The Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, made a distinction between corruption by politicians and other individuals, suggesting that corruption in Nigerian politics is driven by the people and should not result in severe punishment.
Ndume acknowledged that politicians engage in corruption by “stealing and sharing with the people.” However, he characterized this form of corruption as relatively minor compared to corruption by others.
His remarks came during a discussion about the use of the death penalty as a deterrent for individuals caught with drugs. Ndume implied that politicians’ corruption, which involves sharing stolen resources with the public, should be viewed differently from corruption by individuals.
He stated, “If you compare us, politicians, to all the corruption, it is very small. Our corruption is people-driven. If you steal it, you will go and share it with the people. If you don’t, you are not coming back for four years. There is no reason for stealing.
“I have been to the National Assembly, I can’t say because we are on TV now and not telling the truth. If the death penalty is supposed to be included in corruption, I will support it but you don’t go and kill someone that stole one million or one billion, no. But someone who steals one trillion of government money should be killed.
The senator said he supports death punishment for drug dealers.
“The death penalty is the best deterrent for those being caught for drugs. If you do drugs, you are killing people.
“In fact, that means you have destroyed the lives of so many people and killed so many people,” he said.
Recently, the Senate passed a bill, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act (Amendment Bill) 2024 passed by the Senate.
The bill prescribed death penalty for persons found guilty of trading in hard drugs and narcotics.
This has, however, been debated and faulted by many stakeholders on whether or not President Bola Tinubu should accent the bill.
On Saturday, some legal practitioners expressed different opinions on the debate over the bill. Some of them urged President Bola Tinubu not to assent to the bill passed by the Senate while others pressed for it to be signed into law.
Some of the lawyers stressed that the death penalty was not a solution to drug trafficking and other drug-related offences in the country.
