campaigns was a shadow of its former self, is only gradually recovering from its injuries. All the four governorship candidates of PDM, SDP, APC were stalwarts of the PDP. In fact, they had all bolted out of the PDP. Another factor needing urgent attention is the lukewarm altitude of the government under Bala James Ngillari, as he is alleged to be fondling a candidate of another party.
The Nggilari administration is also alleged to have embarked on a screening exercise of civil servants just before polls, to anger workers especially as most of them from the northern part of the state are fleeing from insurgency.
Can Nuhu Ribadu ride the storm? Yes says, Mallam Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, the Media Consultant to the Ribadu campaign. According to him, Nuhu is the candidate to beat in this election. He said there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift from the old retrogressive ways which has stagnated the development of the state, until now.
While acknowledging that ethnic and religious factors sadly play a role in the states politics, Barkindo said today’s voters are better informed and therefore can better appreciate their needs and the need for the state to come up to speed with the rest of the country, in terms of the provision of social infrastructure and a good life for the people.
Barkindo bayed for the need to place the state on a stronger pedestal of development in the face of collapsing social infrastructure. ’’We have an urgent need to build roads, equip hospitals and modernize education, empower the youth, strengthen our civil service and encourage businesses in our state’’ .
‘’In the face of dwindling resources, we need someone who can plug all the holes in the system and channel energies to developmental needs not people who see governance as an avenue for self- promotion. We need a person like Nuhu whose international exposure will yield dividends to the state and set it on the path of glory”, the Media Consultant added, saying Nuhu brings to his state a full package of good tiding and only those who intend to continue the impoverishment of the people willstand in his way.”
