Senior lawyers have expressed divergent views on President Muhammadu Buhari’s Independence Day speech.
While a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mr Rotimi Jacobs observed that the President’s speech showed his passion for the anti-corruption war, another SAN, Paul Ananaba, urged the President to back his words with action.
Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Second Vice President Monday Ubani urged the President to always choose his words carefully.
Others who reacted to the speech are law teacher Wahab Shittu and a lawyer Dr Fassy Yusuf.
To make the war against corruption more successfull, Jacobs called for better funding and outsourcing of prosecution to more private lawyers.
Jacobs said: “Prosecution is something law enforcement agencies cannot personally tackle alone. For the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England, more than half of its cases are handled by private lawyers, because its internal machinery cannot handle it.
“But there is a clear misconception here that all the cases must be handled internally. It cannot. There must be provision for external counsel; we must bring in more lawyers, private lawyers, to be involved in it.
“But here, the emphasis is on internal lawyers attached to superiors; they cannot challenge their bosses.
“The government should not only empower the legal department of each prosecution agency, they should also, as a matter of policy, engage more private lawyers who can offer independent advice as to how to tackle corruption more effectively…and the government should be ready to pay. Here, they don’t pay.”
He also advocated better funding for the judiciary and the police as a way of curbing judicial delay.
He added: “You can’t fight corruption if the police are in this state. The government needs to strengthen the police.”
Ananaba urged President Buhari to ensure that the basic needs of Nigerians are met.
He said Nigerians want to see more action from the government in terms of programme implementation
He said Nigerians wanted was to see him actualisng all the promises he made to them when they voted him.
Ananaba said: “The promises there are okay but this is not the first time that we are having promises from our leaders.
“Nigerians are suffering, there is a lot of unemployment all over the place, too many crime is going on in the country, banditry, kidnapping and all what not.
“Beyond fighting corruption, the basic needs of Nigerians should be met. It is not about promises, but beyond promises, actualising them. That’s where we are now and that is what we expect of his administration.
“The roads are not good, even the rail system is still not good enough. We want action from this government.”
Shittu said Nigerians were looking forward to a new lease of life and yearning for basic necessities of life.
He said Nigerians would no longer tolerate excuses and that their expectations are for government to deliver by raising living standards.
Shittu said: “This is the time to fully fix security, address frontally our economic challenges and create jobs for our people. The government must deliver on critical infrastructures, boost our agriculture and grow the economy.
“Gains recorded in the war against corruption such as asset recoveries must be ploughed back to the system to create jobs, investments, fix infrastructures, provide food, shelter, employment opportunities and raise living standards.
“The war against corruption is undoubtedly on course but the momentum must be sustained. EFCC acting chair must be confirmed to enhance the war against graft while the government must generally rise to the occasion and meet public expectations.
“We need to tap into the gains of ease of doing business, strengthen institutions and institutionalise respect for the rule of law to engender confidence, a prerequisite for foreign direct investment to boost the economy.”
Shittu stated further that the focus of the government should now be on guaranteeing security, growing the economy and sustaining the anti-graft war in that order. Nigerians want to experience the impact of real change and transformation in their lives.
He said: “More importantly, the government must ensure our individual and collective freedoms as a people. There should be no repression or stifling of opinions because we are in a democracy.
“Government must reflect elements of the democratic tradition, to wit, respect for constitutionalism, respect for the rule of law, due process and fundamental rights and liberties of citizens. There should be transparency and accountability and above all good governance.”
Ubani pleaded with the President to use soothing words to assuage the feelings of aggrieved Nigerians.
According to him, at a time when there is no peace in all zones, Nigerians need soothing words and not threats as contained in the address.
He said: “There is crisis all over Nigeria; no zone is crisis-free. The president should seek unity and use words that will bring people together. The government should solve problems and not create or add to it.”
The human rights lawyer enjoined Nigerians to join hands with the government by creating an enabling environment for peace to reign. He said when there is peace the government will remain focused and implement its programmes for the benefit of the people.
Dr Yusuf urged the government to pursue measures that will stimulate the economy particularly agriculture and employment generating programmes.
He said: “We are technically not yet out of recession; poverty is still very much with us. It behoves on government to further pursue measures that will stimulate the economy particularly agriculture and employment-generating programmes.”
On the fight against corruption, Dr Yusuf advised the President to change strategy in order to win the fight.
He said: “Corruption is now a monster which requires a desperate remedy.
“We must at this stage change our strategy. Let us frontally attack issues breeding corruption including greed, avarice, ostentatious living, impunity, ethnicity and parochialism. It must be a two-pronged attack: bottom up and top down.”
Pointing out that no society thrives where insecurity is ambivalent, he advised that the nation’s security architecture must be rejigged including the mobilisation of the citizenry to see security as a collective project.
He said: “We all must be involved to protect this country. Freedom of expression is constitutionally guaranteed. However, we must exercise this freedom with responsibility, patriotism and conscience.
“It is reassuring that the President has expressed the willingness of his administration to observe this.
“It is, therefore, incumbent on security operatives to borrow from President Buhari’s reassurance and purge themselves of overzealousness and the tendency to assault the fundamental rights of the citizenry.”