APC Faults Ribadu on Change of C-in-C

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

Shola Oyeyipo

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted a statement credited to the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, that countries do not change the Commander-in-Chief during war.

APC’s Director of Strategic Communications, Mr. Dele Alake, on Monday in Lagos said that Ribadu’s statement flies in the face of history and concrete reality.

His words: “Contrary to Ribadu’s proposition, history and the concrete reality of the Nigerian situation have proved that the way out of the endemic insecurity in the country especially the north-east is the change of the Commander-in-Chief. This is the change that the APC presidential standard bearer, General Muhammadu Buhari, eminently offers with his superior security strategy for Nigeria.  Indeed, the March 28 election is primarily about electing a competent commander-in-chief who is prepared to take ultimate responsibility for the war.”

The APC said the constitution said the welfare and security of the people shall be the primary purpose of government but the tragic reality of Nigeria today is that the nation lacks a competent commander-in-chief to perform this constitutional duty.

“What we have on display is an astonishing abandonment of responsibility in which President Goodluck Jonathan literally cedes his powers to service chiefs. President Jonathan has demonstrated his unmitigated inadequacy to secure Nigeria.”

Noting the implication of Ribadu’s alibi for not changing the Commander-in-Chief, APC said many mature democracies would not have changed the party and persons running their administration, if this was true.

“If Ribadu’s alibi for not changing Jonathan as commander-in-chief is extrapolated, there should be no need for elections when a nation is at war. Yet, the fact of election assumes the possibility of changing the incumbent commander-in-chief. Former American President, George W. Bush, launched the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. If we go by Ribadu’s curious logic, Americans should have extended his tenure for a third term in 2008 when his time was up. Americans did not do such a thing. They rather elected another commander-in-chief on the platform of another party, President Barack Obama, to consummate the war. So, the war continued after Bush had ceased to be commander-in-chief.”

The APC reminded Ribadu that even leaders who led their countries to victory in war have also been changed.

Citing the examples of the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill in Britain after World War II and President H. W. Bush in the United States after the Gulf War, the APC said the issues of  insecurity, corruption and the worsening state of the economy with the free fall of the naira are germane to the outcome of the election.

The APC urged Ribadu and the leadership of the PDP to prepare for a free and fair election and abide by the verdict of the people.

According to the statement, “Ribadu, a former anti-corruption czar, and other apologists of the current state of insecurity should be prepared for the impending change in which that voters would elect Buhari as the commander-in-chief on March 28 for a secure Nigeria.”