Why Nigerians love corrupt leaders – Ex-Lagos Speaker, Ikuforiji

A former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has stated that the country is not moving forward because Nigerians prefer to queue behind corrupt leaders.

Ikuforiji, who was Speaker for 10 years before he was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged over alleged money laundering charges, lamented that he had been “unduly and unnecessarily” persecuted by the agency.

He spoke on Wednesday at an event organised by the Centre for Anti Corruption and Open Leadership in Ikeja, Lagos State.

He said, “Can you say anything wrong about a leader who, after corruptly enriching himself doles out N100, N1000 to people in your area? They will kill you if you do it. The people themselves are the cause of their problems.”

On his trial by the EFCC, Ikuforiji said he was not being tried for fraud, corruption or misappropriation of funds, adding that his trial was based on administrative issues.

“All the media in this country reported as if I have been charged for fraud, No! EFCC took me to court actually for administrative lapses.

“It’s not that I took money and spent on something else; they said that I collected cash from my (LSHA) account department for what I was supposed to collect it for and for what I was supposed to use it for, but that I didn’t go to the bank to go and collect the money. It’s not that the money I collected was too much but they said I should have gone to the bank to collect it.”