On Corruption and Stealing

Was Lawrence ‘the Law’ Anini a common thief, a criminal, an armed robber or was he simply a corrupt Nigerian? Have we ever heard someone describe Sina Rambo as simply corrupt?
Corruption as defined by Transparency International is the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain” so when a public official dips his hand into the collective till, it goes beyond an “abuse of entrusted power for private gain”, it is simply stealing, ala Lawrence Anini, Monday Osunbor and Sina Rambo.
To take a contrary position is to dignify what has become a way of life for a people. The moral decadence of an argument that equates stealing with corruption is not just pathetic but is a sign of an even more insidious problem, a people’s moral bankruptcy or illiteracy.
I believe that even the laws of the land have long made this distinction, prescribing a 21 year jail term for forgery and stealing and what amounts to a slap on the wrist for corruption.
Pele! I appreciate that for a lot of us, describing dipping ones hand into the public till as stealing will amount to calling ourselves thieves, but a thief you are, period!
As for the rest of us, please let’s not dignify public officials who steal with the less socially opprobrious toga of corruption. They are all common thieves!
As my Igbo brothers are wont to say, “Nna Gerrrawayyou! Onye Oshi! Ole Buruku!!!




Jekwu Ozoemene