Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has criticized the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, accusing him of “serious amnesia” for denying past statements allegedly made against President Bola Tinubu.
The dispute began when Naja’atu Muhammad, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), claimed in a viral TikTok video that Ribadu had once described Tinubu as corrupt during his tenure as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ribadu, through his lawyer Dr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), strongly denied the allegations and demanded a public apology and retraction from Muhammad. He insisted that he had never made such statements, either publicly or privately, and described the claim as “unquantifiable” damage to his reputation.
In a letter addressed to Muhammad, Ribadu’s lawyer stated:
“Clearly, in the text of your recording, you stated that when our client served as the Chairman of the EFCC, he allegedly named President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, alongside Sen. George Akume and Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu, as governors who stole the most from the public treasury.”
However, El-Rufai disagreed with Ribadu’s denial, insisting that there was evidence to support Muhammad’s claim. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, El-Rufai accused Ribadu of selective memory and stated that official records prove Ribadu made the remarks.
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“Nuhu must have serious amnesia. The record of proceedings in the Senate will confirm that Nuhu made those statements sometime in 2006. A Daily Trust report from February 2007 reconfirms the essence of the statements,” El-Rufai posted.
El-Rufai also referenced a 2006 Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, where he claimed that Ribadu’s EFCC made similar allegations against many officials. He suggested that official government records would confirm this.
“In that Special FEC meeting, which I was a member of, Nuhu’s EFCC made similar presentations accusing many sitting officials at the time. These Council conclusions can be subpoenaed from the Cabinet Secretariat of the SGF’s office to remove all doubts.”
El-Rufai concluded his statement by calling for honesty in national affairs and criticized those who, in his view, change their stance for political convenience.
“This is for the record and to remind the morally flexible that at some point in our national life, silence is no longer golden,” he added.