How Obasanjo, Nuhu Ribadu, Ezekwesili destroyed Nigerian democracy – Tony Momoh

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Prince Tony Momoh, on Tuesday said former President Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, destroyed Nigeria’s democracy

He pointed out that in doing this, they barred certain politicians from participating in the 2007 general elections without recourse to the rule of law.

Momoh said this in an interview with the Independent newspaper, where he also accused Ribadu of breaching the EFCC Act which stipulates that he should charge alleged corrupt persons to court after completing his investigations.

Momoh, a former Minister of Information, said that Ribadu upon completion of his investigations handed over the case files to Obasanjo, who in turn set up committees to determine who should be pardoned or who is to be investigated.

He said, “Based on the recommendations of the committee, many eligible politicians were barred from contesting election in the country owing to Obasanjo’s personal judgement without any court pronouncing them guilty.”

He further revealed that a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, was also a member of the committees set up by Obasanjo that barred politicians from contesting.

He said, “In my view, he destroyed Nuhu Ribadu because I wrote that Ribadu had been led astray. Everybody like Ribadu because of what he did in EFCC. In his investigations, the EFCC Act said he should go to court and prosecute but Ribadu collected all investigations and handed them over to Obasanjo on his instructions.

“Obasanjo on his part set up committees to address who was guilty or not. From there, it moved to another committee that decided who could be pardoned or not.

“Based on that, they disqualified people from contesting election which was outside due process. Unfortunately, my sister Oby Ezekwesili was a member of one of the committees that disqualified politicians from contesting election. That was in the area of destroying our democracy. They just messed up our Due Process.”