Former Chairman of the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC), Muhyi Magaji Rimin Gado, has likened the fight against corruption in Nigeria to confronting armed Colombian drug cartels, warning that entrenched graft poses grave dangers to reformers.
Rimin Gado said corruption in the country fuels violence, banditry and mass poverty, stressing that stolen public funds have created a pool of misery from which criminal groups recruit.
He said this while delivering a keynote address at the public presentation of the 19th edition of the Compendium on 100 Profiled Corruption Cases in Nigeria in Lagos on Tuesday.
The event was organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) to mark this year’s International Anti-Corruption Day.
Speaking on the theme, Youth as Catalyst of Integrity: Building a Corruption-Free Future for Nigeria, Rimin Gado said his experience as head of Kano’s anti-corruption commission exposed the scale and danger of corruption in governance.
“The cases I investigated involved billions of naira diverted by public officials. Those behind them are desperate enough to kill to protect stolen funds. They are as dangerous as Colombian drug cartels,” he said.
He recalled that during investigations into corruption petitions in Kano, he discovered that several companies under public-private partnership arrangements were allegedly linked to former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
According to him, probes also uncovered massive irregularities in the state’s internally generated revenue, particularly involving fraudulent land rents.
Rimin Gado argued that widespread abuse of public funds by political office holders has contributed to insecurity in the North, as poverty and frustration fuel criminality.
He described corruption as a “cancer” that must be surgically removed through lawful but firm action for Nigeria to regain its standing among nations, urging Nigerians to use the ballot to reject corrupt leaders.
The former PCACC boss also recounted what he described as threats to his life and that of his family following his investigations. He alleged that he was arrested last Friday by heavily armed security personnel and driven overnight from Kano to Abuja, where he was detained.
He said the journey exposed him and his family to danger, adding that an attack on the convoy could have had fatal consequences.
Rimin Gado questioned the decision of the police to investigate and arrest him over actions he said were part of his statutory duties, insisting he was acting on a fiat granted by the attorney general to prosecute offences under Kano State laws.
“Why arrest me for carrying out a lawful duty? Why not arrest the state if they believe an offence has been committed?” he asked.
He criticised what he described as interference in judicial processes, noting that matters already before a court of law should not be subjected to police intimidation or harassment.
He further alleged that compromised law enforcement agents were being used by powerful politicians against him, warning that corruption cannot be successfully tackled if institutions meant to enforce the law are undermined.
Rimin Gado said Nigeria’s development would remain stunted so long as corrupt actors dominate the political economy, adding that some politicians would rather destroy the country than face accountability or surrender illicit wealth.
