{"id":172861,"date":"2025-08-07T11:50:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu"},"modified":"2025-08-07T13:03:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:03:23","slug":"corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu","title":{"rendered":"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Human rights activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has said that corruption in Nigeria is no longer just a crime as it is now protected by powerful individuals, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, and politicians.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during a recent appearance on an AIT programme, Mahdi argued that the real problem with Nigeria\u2019s fight against corruption is not the absence of laws, but the lack of willpower to enforce them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem in Nigeria is not the law, not the act, not the constitutional provisions. The problem is in the implementation, in the conception, in the conceptualisation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He explained that although whistleblowing policies exist including rewards of up to 2.5% for successful reports, the issue goes far deeper.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is the point of making a legal framework on corruption. When you see corruption walking with legs, with eyes, with ears visible like human beings?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mahdi gave two examples to back his claims.<\/p>\n<p>He first recalled how a bank MD in northern Nigeria allegedly took \u20a63 billion in shareholders\u2019 money with the help of his wife, brother, and even housemaid using the funds to open businesses like a salon and restaurant. He said the man appeared in court only once.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually, that bank collapsed. The money was never recovered. But the man still walks free and is even given national honours. When he writes his name, you see OON after it,\u201d Mahdi added.<\/p>\n<p>He said two powerful emirs and top Islamic scholars intervened by visiting the President, which led to a \u201cnolle prosequi\u201d a legal withdrawal of the case.<\/p>\n<p>The second case involved a former governor from southern Nigeria who allegedly stole \u20a630 billion from his state.<\/p>\n<p>According to Mahdi, community leaders and religious groups lobbied for him, calling him \u201cour son,\u201d and asking the President to let him go.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a clip from NTA where South-South Elders Forum, South-South Christian Forum, and Secretary-General of CAN then went to the villa and met Obasanjo, President Obasanjo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. President, the money said had been stolen by our son,\u201d Mahdi revealed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe appeared in court only once. Later, he even became one of the most important men during the Yar\u2019Adua administration,\u201d Mahdi added.<\/p>\n<p>Mahdi also criticized the 1999 constitution, saying it promised rights that are not justiciable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt tells you you\u2019re entitled to this and that, but at the end of the day, those rights don\u2019t hold in real life,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Human rights activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has said that corruption in Nigeria is no longer just a crime as it is now protected by powerful individuals, including traditional rulers, religious leaders, and politicians. Speaking during a recent appearance on an AIT programme, Mahdi argued that the real problem with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":172860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[9460,41,254,3463],"class_list":["post-172861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-clerics","tag-corruption","tag-nigeria","tag-politicians"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Human rights activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has said that corruption in Nigeria is no longer just ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Human rights activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has said that corruption in Nigeria is no longer just ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-07T10:50:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-07T12:03:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-07T10:50:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-07T12:03:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu\"},\"wordCount\":420,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"clerics\",\"corruption\",\"Nigeria\",\"politicians\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu\",\"name\":\"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-07T10:50:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-07T12:03:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Human rights activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has said that corruption in Nigeria is no longer just ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu - Nigeria","description":"Human rights activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has said that corruption in Nigeria is no longer just ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu","og_description":"Human rights activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has said that corruption in Nigeria is no longer just ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-08-07T10:50:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-07T12:03:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu","datePublished":"2025-08-07T10:50:52+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-07T12:03:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu"},"wordCount":420,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg","keywords":["clerics","corruption","Nigeria","politicians"],"articleSection":["all news","Economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu","name":"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-07T10:50:52+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-07T12:03:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Human rights activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has said that corruption in Nigeria is no longer just ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/sm_1754555721.333809.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/corruption-shielded-by-politicians-and-clerics-mahdi-shehu#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Corruption Shielded by Politicians and Clerics Mahdi Shehu"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}