Kunle Aderinokun, This Day (Lagos)
April 8, 2004

Programme Officer of the African Centre for Democratic Governance (AFRIGOV), a non-Governmental organisation, Mr. Kunle Animasaun, has described as a charade, the crusade against corruption by the Federal Government just as he said high scale corruption still prevalent in the country constituted a serious threat to democracy.

Animasaun who spoke with This Day yesterday in Abuja maintained that it was laughable that top government officials recently fingered for corrupt activities were still walking the streets as free men. “While government has put some people on trial over corruption charges, the real big men and women with proven cases of corruption still walk the Nigerian streets enjoying their freedom and their loots.

In most recent times, certain state officials were alleged to have cornered state funds in some government agencies; such as Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Economic Policy Coordinating Committee (EPCC) as well as COJA. It must now be apparent to President Olusegun Obasanjo that the anti-corruption crusade of his administration is a charade,” he stated.

“There is no denying the fact that the Nigerian national life is characterised by extensive and intensive corruption, the effects of which are so devastating that political structure and state institutions have sunk into atrophy.”