Commercial activities and vehicular movements were momentarily brought to a standstill on Friday in parts of Yola, Adamawa State, as a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, formally declared his intention to contest the Adamawa Governorship Bye Election.
A mammoth crowd besieged Ribadu’s convoy from the Yola international airport to his campaign office, causing a traffic gridlock along the busy Galadima Aminu Way down the PDP state secretariat.
Ribadu was escorted to the party secretariat by PDP executives and chieftains from his ward, local government as well as others party chieftains from the 21 local government areas of the state.
Some of the party chieftains present at the occasion include former state lawmakers, led by former speaker, Abubakar Abdullahi, former local government chairmen, ex-councillors and senior political associate of the immediate past governor, Murtala Nyako, who have pitched tent with Ribadu.
Ribadu said he was in the race to bring change to Adamawa State. “The trigger of me being here today is that passion to uplift that I have; it is that spirit with which I am known, all my life. It is that zeal that saw me going into the police, as against obviously more lucrative career paths,” he said.
“My philosophy, as we were taught, is that one should put the interest of the public over any other consideration. In life of service, one’s first consideration should be the impact one makes under the circumstance. It is therefore that same will to serve that is responsible for me respecting and answering to the people’s choice to come back home and serve the people of Adamawa State under the platform of the PDP,” Ribadu added.
He commended those who wooed him to PDP, stressing that, “I would like to appreciate those members of the PDP who privately and publicly prodded on me to join this party. My appreciation also to the leadership of our party for the warm reception accorded me deserving of any full-fledged party stalwart.
“This kind reception did not begin from today, it began from the day I signified the intention of joining this great party. Today, I come to you as a full-blown party member who defines himself in the spirit of community service and party development. Whatever brought us here, the love for and need to serve our people is supreme,” he noted.
Ribadu urged political actors in the state to do away with anything that could not augur well for the state. “I would appeal to all political actors in the state, especially my fellow aspirants to go into the field armed with our rules of engagements. No one’s ambition is worth the peace and stability of our people.
“We should eschew antagonism or stoking primordial sentiments. Elections would come and go but the people will always be together. Damaging the harmony we enjoy as a people would have dire consequences on all of us and is the gravest disservice anyone can do for our dear state,” Ribadu noted.
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