The pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, may emerge as the next chairman of the PDP.
The leaders of the PDP are reportedly zeroing in on Ribadu because of the public perception that he has integrity to match that of President Muhammadu Buhari who is now APC’s leader. According to Leadership, leaders in PDP believe that the party lost the last general election because of Buhari’s anti-corruption credentials. The party’s national convention where Ribadu and other Board of Trustees (BoT) members of the party will emerge is slated for August. “The leadership of the party is looking at somebody with a good track record of doggedness, straight forwardness and somebody that is not easily intimidated. Nuhu Ribadu fits the profile,” a PDP insider told Leadership. According to the paper, the source added that at a time when a resolute president, in the person of Muhammadu Buhari, is at the helm of the nation’s affairs, the PDP, now in the opposition, cannot afford to have somebody of questionable character or somebody who does not command the respect on the masses as its leader.
Ribadu earned the respect of the masses while serving as EFCC chairman because of the reasonable number of high profile cases the commission was able to pursue, leading to a situation where Nigerians became wary of engaging in corrupt practices. Ribadu was the PDP governorship candidate in Adamawa State in the last elections. He is also reported to have the blessing of former President Goodluck Jonathan and some other party leaders. Ribadu is also believed to have a good understanding of the inner workings of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, having been a presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress Nigeria (now part of the APC) in the 2011 general elections.
Names like those of former governors, Dr Peter Odili (Rivers), Mr Liyel Imoke (Cross River) and Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), were being mentioned as possible candidates for the PDP chairmanship position until the latest development threw up Ribadu’s name.
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