There are strong media reports that the former Chairman of the EFCC is making plans to defect to the ruling party following a meeting with an APC bigwig.
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu
A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Sunday held a private meeting with a former Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Bisi Akande.
Ribadu, who contested the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, visited Akande at his residence in Ila-Orangun on Sunday evening and discussed with him for a few hours.
The visit had sparked rumour of the possibility of the defection of the former anti-graft boss to the ruling APC. A highly-placed source in the APC in Osun State told a correspondent on Sunday that Ribadu visited Akande in company with the National Secretary of the APC, Mai Bala Buni.
The source, who preferred not to be mentioned because he was not authorised to speak for the party, said, “He was there on Sunday. I was told he (Ribadu) and the national secretary of the APC visited Chief Akande together.
“It is difficult to say if he is defecting to our party because I was not there but we won’t ask him not to come if he wants to come.”
The Director of Publicity and Strategy of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, when contacted, said he heard that Ribadu visited Akande. Odeyemi, however, berated the former anti-corruption agency boss for allegedly “going back and forth.”
He said, “I was told he visited Ila-Orangun but is Ila his local government, where he is supposed to announce his defection?
“Ribadu has never proved to be a loyal party man. He joined the PDP from the ACN and he is going back now. He is not somebody to be depended upon when it comes to politics.”
Ribadu was a governorship candidate of the PDP in Adamawa State in the April 11, 2015 election.