yesterday clarified what he meant
by stealing is not corruption,
saying he was quoted out of
context.
Responding to questions during a
presidential media chat on
Wednesday, the President
explained that the remark flowed
from a discussion he had with a
former chief justice of the
federation, who told him of how he
had to distinguish straight acts of
stealing from other forms of
corruption he acted upon.
“People who told you I said
stealing is not corruption did not
tell you I said stealing is good.
That is why philosophers say that
the primary reason people
disagree is because people use one
statement to explain two typical
things or vice versa.
“I made that statement because I
quoted the former Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Mustapha, (when) I called
a meeting then, with the anti-
crime organisations and the
judiciary.
“The CJN, Mustapha decided to
take a look at the files that dealt
with corruption and more than 80
per cent of them were just cases of
stealing. But people use
corruption to cover all. What I am
saying is that let us go to the
South-West and go to a typical
community and they look at you
and say this man is corrupt,
people will be looking at you. But
call that same man “ole”, that is
thief, and see what will happen to
him. Our people hate thieves more
than corrupt people, yet most
times, we use corruption to cover
the lapses.
“A thief should be called a thief
and treated as such. In my village,
when an adult steals, they strip
him unclad, humiliate him and his
family, but if you say this man is
corrupt, they won’t know what
you are talking about. We are
using corruption to cover it all up.
“So, let us communicate properly.
It was not me that said it, I
quoted Mustapha. He examined
the corruption cases and he saw
that they were just cases of
stealing.
“We are identifying thieves; we
can talk about what the agencies
are doing. We have made more
convictions in this period than
before. But I always say that the
answer is not convicting more
people. We must make sure that
they don’t steal. Do not put the
money where they can steal it.
That is what we are doing.”
