A former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has said Nigeria is not moving forward because the country’s citizens prefer corrupt leaders to honest ones.
Speaking on Wednesday at an event organised by the Centre for Anti Corruption and Open Leadership in Ikeja, Lagos State, Ikuforiji called for a reorientation of the citizenry.
Ikuforiji, who was Speaker for 10 years before he was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged money laundry charges, lamented that he had been “unduly and unnecessarily” persecuted by the agency.
He said, “Can you say anything wrong about a leader who, after corruptly enriching himself doles out N100, N1000 to people in your area? They will kill you if you do it. The people themselves are the cause of their problems. They don’t want leaders that are not corrupt.”
On his trial by the EFCC, Ikuforiji said he was not being tried for fraud, corruption or misappropriation of funds, adding that his trial was based on administrative issues.
“They call it money laundering. It does not mean that I was caught with some huge sums of money. They said I collected cash from the accounts department, instead of going to the bank to collect the money. Nothing more than that! I have been undergoing trial for five years just because of that,” he added.
The Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, in his address called on all sections of society to join in the fight against corruption, saying delay in the justice system must also be addressed.
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