‘Ex-President was just using Ribadu,’ Soyinka says

Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has said that ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo was just using the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu to achieve his own purposes.

Soyinka said further that he had warned Ribadu of Obasanjo’s true motives but the ex- EFCC Chairman didn’t believe it until he was in exile in the United Kingdom.

The renowned playwright made the comments during a recent interview with Zero Tolerance magazine, an EFCC publication.

Soyinka said:

“I warned your former boss, Ribadu, I told him that, your task will be done when in the course of your investigation; you discover that the source of the problem is the very person who appointed you.”

“He looked shocked a bit, and eventually he and I met in London, after he was removed and (the current Governor of Kaduna State Mallam Nasir) el-Rufai was also in exile after they tried to kill him.”

“We met and Ribadu refused to sit down. I asked him to sit but he said no, that until I accepted his apology, he won’t sit down. I asked what apology? And he said ‘I should have listened to you. I failed to listen to you.”

“Something you have said to me and I failed to listen’ Ribadu admitted that he realised very late that Obasanjo was using him.”

Obasanjo, in his book “My Watch”, criticized Soyinka saying that he had no knowledge of politics and should focus on being a wine connoisseur.