Only thieves can become Nigeria’s President — Balarabe Musau

A former governor of Kaduna State in
the Second Republic , Balarabe Musa ,
says nobody can become the President
of Nigeria without first being a thief or
supported by thieves .
According to him, there is hardly how
anyone can legitimately raise the kind
of money required for presidential
campaign in the country .
He blamed the socio - economic woes of
the country on the political structure,
where, according to him, 99 per cent
of the people in the corridors of power
were thieves .
Musa was captured as saying this in a
video clip circulating on the Facebook.
He was captured as playing host to the
publisher of an online news medium ,
Sahara Reporters , Omoyele Sowore, a
presidential hopeful.
Sowore, in the clip, said he visited the
Kaduna politician to seek his counsel
on how to go about his presidential
ambition in 2019 .
He asked the 81 - year- old politician for
his view on why the older generation
of leaders had failed the country .
Responding, Musa said the problem of
underdevelopment in the country was
blamable on the wrong socio - political
system .
He said , “ What is the quality of
Nigeria’ s leadership? The quality of
the Nigerian leadership is a thief (sic ).
Since the end of the Second Republic ,
how has it been possible in Nigeria to
have a political leadership which is
not made up of thieves ? Of course ,
there are exceptions … I ’m not saying
that 100 per cent of the leadership in
Nigeria is made up thieves , no, there
are exceptions , but I doubt if there are
up to one per cent who are clean …99
per cent are thieves .
“ For example, how can you win on the
basis of the Nigerian laws and the
Nigerian culture ; how can you be a
Nigerian President without being a
thief first? Because it is through
stealing that you can make it. Both the
political parties and election in
Nigeria are based on money power
and this money power is equal to
corruption. So, this is what you have .
“ We have a socio - economic and
political system controlling all
developments in the country and the
political leadership produced by that
system both of which are made up of
people who regard self - interest first,
public interest second, as opposed to
public interest first and self - interest
second. Now, how can you have order ;
how can you have development in a
situation like this?
“ I gave you the example of the
President; nobody can be a President
of Nigeria unless he is a thief or
supported by thieves . I mean , the fact
is clear . You know , the reasonable
estimate of the cost of campaigning for
presidency in Nigeria is billions . How
can you acquire these billions ?”
According to Musa , the situation was
not so before the Second Republic ,
recalling that “( Shehu ) Shagari became
the President of Nigeria without being
a thief .”