By Ashley Young-
Corruption is likely to follow Nigeria into its next elections, four years after Mohammadu Buhari, a former military president of the country returned to seize power in the 2015 elections.
The fight against corruption has been the main mantra of Buhari, a battle he has failed to win, despite making it more difficult than in previous administrations. Buhari himself has a squeaky clean image when it comes to corruption but his accusers say he has not applied his strong voice against corruption to those close to him. It has been said that those who supported him into power during his last political triumph into office, used corrupt means themselves to finance his campaign and many observers in Nigeria believe this elections will have similar people promote his campaign to win a second election.
Nigeria’s economy has not enjoyed the prosperity promised by Buhari’s administration, neither have they done so under his predecessors. Jonathan Goodman, who gracefully lost power to Buhari is believed to have done more for the economy than Buhari, but not everybody concurs with that conclusion. Buhari did better than his predecessors in establishing the Treasury Single Account initiative, making huge theft of the nations funds more difficult than before, without necessarily eliminating it.
In October, 2017, the governor of Kano, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was secretly filmed at his opulent residence in the state of Kano pocketing money obtained from bribery. The governor is reported to have received $230,000 in bribery from individuals who were also committed to exposing him for the act. The loot was quickly submerged a native attire worn by people of Northern origin. northern Nigerian origin. The massive loot was part of a total bribery deal of $5 million, according to sources in Nigeria.
“I think you should collect this money before anyone walks in,” one of the contractors could be heard telling the governor. “I think you should put it on your body to conceal it with your babanriga.”
“MD will soon be back from Istanbul on Friday evening to give us the other allocations,” the contractor added after telling the governor he had concealed a total of $230,000 in his babanriga for the day’s transaction. Kanduje has still not been investigated over what appears to be a major bribery, but has been endorsed by President Buhari who for the past four years has spoken about championing the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
The Nigerian president described him as a responsible man at a recent campaign in Kano, ignoring the allegations of corruption against his man. The incumbent president will not consider going against anybody supporting his course to be in his best interest. Buhari will have his own arguments in defence of the governor of Kano, but many Nigerians are now used to the idea of settling for what they have.
. A former secretary to the federation accused of misappropriating 270m naira (£578,000) of funds intended for people displaced by Boko Haram to accounts linked to him was only charged last month, after two years of being charged by the Nigerian senate. Unsurprisingly, he is one of those leading the president’s campaign in his home state of Adamawa.
His political rival, Abubakar. Atiku, has no clean image, but has never been convicted of corruption. He has been accused of diverting $125m of public money to his own business interests, and his American wife is believed to have assisted an illegal transfer of $40m of “suspect funds” to the US, at one point fuelling rumours he was wanted in the U.S, following a Senate report in 2010. He was once denied a visa to enter America, but put it down to administrative grounds which he said was the prerogative of the American Government.
Election Candidate: Abubakar Atiku
A secretly recorded conversation with the FBI revealed Mr. Abubakar stood to benefit up to $500,000 for helping influence the broadband deal in Nigeria at the time, but nothing has been presented to prove it the financial benefits he made were criminal. Lack of evidence does not always equate innocence. One of Nigeria’s serious problems is that evidence of guilt does not always result of punishment for some of the most powerful and influential individuals, because justice is not evenly distributed.
Atiku has recently been in America to seek support for his presidential campaign, and has always challenged his critics to prove any allegations of corruption against him. He is believed to be a very good businessman, with high hopes of improving the economy if he gains power. Nigerian politicians are no different to politicians all over the world when it comes to inspiring campaign talk, but the impoverished people of a phenomenally rich country want a leader with integrity who can transform the country for the better, conquer corruption, and restore justice to the courts across all states.