Anti-Corruption Jihad

This is no joking matter! Of course, fighting corruption in Nigeria has never been a joking matter. But the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, took the struggle a notch higher when he recently said the war against corruption must be fought like a jihad.

The EFCC boss, in a lecture he delivered at the 10th anniversary of the Fountain University, Osogbo in Osun State, noted that just 55 persons stole N1.3 trillion of the country’s commonwealth between 2006 and 2013, and said corrupt persons in Nigeria were claiming that they were being prosecuted because of their ethnic identity or the region they came from.

The anti-graft fighter, who has a running battle against members of the senior hallowed chamber in Abuja over corruption allegations levelled against the top legislators, has been variously described as a tough-talking crusader who does not suffer corrupt persons lightly, no matter how highly-placed, right from the heydays when the Commission first came into existence in 2003.

According to him, “It is a jihad for all of us to wage the war against corruption. It is unpatriotic as citizens to fold our arms and leave the fight against corruption to President Buhari, Vice President Osinbajo, the EFCC and few others. We are all stakeholders in the fight against economic and financial crimes; together we can defeat this evil.”

However the truth is that if the agency can successfully prosecute a sacred cow for corruption allegations ending in assets forfeiture and a very long jail term, many cynical citizens will be more inclined to join the current war to rid this country of her greatest development obstacle. Like in a jihad, big examples must be set for progress to occur... simple truth