Dr Musa Aliyu, Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), says Nigerians can eradicate corruption with a changed attitude to wealth acquisition at all costs.
Aliyu said this when he led the ICPC management team on a condolence visit to the family of the late former ICPC Chairman, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, in Ibadan on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Ayoola, who died on Aug. 20 at age 90, served the commission between 2005 and 2010.
The ICPC chairman said the challenges of corruption in Nigeria could only be abolished if all Nigerians joined hands with the commission and changed their attitude.
He said the issue of corruption had been in the country for a long time, and up till this moment, the commission had been trying to tackle it.
“We have seen so many things happening in Nigeria and we, at ICPC, are trying as much as possible to control or minimise incidents of corruption in Nigeria.
“It is in the public domain that ICPC is prosecuting various cases of corruption, ranging from theft, issues of abuse of office, and sexual harassment among others.
“We are trying to see how we can tackle it as a commission but we also need the support of Nigerians,” Aliyu said.
According to Aliyu, some people try as much as possible to acquire wealth by whatever means whenever they have the chance to be in positions of authority.
He said that neither the Nigerian culture nor any religion in Nigeria supported corruption.
The chairman wondered why people tried to put their hands in what did not belong to them, abusing their offices and engaging in wrongful acts in the process.
He described the late former ICPC chairman as a great man who made lofty contributions to ICPC and the legal profession, both in Nigeria and globally.
“Late Ayoola and the late Justice Mustapha Akanbi laid a solid foundation in ICPC, which made it stand firm till today.
“We are all building on this as an agency of integrity, respecter of human rights and adherence to the rule of law,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the family, the deceased’s first daughter, Mrs Yemisi Odeniyi, appreciated the commission for identifying with them.
She said the presence of the ICPC team made the family feel much better.
Describing their late father as a man of integrity, Odeniyi urged Nigerians to emulate him.
“With integrity, things will be done rightly, just and with the fear of God,” she said.
