Kano Anti-Graft Chairman Likens Corruption Fight to War Against Colombian Drug Lords

The battle against systemic corruption in Nigeria is as perilous and life-threatening as combating armed Colombian drug cartels, according to Muhyi Magaji Rimin Gado, Chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC).

Dependable NG reports that Magaji, speaking at the public presentation of the 19th Edition of the Compendium on 100 High Profile Corruption Cases in Nigeria in Lagos, revealed that powerful political interests are prepared to kill to protect their stolen wealth. He stated that the cases he began investigating in Kano involved billions of public funds diverted by officials, noting, “They are desperate to kill in order to sit on stolen funds. They are as dangerous as drug cartels in Colombia. Fighting them is like fighting drug lords.”

The anti-graft boss also drew a direct link between the surge in violence and banditry across the North and the selfish policies of corrupt officials, suggesting that the naked theft of public funds creates pools of poverty that criminals exploit for recruitment. He confirmed that his investigation into former Kano Governor Abdullahi Ganduje stemmed from discovering links between him and various private-public partnership ventures, alongside billions in fraudulent Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) involving land rents.

Magaji used the forum to recount his personal ordeal, detailing how his pursuit of these corruption cases led to “ceaseless threats” and culminated in his arrest last Friday by armed security agents. He described the harrowing experience of being driven from Kano to Abuja at night and being held for 17 hours, sandwiched between armed police, expressing shock at the lack of security during the journey. He stressed that corrupt politicians are like “cancerous ailments that should be removed through a painful but necessary surgical operation” for the nation to prosper.

Challenging the legitimacy of the recent police action against him, he argued that corruption cannot be effectively fought when law enforcement agents are allegedly compromised. He questioned why the Nigeria Police Force would launch a criminal investigation into a judicial process—a corruption charge—that he duly initiated on behalf of the state under constitutional fiat. He insisted that the police had no legal or moral right to interfere with a criminal matter already recognized by a court of law. He declared that development in Nigeria would remain stagnant as long as corrupt actors dominate the political economy.