INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Corruption is the misuse of entrusted power or a dishonest use of one’s office or position for personal gain. It is a cancerous global phenomenon which has continued to cripple the developmental efforts of Nigeria. Corruption in Nigeria manifests in the form of misappropriation, kickback, over invoicing, bribery, embezzlement, tribalism, nepotism, money laundering, outright looting of the treasuring, and so on. In Nigeria, most of the elected and appointive public office holders and top bureaucrats use their position of authority to actively engage in corrupt practices (Obuah, 2010).
Similarly, corrupt practices was at its highest peak during the President Goodluck Jonathan’s Administration of 2009-2015. Jonathan’s administration displayed lack of political will, a high degree of lethargy and cluelessness in the fight against corruption in the face of many corrupt practices reported frequently against government officials. The Ribadu (2012) report that on the oil and gas sector for instance, daily crude oil theft during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan at 250,000 barrels daily at a cost of $6.3bn (N1.2trn) a year. This puts the total amount lost through oil theft in the six years of Jonathan’s government at over $12.6bn (N2trn). Also, another fraud scheme that was discovered in July 2012 by the House of Representatives Committee on Environment was the discovering of a tree seedling fraud worth N2bn awarded by the Ecological Fund office.
During this period under study, there have been several incidence of violent politically motivated, ethno-religious unrest notably in and around Jos (Plateau state) Nasarawa and Benue and series of bomb blasts by the Boko-Haram Islamic militant sect (literally translated as Western education is bad) targeting state institutions and innocent bystanders in the North-Eastern region of the country. The entire South-East and the Niger-Delta region also witnessed an unprecedented level of kidnappings, armed robberies, cultism, politically motivated killings and other vices that constituted threats to human lives and property. Violence and insecurity was at its peak and without robust counter-strategy and enabling legislations to tackle the deteriorating security situation and punish perpetrators of violent crimes, the nation was heading for a near disaster. The situation was like an unripe papaya, hanging to the branch by its fragile decaying stalk, ready to burst at its seams. The most crucial impetus for the study however, is the bomb blasts that occurred during the 50th Independence Day anniversary on October 1, 2010. The bomb blast which was planted near Eagle square (venue of the celebration in Abuja) the nation’s capital, killing an estimated number of persons (fourteen). and injured about twenty (20) Several killings and high rate of insecurity during this period under review would have been averted if the $2.1 billion funds which was meant for arms procurement were not embezzled by the Office of the National Security Adviser, then headed by the immediate past NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) which key government officials of Goodluck Jonathan is a beneficiary.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine several Corruption cases which undermined National Security during the six years administration of president Goodluck.
