SaharaReporters learnt that the military officers prevailed on Tinubu to drop Ribadu as the NSA because he is not a former Army General.
President Bola Tinubu would have appointed Nuhu Ribadu, a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as the National Security Adviser, but for pressure from some top and powerful military officers, SaharaReporters has learnt.
SaharaReporters learnt that the military officers prevailed on Tinubu to drop Ribadu as the NSA because he is not a former Army General.
Sources told SaharaReporters on Thursday that top military officers told President Tinubu point blank that they cannot work with their “junior” as the NSA and hence kicked against the idea of appointing him into the office.
SaharaReporters earlier today reported that the president approved the appointment of eight Special Advisers.
Tinubu appointed Mr. Dele Alake as Special Adviser, Special Duties, Communications and Strategy; Mr. Yau Darazo as Special Adviser, Political and Intergovernmental Affairs; Mr. Wale Edun as Special Adviser, Monetary Policies and Mrs. Olu Verheijen as Special Adviser, Energy.
Other appointees as disclosed by Abiodun Oladunjoye, Director of Information, State House, are Mr. Zachaeus Adedeji, who is the Special Adviser, Revenue; Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, Special Adviser, Security; Mr. John Ugochukwu Uwajumogu, Special Adviser, Industry, Trade and Investment and Dr (Mrs.) Salma Ibrahim Anas, Special Adviser, Health.
Major-General Babagana Monguno (retd.) is currently Nigeria’s NSA, succeeding Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) – a pattern which shows how retired senior military officers have occupied the office.
“Ribadu was already nominated to be NSA but powerful military officers said they can’t work with their “junior” and that anyone who is not a former Army General is not acceptable to the military,” a top source in the presidency revealed to SaharaReporters.
“Tinubu bowed to them but sources said his position might be elevated in due course,” the source added.
Ribadu, 62, hails from Yola, Adamawa State. He is the pioneer Chairman of the country’s anti-corruption body, EFCC and is a retired police commissioner.
He was the Chairman of the Petroleum Revenue Task Force.
Then President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as EFCC chairman in 2003 and reappointed him in 2007. Obasanjo promoted Ribadu to the position of Assistant Inspector General of Police shortly before the end of his tenure in office.
Ribadu’s promotion in April 2007, three weeks before newly elected President Umaru Yar'Adua was sworn in, was later challenged and described as "illegal, unconstitutional, null and void, and of no legal effect."
Subsequently, in December 2007, Mike Okiro, then Inspector-General of Police, temporarily removed Ribadu as EFCC chairman and ordered him to attend a one-year course at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.
On August 4, 2008, the Police Service Commission announced Ribadu’s demotion from Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) to Deputy Commissioner of Police.
He joined active politics in 2010 when he declared his intention to run for President of Nigeria under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria.
On Friday, January 14, 2011, Ribadu was adopted as the presidential candidate of the CAN, which was Tinubu’s party. He lost the election.
In August 2014, he defected to the ruling party PDP with the intention to run for governor of Adamawa State, Northeast Nigeria, but also lost.