Senate Chief Whip Caps Amount Politicians Could Loot to Get Death Penalty

Before Nigeria could string up politicians for stealing public money, the loot must be test the N1 trillion mark. Senator Ali Ndume believes his colleagues already stealing millions and billions are doing public good.

“If you compare us, politicians, to all the corruption, it is very small,” the Senate chief whip told Channels Television. “Our corruption is people-driven.”

For that reason, Ndume would not support death penalties for corrupt politicians yet to be plundering public wealth in trillions.

Ndume has been in the National Assembly since 2003, starting from the House of Reps—for Borno South. His climb up to the Senate in 2011, and his entrenchment there has made him one of the big noises in the Legislature.

He, too, likes to make some clout of that, on or off the floor.

So when he rubbed it in—that Nigerians influence politicians’ corruption— viewers would take him seriously.

“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,” he said.

Many would be considering the optics of what the top politician spat out on a national television programme.

But Ndume didn’t give a fig.

“I can’t say because we are on TV now and not telling the truth.”

He’s not entirely trashing the idea of capital punishment for corruption.

“I will support it. But you don’t go and kill someone that stole one million or one billion. No,” he said. “But someone who steals one trillion of government money should be killed.”