The problem with Buhari’s war against corruption

President Muhammadu Buhari has made it abundantly clear that corruption in any form would not be allowed in his government.

Buhari is also set to probe the administration of his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan in a bid to recover Nigeria’s looted funds.

The problem with Buhari’s war against Nigeria’s corrupt politicians is that the entire system has been corrupted.

The president is struggling to find “clean” people to work with, hence the delay of his cabinet, but that is an almost impossible task in a place like Nigeria.

Every politician in the country rose to power on a platform of corruption; it was a system that encouraged godfathers to milk the state (and country) dry because they had put up the much needed funds to run the public officer’s campaign.

It was a system that created more avenues for political officials to steal money than to actually do the jobs they were elected for.

Even officials who must have vowed to stay clean and do right when they got into office would have been so tightly strung that they would have tacitly permitted the looting even if they did not participate.

Every Nigerian can attest to being in such a position because many of us have been forced to pay bribes to ensure that we achieved basic aims which should be the right of every citizen.

To get a passport on time in Nigeria, you have to pay a bribe so you are in essence corrupt. To get your driver’s license on time in Nigeria, you have to pay a bribe so you are also corrupt.

Former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola has been widely acclaimed as one of the country’s best public officials yet he was recently accused of paying N78 million for a website.

In a hypothetical situation, if Fashola was found guilty of corruption, would it do Nigeria good for him to go to jail? Who would be spared then? Who would make President Buhari’s golden cabinet?

Corruption is wrong but it has been the status quo in Nigeria for such a long time that it has become the rule and not the exception and almost every citizen is guilty in some shape or form.

Buhari has shown that he means business and the country realizes it but this might be the time to implement the rule of plea bargaining instead of harassing and prosecuting every person who kept a naira in his purse instead of the bank.

What the President really needs to do is get information on the big fish, those who stole so much money that it would be inhuman to forgive or forget, and wrap his rather generous anti-corruption net around them.

Buhari needs to go after the people who stole Nigeria’s oil billions for themselves and leave behind the small fry, some of whom he might be forced to use in his government because, like it or not, experience is better than innocence.

Nigeria’s new president has led the country on a path to change and everyone is aware that it will no longer be business as usual so he needs to treat the past, or at least some of it, as prologue like he said in his inaugural speech.

Any attempt on Buhari’s part to find completely “clean” hands for his government would be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack and as such a total waste of time.

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Watch video of Buhari's inaugural speech below: