PROSECUTE SPOUSES, CHILDREN, SIBLINGS OF CORRUPT NIGERIANS - SENATE
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Special Duties, Senator Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, has called for the punishment of beneficiaries of corruption proceeds, including Nigerians’ spouses, children, siblings and parents.
The Senator made this known in Abuja on Monday.
The lawmaker representing Taraba Central in the upper legislative chamber expressed fear for the future of Nigeria going by the rate at which the youths engage in corrupt practices.
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According to him, jailing an individual for corruption does not suffice, while the beneficiaries such as the spouses, children, siblings, parents are allowed to enjoy the fruits of his corruption.
While bemoaning the extent of destruction corruption has wreaked on every aspect of the nation, including the National Assembly, civil service and the academia, among others, he suggested that “creating an agency that would be saddled with the responsibilities of confiscating proceeds of corruption is better than making it the duty of the anti-graft agencies.”
“I am really very concerned about the future of the country in the sense that many of us are joking and playing with the extent to which corruption has entered into the fabrics of our polity.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has warned us that if we do not fight corruption, corruption would definitely not only fight us, but kill us as a nation.
“Corruption, unfortunately, is in every sector of the economy. Some people say drug peddling is not corruption but it is actually. There is an allegation that one of our topmost police officers in the country, DSP Abba Kyari, who had been arrested, was conniving with drug peddlers.
“Every corrupt person, his spouse, children, siblings and parents are all beneficiaries of corruption.
“So, while the law is criminalising an individual for corruption, and he is in jail for 10 years, his wife, children, siblings and parents would all be enjoying the fruits of his corruption.
“It is possible for someone to be corrupt and others may not know, but by and large, every corruption has its own beneficiaries.”
“There are countries where corrupt persons are jailed for as much as 100 years. There are nations which has death penalty as punishment for corrupt people,” he said.
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