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Over the past few
months, I have seen some of the people I admire most take a stand and
demand that enough is enough in Nigeria. I have seen both young and old
Nigerians demand that we end the hypocrisy and corruption that have
eaten so deep into our political system and crippled us as a nation.

I have seen close
friends show enviable enthusiasm in seeking change democratically. I
was part of many campaigns that said it is not over yet for Nigeria;
that maybe if we get this coming election right, maybe we will start to
see that light at the end of the tunnel. I believed, friends believed,
many others do too; we believed we would find that one different
politician that will sit at the helm of affairs and stir us at high
speed in the right direction.

Now, I am not that
kind of person that just sits around and waits for somebody else to
come and do the job. However, for some time now, I have seen other
believers and action-takers all trying to preach the candidacy of one
man – ‘The Right Man’, they said. I have seen them take to cyberspace,
and all other media to campaign for the said messiah – the one with
integrity, purpose, vision and will. The one without selfish interests,
who is different from the regular crop of politicians: Nuhu Ribadu.

At first, these
people started with mouth-watering promises from Mr. Ribadu, and they
got a lot of people excited, but not me. Something just wasn’t right!
He served under a government that failed to tackle corruption to her
fullest capacity. He is hobnobbing with the very kind of politicians he
said he wasn’t. Plus, his campaign strategies hinge more on mudslinging
and highlighting problems just like the other said ‘up-to-no-good’
politicians. Where is that difference? I just can’t see it! But I still
almost believed that he is the best of the lot.

The scales,
however, fell from my eyes on the night of Sunday, March 27, 2011, when
a friend and active Ribadu promoter sent me a celebratory message with
a link to a story that said Ibrahim Babangida endorses Ribadu. This
friend and I just months ago, actively campaigned together on Facebook
about how IBB can never be associated with anything good. Now the same
person celebrates this ‘Messiah’/Babangida relationship. Come on! This
is plain hypocrisy. You come down so hard on the incumbent because you
say he is surrounded by corrupt politicians, yet your candidate now
wines and dines with the perpetrators of the practices he promised to
fight.

You can look at
this development and want to wave it off as another strategic political
move or see it for what it is. As a political move, I think this is
laughable; Mr. Babangida is as relevant as he used to be politically.
He couldn’t even get himself the infamous northern consensus ticket. On
the other hand, how low do you have to sink, in order to actualise you
dream? Is there no moral or ethical standard in politics? Is Ribadu now
any different from Abubakar ‘public enemy’ Atiku, since he is going
about pitching tents with the same old politicians he labelled as the
source of our problem? This is pure desperation; a sign that he is
either misguided or unfocused. Either way, it is a sign of
incompetence, a sign that he is going to compromise the promises he is
making.

It is one thing to
make promises and be clueless about how to go about redeeming them; it
is another to show you actually lack the spirit and will to want to
redeem them in the first place. How do you hope to tackle corruption if
you seek help from corrupt people to get into office in the first place?

You argue that it
is not a sought endorsement? Yes, it is! He was there at Babangida’s
home on a courtesy visit. Don’t say the party didn’t know better.
Babatunde Fashola walked out of an event because Babangida was present
– and no, Fashola is not a saint either, but you see some level of
integrity in that sole action.

Let Ribadu go about
his business and campaign. I wish him luck. He probably can’t be any
worse than the rest but it is now so glaring that he is not any better,
either. Let his supporters spare me the pain of reading any more
propaganda. The game is over; I now see him for who he is. For me,
Ribadu has just lost the little edge he had, that benefit of doubt.