Moshood Erubami, former president of the Campaign for Democracy (CD)is the national chairman, Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and coordinator, Nigeria Votas Assembly. He shares his views on the ICPC and the fight against corruption with IYABO LAWAL in Ibadan.Corruption in Nigeria and the role of ICPCCORRUPTION, due to our general indifference, ignorance and apathy of the mass of Nigerians that are suffering its malaise, has become a recurring decimal in the country and has disturbingly become a hydra-headed monster daily threatening every sector of the nation's social fabrics.However, as Nigerians move up with a new regime, they would confront newer challenges of distraction and blackmail, which Rubicon we must strive to cross, to attack their consequences so as not to pull us backward from fulfilling our different obligations.The country is still faced with the impunity of corruption not because there is no law or institution to fight its impunity but because the laws are not only weak, but also perverted by the same people pretending to be fighting corruption by not allowing the law to rule.The ICPC, as an anti-corruption agency, has not been able to show direction for anti-corruption fight because of internal and external weaknesses. The government that set it up lacks the courage and the will to make it work for the purposes for which it was established. The judiciary is more at the centre of this weakness because of its tolerance for the existence of obsolete laws, which have become the bane to fighting corruption.This is the time to uproot the root of political, economic, financial, administrative, professional, academic, civil society, working class and organized corruptions not only to step on the toes of their perpetrators, but also crush their legs.How can we make ICPC work'TO ensure that ICPC works, it must be directed by vibrant leaders who know new ways to fight the menace of corruption. The judiciary must not act in concert with the corrupt elements and stop encouraging the encroachment by corrupt Nigerians on our commonwealth.The judiciary must been seen to be committed to hit corruption on the head, to kill it, and save our economy and the government from destabilization and Nigeria citizens from individual and collective extinction.The Nigeria Nation should rise and be counted as part of the solution to bad leadership and corruption.The ICPC and other anti-corruption agencies should henceforth reserve no time to flatter demons whose desires are to ruin our collective development aspirations. We must together kill the two archenemies of Nigeria today, which are corruption, economic and financial sabotage before they kill Nigeria itself.More magistrates' courts must be created to handle pre-trial detention orders usually needed and issuance of Search and Arrest Warrants, and remand (detention) permits is considered to be in order.Also, the voices of Nigerians must be raised to fight for the removal of immunity on crimes committed while in office either by president or governor. The Senate and House Committee members on corruption and financial crimes must see to the setting up of special courts, which will not infringe on human rights but instead strengthen human rights as a development issue.As another window of opportunity is opened to Nigeria to rebrand its image and exhibit renewed commitment to the country's anti-corruption fight, it needs to capitalize on foreign goodwill and international pledge to help it fight corruption and realizing the hopes of Nigerians looking up to a corruption-free nation.This is given that the special courts are necessary and desirable to stall smart fraudsters from using the law to slow down the court process through undesirable motions.No doubt, the existing courts are already overburdened with so many cases; hence, the special courts with special judges will hasten the prosecution of corruption cases than ever before and bring the cases to swift determination.
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