I wonder why everyone (eg Babajide Otitoju) seems to be rooting for Ibrahim Magu. A little survey shows that the general perception of corruption within the EFCC is heavy. Getting carried away by the sums of money recovered and the number of convictions secured should be resisted. Comparing Magu’s performance with those of past bosses of EFCC in terms of total sum recovered or total number of convictions secured isn’t being fair to the past bosses. Percentage recovery and convictions amidst prevailing circumstances should be a fairer way to compare them.
Corruption has continued to increase over the years. Every year we have more money to recover and more persons to try in court. Inflation renders the absolute values incomparable. During the Umaru Dikko’s era for instance, we were talking about N4b and people were finding it unbelievable. Now we talk of one person stealing N100b, N200b and people are not even wondering how it could have happened. Although N4b in 1983 might be worth as much as N400b now.
For me, the more important question to ask is: can the ordinary Nigerian say today that in his day to day activities both in private and in government offices that things are better, thanks to Ibrahim Magu? The answer is obviously no.
