FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM THE MODEL OF UMAR IBN AL-KHATTAB BY

Leadership is a trust given to the people by God; it should not be played with. Discharging the responsibilities in accordance to the divine law is required from the faithful leaders, while the followers are demanded to be obedient. If the leaders have not deviated from the path of Almighty God. The abuse of public office is rampant 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 in his pattern of leadership while making sure that things are done appropriately without fear or favour. Administering of justice to the citizenry by the leaders and building the fear of God in them, are part of the roles played by Umar 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.