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Nigerian anti-corruption agencies have recorded more than 100 convictions on economic and financial crimes since the beginning of the year.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu disclosed the number in the commercial capital Lagos. He said 113 suspects had been sentenced.
“We will not fail to bring to book those who have corruptly stolen our common wealth and thereafter organise to destabilise the anti-corruption initiatives,” Magu said.
He vowed to sustain the anti-corruption crusade despite calls on him to step down, ironically because his detractors have accused him of being corrupt. “I will not relent. I will fight for the interest of our citizens and our children’s future.”
Magu blamed corruption as the catalyst of the inter-tribal and ethnic tensions in the country.
Nigeria is enduring conflict between Fulani herdsmen and villagers, Christian radicals and Muslims as well as renewed hostility between the Hausa and Igbo tribes.
Corruption is at the root of recent separatist agitations in parts of the country. We need to join forces to defeat these tendencies,” Magu said.
The EFCC was established in 2003 after the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering fingered Nigeria as one of the countries non-cooperative in efforts to fight the scourge.
The commission has however been blamed for settling political scores on behalf of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
