To liberate the nation from the hands of corrupt elements, the war on corruption must be fought like jihad, Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has said.
According to The Punch, Magu made this known on Sunday at a convocation lecture of the Fountain University, Oshogbo, Osun State. The ten-year old university was established by Islamic organisation, Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fatih Society (NASFAT).
Speaking through his Chief of Staff, Mr. Olanipekun Olukoyede, the EFCC boss urged Nigerians not to leave the war on corruption to President Muhammadu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the commission.
He added that 55 persons stole N1.3tn between 2006 and 2013, and were using the looted funds to truncate the war on graft in Nigeria.
He said, “This was why I said we owe it to ourselves, it is a jihad for all of us to wage the war against corruption.
“It is unpatriotic and a shirking of our responsibilities as citizens to fold our arms and leave the fight against corruption to President (Muhammadu) Buhari, Vice-President (Yemi) Osinbajo, the EFCC and a handful of others.
“We are all stakeholders in the fight against economic and financial crimes; together we can defeat this evil.
“Indeed, corruption could have killed Nigeria if the rate at which corruption was festering then had not been checked.
“Take for instance, the money stolen by just 55 people between 2006 and 2013 is well over N1.3tn.
“One third of this money, using the World Bank rates and cost could have comfortably been used to construct 635.15 km of roads; built 183 schools; educate 3,974 children from primary to tertiary education levels at N25.24m per child; built 20, 062 units of 2-bedroomed houses across the country and do even more.
“The cost of this grand theft therefore is that, these roads, schools and houses will never be built and these children will never have access to quality education because a few rapacious individuals had cornered for themselves what would have helped secure the lives of future generations, depriving them of quality education and healthcare, among others.
“But the corrupt, using sponsored people, claim that they are being prosecuted because of the region they came from, the religion they profess, or their ethnic identity.
“They do their utmost not to answer the all-important question of whether or not they are guilty of the corruption allegations against them.”
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