Corruption Threatening Nigeria’s Development –  Rimi Gado

By Ayodele Oni

Former Chairman of Kano State Public Complaints and Anti Corruption Commission, (PCACC), Muhyi Magaji Rimin Gado has said that corruption cannot be fought effectively when law enforcement agents are compromised by the same corrupt politicians who have no respect for accountability.

He spoke as a Keynote Speaker 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 Profile Corruption Cases in Nigeria held in Lagos.

The event was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA 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.

He was of the opinion that the fight against corruption in Nigeria is as dangerous as fighting armed Colombian drug cartels.

Mr Rimi Gado also warned that the increase in violence and banditry in the North is partly linked to the naked abuse and 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.

He pointed out that it was when he started investigating corruption petitions, doing his statutory duties, that he discovered the suspect companies were linked to his former Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

The anti-corruption crusader stated that his experience while investigating an avalanche of corruption cases in Kano indicated 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.

According to him, Nigerians should explore democratic opportunities to the brim by casting their votes against a league of corrupt elite that have sold the birthrights of the people.

“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.”

“The Medlein Cartel led by Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel dominated cocaine trafficking leading Columbia to vast illicit wealth of the few whose crime promoted corruption, violence, mass public revenge and prolonged bloody gun fights with the authorities.

“The PCACC was established in April 2005 to fight corruption in Kano State

Rimin Gado revealed that some policemen are currently being used against him by powerful, but stupendously corrupt politicians who feed on the misery of the toiling masses.

“I was given fiat by attorney general to prosecute allegation of offense 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 had already taken cognizance of.”

Rimin Gado said 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 maintained that prosperity and development in Nigeria would remain stunted as long as corrupt actors dominate the political economy.