All Nigerians, the clergy, business men, proffesionals and the rest are all decided that we must wrestle the corruption monster to the ground. It is the next big project. I was at the Lagos Leadership Conference 2010. organised by the province 21 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God at the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association(NECA House) at Alausa Ikeja, Lagos state. The theme was Extending Our Dominion. The meeting

was convened by the provincial Pastor in the person of Pastor Charles Kpandei. The main speaker was Rev Emmanuel Ziga, a Ghanaian national based in Seattle Washington Dc in the United States.

Among the speakers were Barrister Femi Atoyebi, Barrister Bamidele Aturu and Mr John Momoh of Channels who sent a representative.
Barrister Aturu spoke on ensuring credible elections, Mr Momoh on Media as an agent for societal transformation and Barrister Atoyebi on Corruption- Bane of our politics and business.

Mr Momoh highlighted the roles of the media in societal transformation citing the case of bringing the people of Zuma to the limelight as an example. He went further to speak on many other whistle blowing role the media has played in exposing corruption.
Barrister Aturu who as a youth corps member once refused a national honour on account of its coming from a corrupt military government also spoke on Ensuring credible elections. He emphasised that people must come out to vote and police their votes. He also emphasised that citizens should know their rights as citizens. He laid emphasis on the fact that the problems of Nigeria are multi faceted and that anyone who claims to have all the solutions should be identified as a fraudster. Bringing home to us the grim reality that Nigerians might have lost hope entirely in the nation. Barrister Aturu enjoined Christians to join politics, citing himself as an example. He emphasised that christians should show anger and dissentment. He said they are Christian virtues. He advised that the leaders of the church should not fraternise with corrupt politicians.

Barrister Atoyebi, also a Pastor took the stage, he caused a stir by saying 'All of us here are corrupt one way or the other'. The problem is inherent, he identified various causes and went ahead that we have completely lost our values. He wondered aloud if the church is free from corruption. He cited first hand examples of his experiences as a tribunal lawyer. he appeared very sad with the current situation. He went so far as to say that he almost quit the legal proffesion a while back but for the many lawyers in his chambers. On the issue of free and fair elections, he turned to Barrister Aturu and sarcastically told him he is being greatly optimistic. 'That is optimism' he said.

Barrister Atoyebi made a very crucial point when he rhetorically asked
'We have had a free and fair election in this country during the election of June 12 1993. People voted by the open ballot system and they were counted right there and then. There were no disagreements. If there is not going to be any mischief, why not go back to the open ballot system?'

We have to ask ourselves this question over and over again