Nigeria’s former anti-corruption Czar Nuhu Ribadu has emerged as the flag-bearer of the country’s main opposition party Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in April’s presidential election. Ribadu emerged by acclamation after two other aspirants, former governor of northern Sokoto state Attahiru Bafarawa and businessman Malam Saad Malami, withdrew from the race at the last minute.
PANA reports that the presidential screening committee of the party had advised the two candidates to quit the race after they scored below 50% in last week’s screening, based on certain criteria, including Educational qualification, Vision, Integrity based on past records and experience, Leadership experience, Political consistency and International exposure and reputation.
Only Ribadu, a former policeman, scored above the required 50% in the screening.
Despite their low marks, the two other candidates insisted on going for Friday’s primary in the commercial city of Lagos, which was set to start before they decided to withdraw.
‘I humbly accept this challenge with an enormous sense of responsibility, knowing full well that the coming elections in April are perhaps the most important in the half-century history of our nation,’ Ribabu said in his acceptance speech.
‘The elections will determine whether Nigeria settles into the high road of progress or race dangerously towards economic decay and failure.
‘The (ruling) People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been in government for a little over a decade, but our people have gained nothing for it. Naturally, Nigerians feel angry and cheated. Our people are justifiably disappointed, especially when you realize that the PDP administration has earned far more money than any administration in the history of our country,’ he said.
He called for generational change ‘that accurately interprets where we currently find ourselves in the global scheme of things, and how we locate the great future ahead of us’.
Ribadu added: ‘That change, to be meaningful, must be total and far reaching at all levels of governance.’
The ACN presidential candidate will face President Goodluck Jonathan, who picked his ruling PDP’s ticket in the capital city of Abuja Friday morning, as well as former military leader Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the Congress for Progress Change (CPC), among others.
Talks are ongoing among some opposition parties to forge a common front against the PDP, which controls 27 of the country’s 36 states.