Of corruption, ‘ordinary stealing’ and the ICPC
Recently, the Chairman of the Independence and Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC) was quoted to have said that, stealing is different from corruption.To start with, stealing and corruption are all criminal offences under the law; therefore, drawing a distinction between the two is nothing but a childish cacophonous defence of evil. I am not a lawyer […]
Recently, the Chairman of the Independence and Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC) was quoted to have said that, stealing is different from corruption.
To start with, stealing and corruption are all criminal offences under the law; therefore, drawing a distinction between the two is nothing but a childish cacophonous defence of evil. I am not a lawyer but le met seize the very opportunity to challenge anybody, anywhere, any day including the ICPC boss to a public debate on this particular issue. For goodness sake! Why is it that some Nigerian’s who overtly or covertly find themselves in the position of authority have suddenly lost their sense of morals, decency and decorum? If not, how can a so-called anti-corruption czar, who claims to be fighting corruption make such a reckless statement, and still remain in office?
It seems, in my dear country Nigeria, we are fast approaching an era which, good is not attractive, evil is not repulsive, truth is in-effective, lies are not damaging; stealing is being celebrated with pomp and pageantry, while the contemporary Nigerian lives in sorrow and worry. What a pity. This is why Nigerian has suddenly become a nation of whiners. I have said it times without number to those who care to listen that, since there is no political will to fight corruption by the present structure, the only solution is to give into corruption/corruptive acts by a way of legalizing it by the National Assembly, and domesticated by the executive’s period! The only clause to be added is to make sure the loot is invested in Nigeria period. Failure to do so should attract a heavy penalty, if possible, capital punishment.
At least, by so doing, it can reduce the ravaging scourge of un-employment, under-employment, and also take care of over-employment within our youths. In Nigeria of today, under the watchful eyes of the tooth less bulldog called ICPC, our youths mostly graduates are subjected to modern day slavery called ‘casual workers’ syndrome. This is a situation where a graduate collects a token of N10,000 only at the end of month end as salary. While some of his colleagues in the same organization, collects as much as N250,000 only for the same period. Can the ICPC chairman tell Nigerians what are his achievement since he was appointed to that office. How many suspects has he arrested and prosecuted so far to justify his appointment? In fact, if not because some of our youths are employed in such agencies to earn their daily bread, the continued existence of such agencies is unjustifiable, and nothing but a conduit-pipe to siphon the Nigerian tax payers money. I would like to advice the ICPC chairman to go back to school to learn or understand more about the distinction between stealing and corruption. From the look of things, the chairman has nothing to offer Nigerians; therefore, he has overstayed his welcome. The only option left for him is to resign honourably, or shown the way out.
U.S. Ladan, Sr., Jos<[email protected]>;