Muhiz Ogunwomoju Moab WROTE

Corruption: We Are All in This "Enemy of Progress" Together

I'm corrupt. Yes, I am. And if you think you're not like many of my friends would claim, you don't need to go in front of a mirror. For me, that's a long journey. Just read the first sentence again. And if you want to prove your innocence, read the first and second sentence.
Praise God! You're innocent.

You see, corruption has been defined and redefined and, just as many other words, its meaning can be twisted, metamorphosed to our taste as long as it doesn't stain us. This is where our problem is. And this is the same problem with Ogbeni GEJ's neologism and analogy of corruption.
And if you think Ogbeni GEJ was the pioneer of this thesis, then you don't understand Nigeria and its psychology.

Before Ogbeni GEJ came with his thesis, I know some friends who told me the same thing when I challenged them on what corruption really is. And their understanding is what I perceived to be a nationwide understanding--a product of Nigeria's psychology.

Listen, you don't need to rush to the Oxford dictionary or Merriam Webster dictionary or any dictionary whatsoever to prove me wrong. Nigerians are 'too intelligent' and maybe that 'too intelligent' is part of our problem. 'Too intelligent' sometimes could mean being smart and open-minded and sometimes gullible and vulnerable.

I told my friends that corruption is simply dishonesty in any form. If you sell Garri and make your 'kongo' smaller, you're corrupt. You're not different from your councilor who steals millions from you. Because, if you're given the opportunity to become the councilor you'd do the same as your councilor.

The same goes for those who sell, transact one way or the other in a dishonesty way. They're all corrupt. There's no other way around it. Don't tell me it's "survival things." It's this "survival things" that breeds corruption. In one word: dishonesty.

And please, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that all Nigerians are dishonest. There are many honest Nigerians both home and abroad. But when we try to justify, analyze, and redefine corruption only for the people in government alone as if they're not from us, as if they're elected from Mars, it makes my heart aches for Nigeria. Because before they were in government, they were us.

For example, if some friends told me they'd contest for a councilor in my town, I won't vote for them. Because I know them too well that they won't do anything.

The people who have the loudest voice on corruption ever are those whose GCE's and WAEC's were written by 'mercenaries,' those with the ideology of "where you're working is where you feed from," those who copied and pasted your copyrighted content, removed the copyright logo and posted it on their Facebook walls, those who altered bank statements when approaching a foreign embassy, and so on. Tell me, are they not corrupt?

If Ogbeni Buhari is looking for a ‘no corrupt person’ to appoint as ministers, my people, it’s like washing your teeth with OMO.

Let us be realistic, folks. You can't plant onions and expect pineapples, and if you eventually get pineapples the Oyinbos have a name for it, it's called weed. Corruption is a disease, a ‘weed’ that needs to be eliminated from our society. We have been treating the symptoms of corruption all these years and that’s why it still grows till date. What we need to eliminate it from our society is to look for its root and if we could eliminate the root, then our society will be free of this disease.

From your corrupt friend who’s trying hard to repent. Because, after all, we’re all corrupt.

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I tried to explained something similar to this your ideology today to a friend,corruption starts from the little things,let's start from sexual corruption,to petty stealing or fraud if we can purge ourselves then we would be able to purge or leaders,I bet you we would not tolerate nonsense if we start from ourselves,but this is not the case the people at the lower class even perpetuate more corrupt practices than those in govt,do you know a lot of people would still bypass light and still come here to shout change.