FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN THE 21stCENTURY NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM THE MODEL OF CALIPH UMAR IBN AL-KHATTAB (R. A)

Leadership is a trust given to the people by God; as such it should not be played with. Discharging the responsibilities in accordance with the divine law is required from the faithful leaders, while the followers are required to be obedient, so kind the leaders have not deviated from the path of Almighty God. The abuse of public office is rampant in Nigeria nowadays; misappropriation of the government treasury seems to be a competition among some occupants of the various offices. This paper is aimed at inculcating into the minds of the people, the present leaders, the prospective leaders and the followers to emulate the leadership style of the second caliph, Umar bin al-Khattab (R. A) in his pattern of leadership while making sure that things are done appropriately without fear or favour. Administering justice to the citizenry by the leaders and building the fear of God in them, are part of the roles played by Umar (R. A) during his reign as a commander of the faithful. In writing this paper the use of relevant literatures, ICT and the divine book of Islam as a guiding principle for the entire mankind were applied in the methodology