Corruption in simple terms is an act of bribery; corruption is the use of public office for private gains in a way that constitutes a breach of law or a deviation from the norms of society. Scales of corruption can be Grand, Middling or Petty and payment of bribes can be due to collusion between the bribe taker and the bribe giver, due to anticipatory. According to the Oxford Dictionary, Corruption is a dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery. Corruption not only has it become an obstructive, wicked and evil aspect of Nigerian politics but also has become an increasingly important factor in Nigeria.
Political corruption is worst in Nigeria. The major cause of corruption is the weakened institutions and damaging the supreme importance of the law governing the society.
These days, politics is only for criminals and criminals are meant to be in politics. Elections in many parts of the country have become associated with a host of criminal activities. The primary purpose of government, which is security, and welfare of citizens has been abandoned and is now replaced with creating various opportunities for using public resources for their private gains.
As government’s regulation of business started in the 1960s, so did trading economic favors for under-the-table contributions to political parties became an increasingly widespread political practice in the 1990s.
During the 1990s corruption became associated with the occupants of the Nigerian political system. Threatening voters to vote for a particular candidate or physically prevent voters from going into the polling booth – especially weaker sections of the society like the poor (which form a large population) etc this has been PDPs way of holding elections and getting into office but with the new dispensation it will be a thing of the past under APC administration. It is mostly practiced by PDP Government officials and politicians who lead to the accumulation of black money, which in turn spoils the morals of the people.
The PDP is everything that is wrong with this nation; the constituents of this evil cabal are numerous. They consist of drug lords, criminals of the highest degrees, murderers, thieves, army generals who have broken all records ever set for embezzling of public funds and worst of all, ex-convicts. They labour hard to carry us along with them. They are surprised and perplexed when we refuse to be stupid, when we resist them. When we don’t see things the way they see it, they wonder aloud.

Let’s not forget our own first lady in August 2006; EFCC seized the sum of 104 million from one Mrs. Nancy Ebere Nwosu, an associate of patience Jonathan. On August 22, 2006, Justice Anwuli Chikere of the federal high court gave EFCC the legal backing to return the 104 million seized from an associate of Patience Goodluck, the wife of then the Governors of Bayelsa State, Goodluck Jonathan, who is now the president of Nigeria. The Order was to stay in place pending the conclusion of the investigation on the said persons in connection with their involvement in the act of money laundering and other economic and financial crimes related offences.
EFCC position was that patience Jonathan stole the money from the public funds of Bayelsa and was trying to launder it through her friend, Mrs. Nancy Ebere Nwosu. Like a crack addict willing to do anything for a high, patience Jonathan was not going to give up her addiction to treasury looting simply because Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC was on her trail. Determined to prove only mere mortals shivers at the sight of EFCC, she continued with her looting of Bayelsa’s treasury with the help of her husband, Goodluck Jonathan, who was then the governor of Bayelsa State, they both were successful, on the 11th of September 2006, EFCC again seized another 13.5 Million Dollars from Mrs. Patience Jonathan, this time again criminal charges were brought against her and Nigerians were awaiting her persecution to the full extent of the law. Shortly thereafter in the heat of this, Olusegun Obasanjo nominated Goodluck Jonathan to be the running mate of YarAdua. The case on patience Jonathan has gone cold since her husband, Goodluck Jonathan became the vice president of Nigeria, and it has gone cold despite relentless denials of political interference by the EFCC and the presidency. Is this who we want ruling us again another term? Nigerians please answer. Should they continue with the looting? Never.
Yaradua’s government was rocked by scandals of corruption, as was the present government of Jonathan which has become worse than any government in history. Politicians have become so closely identified with corruption in the public eye that in an adult of four, three would consider every politician under Jonathan’s administration corrupt. With 85 percent observing that corruption is on the increase. Let’s also do a brief recap on Patience’s husband, our President, the outgoing.
We told President Goodluck Jonathan to explain all he knew about a 500 million dollar farm which a non-organization (NGO) says belongs to him in alleged violation of the 1999 constitution. According to a report released by TheNation, the farm was incorporated on December 30th, 2011 barely seven months after Jonathan was sworn in as president. This said farm is about 94, 04 hectares, located along the highway leading to Nnamdi Azikewe International Airport. An NGO that appears to be the source of TheNation story, said let us talk about corruption, an incumbent president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, incorporated a company; Ebele integrated Farms Limited in which he is a major shareholder on December 30, 2011.
Under the fifth schedule part 1 (code of conduct for public officers) of the 1999 constitution, section 1, “a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities”. Nigerians, Do we need more evidence of how Jonathan and his administration has failed us, how they intend to tackle corruption, this corruption we talk about that has eaten deep into our system comes from the top, not the everyday man. We need not to be told, we need to get rid of this people once and for all.
What a failed Government!!
The prominence of political corruption in Nigeria in the 1990s is hardly unique to Nigeria. Other countries also have experienced corruption that has rocked their political system. What is remarkable about Nigeria is the persistent anti-incumbent sentiment among its electorate. Since Obasanjos Victory during the democratic rule 1999 Presidential election, only one ruling party has been re-elected to power in the central Government. In an important sense the exception proves the rule, Buhari “Man of Integrity” who would lead a new generation of politicians in cleansing the political system. Over nine years of democratic rule has made the people so immune to corruption that they have learnt how to live with the system even through the cancerous growth. Politicians are fully aware of the corruption and nepotism as the main reason behind the fall of the French revolution, Roman Empire, fall of Chiang Kai-Shek Government in china and even the defeat of the mighty Congress party in India. But Nigeria is not ready to take lesson from the pages of history. I will urge Nigerians to take a second and think, think about the future of our young generation, think about our youths, our pensioners who have not received their pensions for years now, think about our security, think about chibok girls, think about our educational system, think about our health sector, this about power, electricity, roads, infrastructure….
Please think and vote for change as you do.

A Fellow Nigerian.