Stealing same as corruption, lawyers tell Jonathan

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Some lawyers have cautioned President Goodluck Jonathan to stop differentiating between the acts of stealing and corruption.

Jonathan Media Chat

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.”

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Stealing same as corruption, lawyers tell Jonathan

Jonathan Explains ‘Stealing Is Not Corruption’

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President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday clarified what he meant by stealing is not corruption, saying he was quoted out of context.

Jonathan Media Chat

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.”

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Jonathan Explains ‘Stealing Is Not Corruption’