The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, has come under fire from former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who accused him of “serious amnesia” for denying purported remarks he made against President Bola Tinubu in the past. In a widely shared TikTok video, Naja’atu Muhammad, a leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, claimed that Ribadu had previously called Tinubu corrupt while he was Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Through his attorney, Dr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), Ribadu had demanded a public apology and retraction from Muhammad.
Ribadu denied the accusations in a sharply worded letter, claiming that he never uttered such remarks in private or in public, and he called the harm caused by the film “unquantifiable.”
The letter said, “When our client was the Chairman of the EFCC, he allegedly named President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, along with Sen. George Akume and Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu, as governors who stole the most from the public treasury.” This was evident from the information in your tape.
Backing Muhammad’s claims, El-Rufai in a rebuttal post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, accused Ribadu of selective memory.
“Nuhu must be suffering from severe amnesia. It will be confirmed by the Senate’s record of proceedings that Nuhu made those remarks at some point in 2006.”
“The main points of the assertions are reaffirmed in a February 2007 Daily Trust article, El-Rufai wrote. He added that Ribadu’s accusations against Tinubu and others may be supported by the Federal Executive Council’s 2006 decisions.”
“Nuhu’s EFCC made identical presentations charging other then-current officials during that Special FEC meeting, of which I was a member. To dispel any uncertainties, the Cabinet Secretariat of the SGF’s office may be subpoenaed to produce these Council judgments.”
He went on to say, “This is for the record and to remind the morally flexible that silence is no longer golden at some point in our national life.”