Posted by From EMMANUEL OGOIGBE, Warri on
Former chairman, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Warri, Delta State, Barrister Ojo. Abijogun, yesterday took a critical look at the tenure of embattled chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, saying Nigerians should not shed tears for him.
Former chairman, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Warri, Delta State, Barrister Ojo. Abijogun, yesterday took a critical look at the tenure of embattled chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, saying Nigerians should not shed tears for him.
According to him, Ribadu made himself a stooge in the immediate past administration of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, stressing that as a result he deserves whatever treatment he is getting from the present government.
Abijogun in an interview Daily Sun, lamented that Mallam Ribadu turned EFCC into his personal estate while in office, stressing that he refused to listen to wise counsel from eminent Nigerians.
"One of the grievous mistakes he made was that he thought himself was the EFCC hence he made himself more powerful than anyone else. Above all, he allowed himself to be used by ex-President Obasanjo's administration", lamented Abijogun, stressing that he (Ribadu) courted trouble for himself.
The Warri based legal practitioner recalled with sadness Mallam Ribadu's vitepurations against some former Governors who he called thieves, regretting that such language was not decent enough.
"Only recently he blackmailed some former governors less than eight months before they left office and called them thieves. He has not done anything and a lot of them whom he blackmailed, are going about on the streets unmolested," remarked the former NBA boss.
The legal luminary who also commented on the masterplan for the development of the Niger Delta, enjoined all the people in the region to be patient with President Yar'Adua as he will execute the project judiciously.
"I am using this opportunity to appeal to our youths to exercise restraint and embrace peace as no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere of violence," he added