Ribadu advocates revolution

Posted by admin Latest Politics Sunday, June 9th, 2013

From ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE, Kaduna

Pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and 2011 presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday urged Nigerians to unite and recover their country from alleged tyrants.

He decried the reign of corruption and insensitivity to the plight of the common man, adding that Nigerians were in a sinking ship.

Ribadu, who presented the keynote address at a public lecture organized by Students Representative Council of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, stated that Nigerians must rise against exclusionists who divide and prevent them from forming a formidable political platform.

The former anti-graft agency chairman, who is also an alumnus of the university, said: “While the decision to challenge unpopular policies is laudable, absolute orderliness is not expected from angry young men in the streets. This is where we must meet minds like a family to find a way out of this mess. How do we end this reign of corruption and insensitivity to the plight of the common man without subjecting any of us to the bullets of those asked to send us back to our houses in which we find miseries and hopelessness?

“How do we tell our political leaders that a thing is missing without getting shot? I use “we” because I’m just as passionate and concerned as you. I use “we” because if we allow ourselves to be divided into “us” and “them”, the possibility of winning this war is nill. The exclusionists who invented “them” to stop us from forming a formidable political “we”, are the people we must fight, and there is just one way to achieve this: citizens engagement!

“In our response to the dynamism of the present politics, the traditional engagement that tasked the civil societies and opposition parties with engaging incumbent governments and their reforms or policies, we must pander to the non-violent form of citizenship mobilisation popularized by Bouazizi Effect.

“Mind you, I do not mean setting oneself ablaze to register a grievance. I mean exploring the power of our numbers from the internet to the physical landscape, to investigate and challenge a political injustice; I mean defying attempts by exclusionists to tear us apart in our campaign for an ideal candidate; I mean understanding that for achieving impact, an engagement in cyberspace is not enough until it is propounded and taken to the actual world,” he said.
-Sun

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