RIBADU: ALIGNMENT OR REALIGNMENT?

The combination of recent sordid developments in our nation has strengthened belief in the skeptical quarter that Nigeria is heading for a messy breakup or an acute state of lawlessness. No matter the level of one's optimism for the unity and progress of Nigeria, one is acutely aware that we are truly teetering on the brink of chaos, politically, socially and economically. While I have not made a serious shift from my firm belief that our country can be held together for the common good, I have to admit, albeit reluctantly, that my belief is a wee bit less firm than it was at the turn of 2014. Sad but true.

What has so shaken my belief, and that of other well-meaning and well-intentioned Nigerians? The simple answer is 'impunity'. This is the cancer that could effectively snuff the life out of Nigeria as a unified country. This cancer is not yet terminal in nature, only seriously malign. It would take a silly amount of time and space to enumerate this truckload of impunities, but they surround us and we witness them every single day. The 'I don't give a damn' attitude is now embedded in our political culture so much so that it is now perceived as being par for the course. When the worst of all offenders is the President of the Republic himself, then one is entitled to fear the worst. When any law of State can be broken at his whim, then we're indeed heading for destruction. The biggest danger is that Jonathan doesn't see it that way, he just believes that he's merely exercising his powers as the President. He's been blindfolded by his so-called handlers, and handcuffed by his own lack of tact and intellectual forbearance. Not wishing to bash him around the head at every given opportunity (even though he more than deserves it) but if he's presiding over the worst period of our country's existence as a free nation, bashing him around the head should be the least of his worries. In all my years (and believe me I'm not exactly a spring chicken!), I have not known a period as bleak and as corrupt as this. EFCC and ICPC now only exist in name only. Governors are impeached without just cause, just because they pose a serious threat to his 2015 project. Boko Haram outmuscling our Army. Security is even no longer a serious part of the national discourse. Our girls and boys are still in the Sambisa Forest, and the sot mobilized so much of our military and policing capabilities to terrorize populations before and during the recent governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States! All that matters is his re-election and anything that falls outside that circle is a mere distraction. I personally cannot wait to see this humpty-dumpty of a fellow trudge out of Aso Rock. Enough of this weakling, I'd say.
Still on the calculations for 2015, Jonathan and his co-cons are spending our money like confetti wooing people to do their bidding. For the life of me, I never in a trillion years would have imagined Ribadu now eating out of the same bowl with the PDP. Before you berate me or question my avowed commitment to respecting the right of the person to freely associate with anyone or any group of their choice, let me tell you where I'm coming from.
Again, I will defend, to the death, Ribadu's right to be a member of the PDP, or any party for that matter. However, it is also true to say that, in politics, there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests. This is exactly why I've got a problem with Ribadu's membership of the PDP. It is morally and ideologically indefensible, and actually intellectually repugnant. Ribadu has spent his career on the platform of incorruptibility and openness. He has acquired worldwide acclaim as being a prickly thorn in the flesh of corrupt nudniks in Nigeria. Nigerians have come to love and respect him for being their untiring and unerring voice in the fight against high corruption. How can one forget his running battles with the thieving PDP governors and other high-ranking officials? Didn't he at some point claim his life was in danger because of his anti-corruption crusade? How, all of a sudden, he has now found that very party to represent the exact value he had always fought for, and for which he  imperiled his own life? Any reason(s) he comes up with for coziness with the PDP will not fool Nigerians and I can assure him that he is going to pay a high price for his folly. What Ribadu has effectively done is shatter that balaclava of propriety and incorruptibility that he has had on for years. He has proved to us, beyond any reasonable doubt, that his friendship with the PDP is not an alignment, but a realignment. He has always been one of them. We only wish we knew better.