From Victor Seyi, Ilorin
The battle against corruption and other social decadence could wholly be tackled in the country when money politics is discouraged, a legal luminary, Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN) has said .
Ali said it was disheartening that the nation’s political system has been monetised, thus paving the way for people with abominable and questionable character to be idolised in the society.
He noted that the unconscious tolerance of corruptible tendencies, has eroded Nigerians’ value orientation.
Regretting that the nation’s political system harbours corruption with rabble-rouser jostling for offices, the legal practitioner advocated credible electoral reform so that electorate would not be enticed with pettiness to sell their votes.
Ali also urged the media to stop idolising politicians known to be corrupt.
He called on the government to strengthen anti-graft agencies, adding
that it was the only panacea to exorcise the menace.
Ali said: “Corruption has nothing to do with immunity. Immunity exists everywhere; it is not peculiar to our own system of governance here. Why corruption is perpetuated here is because our political system is too monetized, and that is why our value orientation is very bad.
“To get out of this mess, we need to reform our electoral system so that the electorate would no longer be selling their votes for paltry sum.
“We should show the world that morally, legally and socially, we all abhor corruption. And it is very important that the media should stop idolizing people known to be corrupt while agencies like EFCC, ICPC and the Police should be strengthened if we are to make any headway. I want to believe that is what we can do to exorcise corruption from
our system.”
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