‘Remove Corrupt Politicians From Office Through Ballot Boxes’

A former chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), Muhyi Magaji Rimin Gado, has called on the electorate to ensure their votes are used wisely, so that corrupt public officers and politicians are not returned to office.

Gado advocated for the restructuring of the political ecosystem that will broaden “our political system and improve governance.”

He spoke as a keynote speaker on “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 Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) organised the event 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.”

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.

The anti-corruption crusader said 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 its pride in the comity of nations.

He said Nigerians should explore democratic opportunities to the brim by casting their votes against a league of corrupt elite who have sold the birthrights of the people.

He said his decision to investigate the looting of billions of public funds in Kano spurred the ceaseless threats to his life and that of his family, culminating in his arrest by tens of armed security guards who drove him from Kano to Abuja in the night, where he was locked up.

He said that for 17 hours, he and his family were subjected to a harrowing experience.

He said the armed men bundled him into a vehicle where he was sandwiched between armed policemen who drove in the night from Kano to Abuja to gag him. He said if armed bandits had attacked the convoy, there was only a slim chance that any of them would escape.

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

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

He said we were deeply concerned that the Police initiated a criminal investigation into a judicial process, duly undertaken under Section 211 of the Nigerian Constitution and that it is pre-judicial for the police to hunt and malign someone who has filed corrupt charges on behalf of the State against politicians that consistently ruin the frontiers of democracy and human prosperity.

“Attorney General gave me a fiat to prosecute an allegation of offence against the laws of Kano State, why am I being arrested for doing what I have a 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 cognisance of,” he said.

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 rather than face justice or give up their crime.