Nuhu Ribadu shot to national prominence in 2003 when the then President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as the pioneer Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He got endeared to the international community when he famously rejected a $15 million bribe by an allegedly corrupt governor to compromise his investigation of him.
After he left the police force as an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), he tried his hands in partisan politics where he became the presidential candidate of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011 and since then has gone on to become a gubernatorial aspirant in his native Adamawa State.
Against all odds, he was appointed as the National Security Adviser in 2023 – a role traditionally reserved for retired military officers.
He infamously quipped that ‘Canada can go to hell’ when the Chief of Defence Staff, General Chris Musa and some top-ranking Generals were denied visa to visit the country.
Visa denials is nothing new in Nigeria. 105,926 Nigerians applied, and they spent €8.47 million on Schengen visa applications in 2023, according to Schengen.News.
Canada is the third most popular destination after the United States and United Kingdom and so it was news that the Generals could be refused visas.
The Canadian High Commission in its defense said that such applications should have been accompanied with a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Why weren’t the Generals applications accompanied by such a letter as protocol demanded? Does Ribadu think that Canada – a first world nation would waive this requirement? What really was he thinking?
The Generals wanted to watch the Invictus games created by Prince Harry which is a subject of interest in military circles. Did they need about seventy generals to fly to Canada to watch the games? Was it really necessary? Didn’t it smirk of a needless jamboree?
At a time when the nation is reeling under the yoke of banditry, abductions, and insurgency, why should Generals abdicate their duty posts to watch some foreign invented game in a faraway country? It is akin to Emperor Nero fiddling away while Rome burned.
Why hasn’t Ribadu told the Generals to go to hell when they appear to be losing the war against the apparently more equipped bandits and insurgents? Why hasn’t Ribadu come up with a fire powered plan to make insurgency history like the Sri Lankan military authorities did to the infamous Tamil Tigers?
This is a clear case of a bruised ego squealing out in pain. Despite the billions of naira allocated to the office of the National Security Adviser, can Ribadu be said to be a hero in the battle against insurgency and banditry?
Why didn’t Ribadu insist on due process being followed in the visa application process rather than scream like a baby whose candy was forcefully taken away from? Does he think that Canada will lower their standards simply because some Nigerian generals wanted to visit their country?
If Nigeria was living up to her potential, due process would have been followed and this needless embarrassment would have been averted. Rather than blame the protocol officers in charge of the visa application process for the generals, Ribadu chose to commit a gargantuan diplomatic gaffe. Does he think that the mantra of ‘anything goes’ applies in the international community?
His infamous quip is enough to have him resign if Nigeria were decent but alas, we tragically live in a ‘shit hole’ apologies to the US President, Donald Trump.
Look at the tourism potential of Nigeria with all her tourist destinations and imagine the trillions of dollars that it would have been minting for the country if we got our security architecture right!
The diversification of our mono economy from crude oil would have been possible with tourism playing a key role if the country was secure. Look at what Kenya did when Al Shabaab attacked her and killed some citizens. Fearing that their tourism industry which is her economic mainstay would be under threat, they immediately swung into action and flushed out the insurgents. Here in Nigeria, we have the insurgency for close to two decades now which has defied all pragmatic solutions.
Ribadu chooses to gloss over salient and burning national issues in favour of frivolities similar to a man chasing rats while his house is up in flames.
The holder of a sensitive office like that of the NSA should be emotionally intelligent and matured enough to control his emotions and not make unnecessary outbursts like a market woman. It is sad that Ribadu allowed the beast of his emotions to get the better of him.
The onus lies on our leaders to make Nigeria more secure so that prosperity will naturally follow such a reality. We should envisage a country which would be so great that we will be the ones to deny Caucasians visas in our bid not to allow undesirable elements come in freely.
Ribadu should get to work and should stop making Nigeria a laughing stock in the international comity of nations.
Enough is Enough!
This is the opinion of the writer and not the view of this platform.
