Nyako’s impeachment Adamawa guber: Ribadu torn between two parties
It is no longer news that the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC ), Malam Nuhu Ribadu has lowered his ambition from the herculean one of running as president of the country to the relatively manageable one of running as governor of his state, Adamawa.
Neither is it news that the former anti graft boss has after the merger of parties to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) moved on to become one of the party’s chieftains.
What may come as a surprise to many is that even as the man is identifying with the APC, a part of him has found reasons to beam itself to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fold and there are indications that Ribadu is currently contemplating ditching the APC to join the PDP in order to brighten his chances of succeeding the ousted governor, Murtala Nyako.
Ribadu according to reliable sources, has been approached by the PDP national chairman, Ahmadu Adamu Mua’azu, since the days of Nyako to join his party as part of PDP’s measures to break the ranks of the ruling party in the state.
Sources in Ribadu’s camp say Ribadu started contemplating moving over to the PDP, when it became obvious that Nyako, who is the party leader in the state was bent on giving his son the guber ticket of the APC not minding whose ox is gored.
This was said to have angered the former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) presidential candidate who was yet to recover from the pressures on him to drop his presidential ambition in the APC due to the surfeit of presidential hopefuls within the party and due to his relative young age.
“At a time if you tell him to forgo his presidential ambition, he will flare up, but recently he has started toying with the idea to the point of discussing it openly,” one of his close aides told our correspondent.
But since Ribadu made up his mind to try his hand on the guber ticket, the pressure sources say have intensified from both the APC and the PDP.
While the likes of former Vice president Atiku Abubakar have pleaded with him to accept the APC ticket, the presidency as well as the PDP national chairman, said to be goaded by the positive image his fight against graft had projected , also want him.
With the impeachment of Nyako, the infighting among the PDP hopefuls in Adamawa is said to have intensified and there is a search for a neutral candidate who has not been affected by the fixations in the state chapter of the PDP.
The prospects are said to have put the former EFCC chairman at crossroads as he weighs which of the platforms would give him more advantage of ruling the state.
While in the APC, the exit of Nyako would give Atiku the needed space to take over the affairs of the party and probably have the chance to live up to his intention to hand the party’s ticket to Ribadu, it is not likely that the other aspirants who have used their resources to set up structures in the party would give in easily.
Indications have also emerged that the former vice president is also talking with other aspirants which has further compounded the problem for Ribadu.
In the PDP on the other hand, the number of aspirants does not make the chances any lighter for the former ACN presidential candidate as all of them are already talking tough and not willing to step down for one another moreso as it has become clear that whatever action the national secretariat takes with regards to favouring a particular candidate will not go unchallenged.
Ribadu’s spokesman, Abdulazeez Abdulazeez, when contacted declined comments.