Shady and corrupt elite, led by General Ibrahim Babangida, Mr. Tony Anenih and the former governors the EFCC is hounding over allegations of corruption, are at the forefront of those mounting pressure on President Umaru Yar’Adua to sack the EFCC boss, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, considered to be an errand boy of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Pressure is being mounted on President Musa Yar’Adua to sack the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu.
The pressure, according to our sources, is aimed at moving against all Obasanjo elements in the party, including Ribadu, who are wielding too much influence in PDP whereas IBB and former governors do not feel too comfortable with them, considering the critical parastatals of government they head.
In the event that Ribadu is removed, the pressure group want him redeployed to perform his normal police duties. It was further gathered that Ribadu would be replaced at the EFCC by a Deputy Commissioner of Police from Ekiti State, Tunde Ogunsakin.
The pressure to remove Ribadu from EFCC, sources said, is part of the general struggle within PDP to rein in the Obasanjo elements in the party.
Obasanjo was said to have seen the writing on the wall while he was on vacation in Jamaica and had to cut short his holiday and rush back to the country to salvage the situation which was akin to power slipping off his hands.
One of the clandestine moves to clip the wings of Obasanjo and his acolytes in PDP was the endorsement of Anenih as chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees while Obasanjo was away in Jamaica.
It was also gathered that when Ribadu was about to make good his threat of arresting and jailing former governors whom he accused of money laundering and other corrupt practices while in office, to the extent that his agency had created executive cells for the ex-governors, he was prevailed upon by Yar’Adua to take it easy with the former state chief executives so as not to rock the boat since his government is still young.
Our sources P.M News also informed that IBB must have been instrumental to the appointment of Ambassador Babagana Kingibe as Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
This, our sources said, is to checkmate any attempt by Obasanjo to hold Yar’Adua hostage. Obasanjo had reacted angrily when he heard about Kingibe’s appointment while Kingibe himself made a snide comment many believed was directed at Obasanjo, when he said that the Yar’Adua government would be different from that of Obasanjo.
