For the good of Nigeria, let us stop the corruption in 2001 politics

Source: huhuonline.com

Editor,
The news came with a bang! ' We would stop corrupt politicians from occupying public office in 2011' . And almost immediately, expectedly though, the targeted

audience-the corrupt politicians-who have already started printing their electioneering campaign posters cried foul and started sponsoring media reports against the person of the chairmanship of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri OFR, AIG Rtd For being credited with such a news report.

 
Looking at it logically, me think the EFCC boss, rather than been castigated and threatened with law suits for a seemingly harmless statement, she should be commended for her patriotism and sense of right thinking on the issue of not giving the corrupt a chance in the politics of 2011.

 
Only recently, the Minister of Information and Communication, Prof. Dora Akunyili, said the obvious when she said in a keynote address at the 24th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, in July 2010 that Nigeria loses billions of naira to corruption.

 
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Commission (ICPC), retired Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, was more specific when he also recently said that Nigeria has lost more than $300 billion to corrupt leaders since independence. This is unthinkable! This is wicked and it is unacceptable.

 
The truth about these revelations is that these losses were orchestrated through corruption by public officers in government. Therefore, if Mrs. Waziri says the corrupt should not be given a chance in the politics of 2011, she should not be crucified; rather, she should be commended for being the voice of the voiceless.

 
I join Waziri to employ the various political parties in Nigeria to be patriotic enough not to field the corrupt, especially those who are being prosecuted by the various anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria . We should all join hands together to stop them. Agreed that like the EFCC, we don't have the power to ban them, but we collectively, have the powers to stop them from continuing in office, from committing in their kleptomaniac activities rather than rendering selfless service to humanity.  

 
Indeed, international community and the world at large, will laugh at us if we continue to field the corrupt in the race towards 2011. We may not have the powers to ban them like they want us to believe, yes, but we have the collective powers to STOP them. Let us stop them now! As we cross the golden age as an independent Nigeria , let us stop them for a better Nigeria .

Favour A. Ojelimafe,
Ambrose Alli University,
Ekpoma-Nigeria