Some lawyers have
cautioned President Goodluck Jonathan to stop differentiating between the acts
of stealing and corruption.
The President had
during the 8th presidential media chat on Wednesday maintained that there was a
difference between the two acts. This came several months after he first made a
similar statement.
“If somebody is a
thief, he is a thief. We should not use the word ‘corruption’ to cover a case
of stealing. Thieves should be called thieves,” the President had said.
However, a lawyer and
human rights activist, Prof. Itse Sagay, said in a telephone conversation with Saturday Punch that there was no technical difference
between the two acts and that persons involved in either should be made to face
the wrath of the law.
He said, “In a broad
legal sense, they are the same. Stealing is taking what belongs to another
person without the consent of the owner with the intention of keeping it
permanently.
“Corruption is using an
office to acquire the resources of an organisation without working for it and
without the organisation’s awareness. Looking at it, using an office as a
political office holder to acquire what belongs to the state results to
stealing.
“Ultimately, every act
of corruption is an act of stealing. There is no question about it. There is no
moral or ethical difference between them. Both are criminal, immoral and
anti-social acts and nobody should attempt to make one look lighter than the
other. People who commit either should be dealt with seriously.”
A civil rights lawyer,
Fred Agbaje, said President Jonathan’s differentiation between the acts was
clear evidence that the President’s government is corrupt.
He said that the
President was only giving two terms for same offence.
He said, “Defence of
stealing as different from corruption is indicative of the fact that President
Jonathan’s administration is morally bankrupt.
“What the President has
said is an admission of guilt and that his government is corrupt. It is a
distinction without substance. It is calling one object two different names.
The nomenclature may
differ, but the substance of both allegations is the same.
“Which of them is
allowed in our law whether he calls them in different names? They are both
punishable under our penal laws. Stealing is even worse than corruption. Both
of them carry a legal element of deliberately taking what does not belong to
someone with the intent of depriving the taxpayers.”
- Punch
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