The way forward in effectively tackling the high-level corruption and criminality, as Ibrahim rightly pointed out, is for Left forces: “to work hard to challenge and remove them from power” through an independent political organisation, with a people-centred national agenda on democracy, development, and social justice.
The gargantuan corruption of military regimes in the country has resurfaced. Trending now is the August 2021 interview by former military Head of State, retired General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).
In the interview, reported by the Nigerian Tribune of 20 August, 2021, Babangida said: “We [the military] are not corrupt. I will proudly say it because what I read in the papers, if it is true, then I think I used to say we are saints.” He added: “I keep giving example. I sacked a governor for ₦300,000. Today, there are ₦300,000 billion, still not issued, not solved”.
Certainly, high-level corruption did not start in 1999; it has been on ground since the colonial era. The Lagos-based The Guardian of 16 December, 2025 reported that over $400 billion was stolen by top-level Nigerian public officials between 1960 to 1999 alone, while the London-based The Economist of 10 October, 2019 put the figure at about $582 billion.
