By OKECHUKWU PEACE
Ex-boss of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu has explain his rationale for re-joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) the party he dumped in August 2014 for the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The 55-year-old announced his return in a message he posted on his official Facebook page on Friday.
According to him, he re-registered as a member of the APC, for which he is a founding member, on Thursday through the party’s online portal.
After that, the leadership of the party in his Bako ward of Yola South Local Government Area visited him in my Yola residence to welcome him back to their fold.
According to the anti-corruption crusader, “My decision to return to the APC was triggered by my belief that all politics are local. Almost everyone around me and with whom we started my political journey believed the time had come for us to make sacrifices and make concessions. That is in addition to the unbelievable love that my friends in the APC have showered on me in the past months.
“They demonstrated in words and action that they wanted me back home.
“I also did a deep and long reassessment of the circumstances that warranted my exit from the APC in the first place. I left the APC in 2014 owing to fundamental disagreements with the ways the chapter of the party in my state was run after it fell into some hands.
“Some colleagues and I tried hard to save the then APC administration from an orchestrated impeachment plot which was unfortunately carried out with active collaboration of some ranking APC members in the state.
“However, events in the last 15 months have addressed many of the issues and healed some of the wounds. More so, with the genuine and sincere invitations I received since last year to retrace my steps into the party, I decided to return after consulting family and political associates at all levels.
“I would like to appreciate all those members of the party who privately and publicly prodded me to return to the party. My appreciation also goes to the leadership of our party, from my ward in Bako to the national leadership, for the enthusiasm they showed in having me back.”
Ribadu was the presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 general elections.
He lost to immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP.
In February 2013, he joined forces with others in the three biggest opposition parties at the time – Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and ACN – to form the APC.
He left for the PDP in 2014 to pursue a governorship ambition in his Adamawa home state but lost to incumbent Governor Jubrilla Bindow of the APC.
Speaking at a workshop in Abuja on Wednesday, Ribadu urged Nigerians to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his effort to get rid of corruption in the country.
