THE former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday formally declared his intention to contest the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Declaring his ambition, Ribadu cited misgovernance as the main reason the country’s growth had remained stunted.

His views were corroborated by a former National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Audu Ogbeh, who is now a chieftain of the ACN.

Also, presidential hopeful, Dele Momodu, has resigned his membership of the Labour Party (LP). Until Tuesday, he was the most prominent presidential aspirant on the platform of the Labour Party (LP).

In a letter addressed to the national chairman of LP, intimating the party of his resignation, Momodu said it was against the backdrop that the party has no plans to field a presidential candidate for the 2011 presidential election.

The Ovation Magazine publisher also based his decision on a recent media report (not in The Guardian), which claimed Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State was under pressure to dump LP for the ACN and also a media report in which the national chairman of LP, Dan Nwanyanwu, also foreclosed the possibility of the LP fielding a presidential candidate in the next election.
Ogbeh is the Director-General of the Ribadu for President Campaign Organisation.

Addressing his supporters at the Abuja International Conference Centre (ICC), Ribadu said that unless a leadership that was focused, selfless and disciplined was installed in the country, Nigeria will continue to be in search of good leadership.

According to him, Nigeria has another opportunity to lead in the quest for a meaningful change in terms of political and socio-economic development, adding that with the cooperation of all Nigerians, the stage will have been set for a dynamic society that will be the vanguard of efficient and effective utilisation of the huge endowment of natural and human resources of the African continent for rapid economic growth and development.

In an address entitled “A New Nigeria is possible,” Ribadu who was flanked by Ogbeh and his spouse, Zahra, said the first port of call in his vision of re-structuring the economy for development was the simple challenge of returning humility to government, adding that last year alone, Nigerian earned about N86 billion in revenue, the bulk of which went into imports that included some of the most exotic vanities that a developing nation like Nigeria should encourage.

“This is not a path to progress, because already we are running a scandalously shameful budget ratio where overhead is at a staggering 75 per cent of annual spending and where the 25 per cent balance is disappearing through the notorious corruption chute. Therefore the pervasive poverty in Nigeria can be attributed to the inefficient utilisation of our abundant resources, characterised by poor leadership, gross mismanagement, nepotism and most insidiously, corruption.

“Poverty reduction, therefore, will be an underlying factor in addressing the challenges of development in the 21st century. The structures and institutions that underpin the economic development would be thoroughly overhauled starting with the development of human capital, knowledgeable, healthy, creative and hard working people that will be the pivot for the new Nigeria.”

He identified quality and efficient health care system, functional education, viable economic policies as well as the creation of jobs for the people, especially the teeming youths as some of the agenda that would be pursued by his administration if voted into power. He added: “We shall budget within our means, reduce poverty, reduce over-spending and plan for a steady and attainable economic rate of 7 to 8 per cent for the next five years and 8 to 10 per cent per year for the years following that.”

He added, “we will invest in infrastructure, in health and education, and in creating an enabling environment for thriving investment in all key sources of growth and development, namely agriculture, the extractive industry, manufacturing, financial services, information and communication technology (ICT), arts and culture as well as housing construction. We believe that these sectors hold the true key to genuine economic recovery.

“To give a just instance, while the current housing crisis requires investment in 16 million houses, a smart annual investment in one million houses could yield 30 million jobs. But these measures cannot be attained without adequate supply of electricity.”

He said Nigeria has a private sector that is capable of great enterprise, adding that there is need to streamline the process that will tend to escalate the cost of doing business in the country.

“We will also minimise the time required to start a small business.
“In doing all these, we must be mindful of the fact that that governance is about people, it is about their wellbeing. Our conduct as both public officers and captains of industry must be such that will support the wellbeing of our people.

“To this end, we must fight every form of corruption and ensure that our struggle enjoys the full benefits of our natural resources. Our processes and transactions must be transparent in order to inspire confidence and we will empower the anti-corruption agencies to effectively discharge their mandates.”
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Which party does this Audu Ogbe belong to? Last time he was among the nine "wise" men that nominated Atiku Abubakar as the consensus canidate of northern PDP, now he is the campaign Co-ordinator of Ribadu of ACN. These politicians are not to be trusted.