Fighting corruption requires more than a God-fearing leader who has goodwill- Catholic bishop Kukah declares

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- Most Rev Matthew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto Diocese in Nigeria, says fixing Nigeria is more than having a God-fearing leader

- Kukah laments that Nigerians do not expect the current situation three or four years down the line

- He says it is sad that the excitement Nigerians experience when a new government comes into power soon fades resulting in lamentation

The Catholic bishop of Sokoto Diocese in Nigeria, Most Rev Matthew Kukah, on Tuesday, January 30, declared that fighting corruption in the country and fixing it requires more than having a God-fearing leader.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kukah said this at the launch of a book titled: The Shadow List, written by Dr Todd Moss and organised by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy in Abuja.

The report quoted Kukah as saying that to fight corruption and build the nation was not just about goodwill but about getting to the root of the matter and tackling it head-on.

“I have said it severally; let Nigerians keep saying they want a God-fearing leader.

“Nigeria does not need a God-fearing leader, because God-fearing has become an excuse to appeal to Nigerians and win elections.

“Governance in Nigeria is a criminalized enterprise and a criminalized state cannot progress; so we must come to terms as to why it is that this country is in such low portion.

“Fixing this country requires much more than that; national cohesion, holding our country together is the most fundamental project if we are to fix this nation.

“This is what we need because I am aware of how angry and frustrated Nigerians have become, especially in an environment where people are intrinsically not concerned about corruption but about their inability to access,” he said.

The Catholic bishop further said that it was wonderful to talk about fighting corruption but that Nigerians could not fight it if they had not diagnosed the environment “as to why and how about corruption."

According to him, it is sad that every time, Nigerians would be excited about a new administration but that the excitement never lasted because bad governance often set in.

He said that nobody would have imagined that three to four years down the line, Nigerians would be feeling the way they were feeling now.

“If you know Nigerians well, rather than thinking about the solution to the problem, we are waiting for a few men who govern Nigeria to tell us they have found a silver bullet and then we all gather around.

“We will now pass through the motion pretending to be conducting election when as it is from 1999, we always have an idea of who the president will be even before the election is conducted,” he said adding that quite a number of citizens had decided to make peace with the situation because they had decided that “the building called corruption is too big for them to break down.”

NAIJ.com learnt that Kukah said that unless the building or system which was not serving the people of Nigeria was broken down, citizens, whether Christians or Muslims, would continue to feel the way they were feeling.

Contributing, pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, commended the author of the book for taking time to write about Nigeria and its fight against corruption.

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Ribadu believes the book exposed the intricate world of organised crime and Nigeria’s modest effort to tackle the behemoth like when he was serving as EFCC chairman.

The coordinator of the centre, Chido Onumah, said that the novel went beyond fiction to being a testament of the courage and determination of the men and women at the EFCC who fought corruption.

He said that the author had added his voice to the narrative of the anti-corruption fight in Nigeria as a first-hand person that experienced the fight.

Moss, who served as the US Deputy Assistant Secretary, said that the inspiration for the book came out of his experience while as an anti-corruption worker.

He said that the book cut across Nigeria, Russia and Washington, adding that no country was immuned to corruption.

He believes that through a collaborative effort, corruption can be curbed.

NAIJ.com earlier reported how Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s attorney-general and justice minister, stated recently that President Muhammadu Buhari would direct African countries in the right direction to fight against corruption.

Malami made his comments at the African Union Summit which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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