₦airaland Forum

The former President GEJ became famous ever since he made an attempt to differentiate between corruption and stealing. In trying to find excuse and cover for the public criticism of his Govt and majority of his officials, he made a statement that will define the last general election. The Nigerian public were angry and mad at a man whose goodwill had dried up over a long period of non-performance and lack of will for better governance.

However, putting sentiments aside I have decided to look at the denotative and connotative meaning of both words: CORRUPTION and STEALING, if there is any difference or not. To ascertain if the former President was right or wrong on his assertion.

A. CORRUPTION (noun) according to google:
1. means dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.
2. the process by which a word or expression is changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased.
3. is the misuse of public power (by elected politician or appointed civil servant) for private gain.

According to Transparency International, Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.

SYNONYMS OF CORRUPTION ARE: Dishonesty, falsification, deceit, double-dealing, fraud, falsification, alteration etc.

While B. STEALING(verb):

1. to take (another person's property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it.
2.move somewhere quietly or surreptitiously
According to Criminal Code 1899 section 399 : Stealing refers to a person who fraudulently takes anything capable of being stolen, or fraudulently converts to the person's own use or to the use of any other person anything capable of being stolen, is said to steal that thing.

SYNONYMS are: thieve, take, purloin, abstract, loot, pilfer.............

Denotatively (dictionary) do you really think there is a difference between the two?
Connotatively (literarily) do you think they can be used interchangeably?
Was PGEJ taken up based on his track record of cluelessness or fact based?

The former President still maintains that there is a difference between the two and that he was right on his assertion.

WHAT do you think?

Over to my people:

lalasticlala
Ishilove

same

Same

This has been explained so many times

Summary
Stealing involves taking something which does not belong to you, which you do not have permission to take, and which was not entrusted to you

Corruption is a type of stealing but it is more serious, it was specifically separated from stealing because it involves other despicable acts such as bribery, embezzlement etc. Corruption also involves breach of trust. This means something is entrusted in your care for the good of others, but instead of putting it to their good, you keep some or all of it for yourself thereby leaving out the work for which it was intended. Imagine where you delegate someone to give clothes and items of charity to the homeless and motherless babies. As a reward for the errand, you also pay them for transportation and inconvenience. In addition to the payment they have received to perform the charity on your behalf, they also keep the clothes and items of charity for themselves. Thats betrayal of trust and such a person should be seen as despicable, they have no honor or empathy in them.

Imagine also that you kept your money in the bank for safety, they do business with it and make profit, yet when you go to withdraw it, they start telling you stories, what would you think about the bank? would you encourage anyone to associate with them? They're worse than thieves, arent they? thats how corrupt people should be seen, worse than thieves

To an educated mind, corruption is worse than stealing and should not be played down to look less offensive than stealing

Just see corruption and stealing as something like "murder and genocide", "murder and serial killing" etc.

All join..

Double portion

I think jonathan was right. corruption is worse than stealing. Corruption is the combination of stealing and some other wrong doings,

Are u minding d bigots?? they all know corruption is a greater form of evil than stealing..even d bible confirms it... buh outta hatred for d guy, d goats acuse him