"So lucrative is public office here that even in a backwater like Ekiti, a state of only 2 million people in a nation of 130 million, the state house and the spoils that come with it are apparently worth killing for. Of Nigeria’s 36 governors, 31 are under federal investigation, mostly on suspicion of corruption, and 5 have already been impeached, including Mr. Fayose in October. He is now in hiding.
“This is democracy at work in Nigeria,” Mr. Fayemi muttered as he drove between campaign stops in Ekiti in early November. “Murder and money, violence and fraud."...
In 2000, suffused with the euphoria of new freedoms, 84 percent of Nigerians said they were satisfied with the state of their new democracy, according to the Afrobarometer public opinion survey. But six years later, the same survey found that just 25 percent of Nigerians felt that way...
Ekiti’s most recent governor, Mr. Fayose, is a case in point. In October, he was impeached after an investigation found that he and his associates had pocketed millions from the state treasury. In one instance, he is alleged to have spent close to $7 million, mostly in contracts to political allies, supposedly for a poultry farming project, but the money simply disappeared and the project has yet to produce a single egg...
“Money,” Mr. Fayemi said. “It is the language of Nigerian politics. As much as you want to get away from that, you also have to be mindful of those short-term things you must do.”
Source; Money and Violence Hobble Democracy in Nigeria, NYT
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Corruption Calculator for Nigeria
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