Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has said the for Nigeria to win the fight against corruption past leaders must be jailed by anti-graft agencies.
He noted that Nigeria had been “bled dry” by corrupt leadership over the years, and challenged the anti-graft agencies on the prosecution of past and current corrupt leaders.
Soyinka spoke at the 8th Commonwealth Regional Conference for Heads of Anti-corruption Agencies in Africa hosted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
“I took the trouble yesterday to visit the new headquarters of the EFCC, I wanted to see what would be the mode of hospitality for some of our leaders who will surely sooner or later pass through the doors of that beautiful building not far from here.
“Until we make sure that some of our leaders pass through those doors, this struggle against corruption in this country will not be won.
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“I spoke to Magu (EFCC acting chairman), that I want to see the presidential wing in this place. I said, ‘I am a human rights person and I want to make sure you treat them right when they come here’.
“But he said sorry, it is an egalitarian institution. And I said ok, I will take that message back to them, that they should get ready to go down a little bit in status when justice catches up with them.”
Soyinka said EFCC’s major responsibility for now was to help the nation to recover the rest of the loot still hidden across the continent, fill up its detention room with corrupt leaders.
