“Leave him; he’s our thief!” – by Emeka Oparah

Andrew Yakubu

I don't know whether it's me or there are others in agreement with me, but I'm of the considered opinion that one of the reasons corruption in the public and private sector is so endemic and literally intractable is the culture of "Leave our thief alone".

Barely 3 years ago, the Kaduna Chapter of the APC protested the "unceremonious" removal of their brother, Andrew Yakubu, as GMD of NNPC. Yes, the same APC! And yes again, the same Andrew Yakubu, who's owned up $9.8m cash found in his premises by operatives of the EFCC.

Recently, the former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, got a hero's welcome in his hometown after serving a jail term in the U.K. for stealing funds belonging to the government and people of Delta. I know eminent and otherwise respected Deltans who can poison me for insulting their brother.

Mark you, it's not limited to these two who've unfortunately fallen short of the 11th commandment (Thou shall not get caught) or is it obtainable only in the public sector. Hell no! Recall the death of a banker recently, who was said to have done some smart deals that went belly up and, in fear or shame or both took his own life. At least he paid! What of several bank chiefs and captain of industries who have been known to have made tons of money through corruption some of which they donated massively to the church or built businesses.

The culture of impunity, which allows criminals to go scot-free or with a slap on the wrist is very unfortunate. A culture which celebrates criminals simply because he's our brother or our sister is even more unfortunate. This culture puts people in public or private sector to steal massively so as to win (or rather buy) the "love and support" of their friends, family and townsmen. In some cases, they intimidate their people so much they are scared to even grumble.

$9.8m, by any standard is a lot of money. It is the total worth of some states (and in some cases two or three states combined) in Nigeria. It could even be the total Foreign Reserve of some countries or total Revenue of some multinational corporations which employ over 500 people directly and 10 or more times 500 people indirectly. But it's stolen by one man, who, in his own case, we are told, did nothing to change the lives of his people. And this is just one location, without counting houses, shares, cars and other properties.

There are times I drive around Banana Island, Lagos, and look at some of the rather obscene structures built and left unoccupied and my conspiratorial mind tells me some of them are proceeds of corruption. This is because I don't see why such mansions are unoccupied for four to six years and the owners don't give a damn! I mean, if you took a loan from a bank to build a house or hotel, the bank would expect occupancy ASAP to recoup their money or take over the property, but no-these edifices lay fallow endlessly.

Every Nigerian should rally round this government's fight against corruption. Nigeria has been brutally gang-raped. One fact, everyone must bear in mind, is that those who have stolen public funds and are stealing public funds are not from any ethnic group or religion or profession. They are simply united in crime. Most of them are loved and admired by their people and those who feed fat on them.

Rather than ridiculing the anti-corruption effort, let's support it and also help to identify other corrupt people and unearth the proceeds of their corruption. Let's stop harboring crooks because they are supposedly are our kins. What they've stolen can do a lot more for all of us than the crumbs they throw at you, if at all.

 I'm gutted.