Corruption: Time To Kill This Monster Is Now – Former EFCC Chair, Waziri

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mrs Farida Waziri has said that Nigeria and Nigerians must not miss the current opportunity provided by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to kill the monster of corruption now.

Responding to questions at an event in Victoria Island, Lagos on Saturday, on the import of this year’s anti-corruption day, Mrs Waziri said “the right atmosphere and body language, so to say, so far provided by the administration of President Buhari on the issue of anti-corruption have made this year’s anti-corruption day unique. I really mean that this is a great opportunity for all Nigerians to put their ethnic, religious and political differences aside and join hands with the federal government to end this menace or at least bring it to the barest minimum level in our body polity.”

The former anti-graft agency’s boss said on-going efforts to tackle the menace must be seen by all as a national duty that must be done “in the interest of the nation and posterity, so that our unborn generation can have a nation called Nigeria to call their own country.”

She specifically appealed to the judiciary not to see the war as that of the executive arm of the government alone, but one that all arms of government must support and see to its success.”No matter what is done by the prosecution, if a corruption case does not end in conviction, it’s like an effort in futility and the deterrence effect would have been lost. This is why I want to urge our judges that as Nigerians themselves, they need to be involved and committed to the battle so that criminals would not always take advantage of the technicalities and loopholes in our justice system to escape justice. This erodes the masses confidence in democracy and our judicial system.

“It is also time that our laws are amended to put the burden of proof on suspects in money laundering and corruption cases. If someone claims ownership of a mansion, he or she should be able to provide evidence of how he gets the money to acquire such and not for the prosecution to start proving and not just proving but proving beyond reasonable doubt. That way, primitive accumulation of wealth will be discouraged and on the long run, corruption would be minimized if not totally eradicated”, she added.