Looking different at every occasion might just be one technique Suraju, the Chairman of Nigeria’s most remarkable anti-corruption group has devised to delude corrupt actors who once made an attempt to eliminate him. He was calm and unruffled. He sat on the high table with the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Mr Olanipekun Olukoyode. Hon. Justice Latifat Okunnu and Prof Adele Jinadu sat close to him. For many of his old friends, it was difficult to recognize Olanrewaju Suraju. He had grown beards. He wore an unusual dress that would make it difficult to identify him unless at close scrutiny. Looking different at every occasion might just be one technique Suraju, the Chairman of Nigeria’s most remarkable anti-corruption group has devised to delude corrupt actors who once made an attempt to eliminate him. For instance, in 2022 at midnight, armed men stormed his house. They did not come to steal but took away valuables, perhaps as a decoy. The deal, it appeared, was to kill or at least warn him that corruption has the means and ways to fight back, anywhere, anyhow, and anytime. The storming of his house was with precision: the time, the break-in, the stealth, the gadgets employed, and the expertise of the invaders indicated they were professional. There have been several other threats to him, his soulmate, Sulaimon Arigbabu, and the staff who are usually on edge at the close of work each day for constant fear of being trailed. This has not deterred the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA Resource Centre) in the vigorous pursuit of the Nigerian cruel but powerful sleaze network. The travails of the group, for 20 years now, clearly show that the fight against corruption in Nigeria is like a fight with a lion right in its den. The consequences are life-threatening. Fighting corruption in Nigeria is like walking barefoot on a rope adorned with blade edges. This is why it is remarkable that for 20 years, a Nigerian organisation HEDA Resource Centre has been confronting the lion in its den. At the anniversary held in Lagos this week, which I attended, the EFCC Chairman lamented the vicious hearts of Nigerian cartel of powerful rogues. He said after he assumed office, he suddenly developed strands of grey hairs in months. He sometimes leaves his office at 1 am in the morning, yet goes home with unfinished files. He narrated one incident recently, when on the last day of the previous year, billions of naira were being illicitly transferred by politically exposed persons. He watched the illegal transfers on his security screen forcing him to step aside from the New Year praise and worship night to take decisive action against the complicit bank accounts. They were cronies of Government ministries moving illegal cash not spent during the previous year. If there is a major problem hunting Nigeria, it is the audacity of corruption in high and low places. In the last half a century, experts think funds stolen from Nigeria are enough to build a new, prosperous country. Corruption has become the monster that rules public and private services. Many politicians in Nigeria see the theft of public funds as habitual. Budgets have become mere yearly rituals. Professor Jinadu at the event said in many instances, the motivating factor for public service seems to be access to public wealth. Fronts are created to launder public money through exaggerated contracts, over-invoicing, outright stealing of funds to budget manipulation, and kickbacks. There is institutionalized corruption. This comes in the form of bogus self-awarded salaries, perks, privileges, constituency allowances, and legally protected sleaze. Apart from the corrupt practices of highly placed people, artisans, and professionals wear the dirty garb of graft making the cancerous plaque the addiction of the rich and poor. In his remarks, Olukoyode regretted that corruption is defended viciously by its practitioners, local and international capons, powerful people, and rulers of darkness who do everything possible to sustain the rot. It is this hegemon that HEDA Resource Centre decided, for the past twenty years to confront with all its strength. The EFCC Chairman described HEDA Resource Centre as one of the most ‘prolific’ anti-corruption civil society organisations in Nigeria.Led by a formidable team of men and women, with two icons, Olanrewaju Suraju and Sulaimon Arigbabu at the captain’s seat, the Centre has continued to strike the sky like a comet that awes politically exposed persons. One of the most remarkable corruption cases exposed by HEDA Resource Centre was the Malabu oil scam. It involved the transfer of about $1.1billion dollars by two Nigerian oil giants through Nigerian government officials to the account of a former Minister of Petroleum. About half of the fund went into the account of another Nigerian individual who owns an oil company. The crook fronted for many government officials under the Government of Mr Goodluck Jonathan who ruled Nigeria for six years. When HEDA Resource Centre launched this campaign in 2016, every effort including espionage, threat to life, sending armed agents to the office, phone bugs, spying, and trailing of its workers at the anti-corruption institution was made to hack down, blackmail or intimidate the group. The scam was linked to OPL-245. In the face of poisoned arrows fired at the organisation’s officials at the homefront, international anti-corruption groups, RE: Common, Corner House, and Global Witness rose in defense of HEDA Resource Centre and its team as the case took center stage in Italy and Holland where for the first time, the governments of those countries saw the rare determination of a Nigerian anti-corruption group that risked everything including their lives for a transparent country where the Federal Government was found wanting and even complicit. The Malabu case saw at least some $190m paid to the account of the former Nigerian oil Minister frozen by a London Court. Local and international campaigns of the group are deafening. HEDA was at the United Kingdom Parliament to press against aiding corruption by the international