War Against Corruption In Nigeria Is Like Fighting Colombian Drug Cartels – Anti-Graft Boss Declares

The Chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), Muhyi Magaji Rimin Gado, has stated that combating corruption in Nigeria is as perilous as taking on armed Colombian drug cartels.

The United States-led violent fight against Colombian drug cartels has resulted in thousands of deaths, with law enforcement agents making up the majority of the victims.

Speaking on the topic, ‘Youth as Catalyst of Integrity: Building a Corruption-Free Future for Nigeria’, at the public presentation of the 19th Edition of the Compendium on 100 High Profile Corruption Cases in Nigeria in Lagos, Magaji opened up about his recent arrest and detention by the police in Abuja.

He likened the anti-corruption campaign in Nigeria to the decades-long war waged by US and Colombian authorities against drug cartels in the South American country.

The PCACC was established in April 2005 to fight corruption in Kano State. The agency is currently prosecuting former Kano governor and ex-national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, over corruption allegations.

Magaji also linked the increase in violence and banditry in the North to the stealing of public funds by corrupt officials, “whose self-serving policies create a stagnant pool of poverty and human misery from which criminals find many potential recruits”.

According to him, it was when he began investigating corruption petitions that he discovered most of the companies involved in public-private partnership ventures in the state were linked to Ganduje. He said he also uncovered billions of illicit funds relating to the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, particularly concerning fraudulent land rents.

Reflecting on his experience while investigating “an avalanche of corruption cases in Kano”, the anti-corruption campaigner noted that “corrupt politicians are like cancerous ailments that should be removed through a painful but necessary surgical operation before Nigeria can reclaim her pride in the comity of nations”.

Speaking on how to prevent corrupt politicians from entering governance, Magaji said Nigerians should cast their votes against a league of corrupt elites who have sold the birthrights of the people.

He explained that his decision to investigate the looting of billions of public funds in Kano State under former Governor Ganduje has led to “ceaseless threats” to his life and that of his family, culminating in his arrest last Friday by armed security agents, who drove him from Kano to Abuja at night, where he was detained.

Magaji added that for 17 hours he endured harrowing experiences, being bundled into a vehicle and sandwiched between armed policemen during the journey. Expressing shock at the ordeal, he observed that if armed bandits had attacked the convoy, there would have been only a slim chance of escape.

He said, “The cases I started investigating in Kano involved billions of public funds diverted by public officials. They are desperate to kill in order to sit on stolen funds. They are as dangerous as drug cartels in Colombia. Fighting them is like fighting drug lords.”

Magaji stressed that corruption cannot be fought effectively when law enforcement agents are compromised by the same corrupt politicians who have no respect for accountability.

He alleged that some policemen are currently being used against him by “powerful but stupendously corrupt politicians who feed on the misery of the toiling masses”.

The Kano PCACC chairman questioned why the Nigeria Police Force would undertake a criminal investigation into a judicial process duly initiated under Section 211 of the Nigerian Constitution. He argued that it is prejudicial for the police to pursue someone who has filed corruption charges on behalf of the state against corrupt politicians.

He added, “I was given fiat by the Attorney General to prosecute allegations of offence against the laws of Kano State. Why arresting me for doing what I have legal duty to do? Why not arrest the state if they can?

“The police have no legal or moral reasons to enquire about what is already before the court of law, especially a criminal matter which the court has already taken cognisance of.”

The public presentation of the 19th Edition of the Compendium on 100 High Profile Corruption Cases in Nigeria was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda Resource Centre, in partnership with local and international groups, to mark this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day celebration. The theme of the conference was ‘Uniting with Youth Against Corruption: Shaping Tomorrow’s Integrity’.

Magaji added that from his experience in Kano, “corrupt politicians are as vicious as the world’s most violent drug lords who are prepared to kill and burn the country down than to face justice or give up their crime”.

He declared that Nigeria will not prosper as long as corrupt actors dominate the political space.