Tag: President Buhari

If the National Assembly, expected to be the bulwark of the government, could be so easily compromised, God help us with a judiciary crawling with corrupt judges and where some very senior lawyers serve as conduit for bribes to sway court decisions

The first part of this article indicated a few inescapable actions President Buhari must take if he wants to succeed in reining in corruption in the land.  Corruption has become so hydra-headed, even systemic in Nigeria that were it not going to fight back any war aimed at it, any attempt to stamp it out would still be a helluva duel. Those eating our country raw are so entrenched, and loaded,  that they have wasted no time in showing  what they are capable of  in the National Assembly the way they made minced meat of the  time honoured practice of  having members  of the majority party in parliament holding the principal  posts in both chambers, whether  at  home here in Nigeria,  or in  the U.S from where we borrowed the presidential system. If the National Assembly, expected to be the bulwark of the government, could be so easily compromised, God help us with a judiciary crawling with corrupt judges and where some very senior lawyers serve as conduit for bribes to sway court decisions.  Except President Buhari demonstrates unmistakable seriousness, early enough, by ensuring that every member of his party not only  respects party supremacy, but  acts in support of his government’s  policies,  which one is sure will be people friendly, there is enough stolen money out there to make nonsense of his  change mantra, the anti-corruption war, inclusive.

Fortunately, as I was busy making suggestions on the subject here last Sunday, Itse Sagay, a distinguished legal scholar and Professor of Law, in concluding his article: ‘Politics, Public Service, Morality and Integrity in Nigeria’, (The Nation of the same date), was leveraging on his huge knowledge of the underlying weaknesses in our extant legal system to prescribe the following ways of strengthening current laws if the president is to successfully fight corruption. Wrote Professor Sagay:  “I wonder whether Nigeria has not gone too far down the depths of the abyss to be saved.  Recently, Professor Ben Nwabueze suggested that only a bloody revolution could save Nigeria.  I hope not.  What we absolutely and urgently need is a leader who can impose discipline and eliminate corruption.  There will be need to amend our laws to strengthen the state at the expense of individual liberty at least for a short while, if we are to get to redemption point.  All legal provisions permitting preliminary objections to prosecutions for corruption must be repealed from our laws.  The power of any court to issue an order of injunction against a trial for any crime, particularly corruption, should be repealed.  Interlocutory applications in cases concerning corruption should be banned.”

I am not quite sure whether being a legal scholar, Professor Sagay could not bear to suggest, as I did in the first part of this article, that anybody facing corruption charges should be presumed guilty with the responsibility devolving on him to prove his innocence. Nigerians just have to appreciate the fact that corruption in our country has assumed the stature of a virulent cancer which demands nothing short of a drastic surgical intervention. Like President Buhari has been quoted as saying, if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria and “the house would have truly fallen”, to quote the German, Karl Maier. Over and above Professor  Sagay’s  prescriptions,  it is my view  that  a Special Court should be established to try corruption cases so as to avoid the shenanigans we see daily in our courts; shenanigans which  lawyers exploit to thwart justice, thereby ensuring that corruption remains alive and kicking, even emboldened.

The Nation editor, Gbenga Omotoso, took us through some of these in his recent article: “An Anti-Graft War Advisory” –The Nation, Thursday, July 23, 2015 – from which we shall quote at some length.

He wrote: “Here we go: Merely taking you before the court – if you fail to get a perpetual injunction against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), its agents, privies, officers, operatives or whatsoever called – does not make you a prisoner. Be ready to shell out a fortune – obviously a small fraction of the cash they claim you have stolen – to get a damn good lawyer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). There are many of them in town nowadays. Your adversary, the tempestuous EFCC, cannot afford them. When you are remanded, don’t panic and give your traducers a chance to say: “Oh; he’s finished.” Remember, the offence, no matter how huge the cash involved, is bailable. In fact, the charges may be as long as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Never mind; as the case progresses, they may be withdrawn, amended or consolidated into one or two.

Bail will come in very liberal terms

When the case proper begins, your lawyer will tell the judge he has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter. The judge could be stubborn. He may fix a date to determine his jurisdiction and, in actual fact, rule that he is fit to hear the matter. Don’t fret. Your lawyer will simply head for the ever-busy Court of Appeal. This, no doubt, will take months to resolve. The appeal may be decided, most likely against you.

Another judge will naturally take over the case. A plea is taken – “Are you guilty or not?” Be firm in replying: “Not guilty at all, my Lord.” Your SAN will then raise a preliminary objection, saying again that His Lordship has no jurisdiction to hear the matter. “The offence was not committed in Abuja,” he will tell the court, “and the money involved is, after all, not the federal government’s.” Besides, no prima facie case has been established against you, the lawyer will say confidently.”

At this point, after many years in court, the accused most probably becomes a governor and for the next eight years, our man is untouchable – no thanks to immunity. And if he decided to become a senator, I ask Nigerians to guess what chances EFCC, which could not afford a SAN in the first place, would have against an individual legislator- for whose gluttony, immodesty and outright immorality, if not thievery –  Nigeria spends an estimated N290 Million annually to maintain in a country with more than 70 percent of its populace living below poverty line, who  could thereby easily afford to buy the entire system to escape justice.

It is therefore crystal clear that President Buhari has his job cut out in his promised war against corruption. He has to present to the National Assembly a steely executive bill , with none of those debilitating clauses as in the present EFCC Law, which passed into law, will then  form the regulatory underpinning of a serious anti corruption war. Presidency officials must ensure that the National Assembly is not allowed to embed in the new law, any of those their usual shifty clauses which lawyers turn round to mindlessly exploit for money.

Reactions

I  present below, for lack of space, a few of my readers’ reactions to the first part.

A brand new anti-graft agency will be great especially with a head like Gen. Ishola Williams (RTD) which is the only way we can be sure the fight will be certain and thorough  –  080338392. (The general’s name appeared in more reactions).

May you continue to live long with the ink ever-flowing from the source of truth. An organisation like the current EFCC cannot be the institution President Buhari envisaged would salvage Nigeria from the present wreck -080536571..

Thanks for your article on anti-corruption. One obstacle in the way of implementing your revolutionary idea is the role of lawyers. The legal profession is based on lying and immorality as lawyers are always concerned with making money even if it means defending Lucifer and ensuring he is declared a saint. So the role of lawyers and the legal profession must be examined and debated nationally with a view to finding how to neutralise their satanic role in the war against corruption -080338562..

Femi, I am sure you must have forgotten that the legislature that makes the law is having Saraki as the president despite the issue of Trade Bank and that of his family. I have written you earlier on this. Why do you think he wants to be Senate President at all costs? Why are former governors all heading to the senate? This legislature will block all anti corruption moves by the executive. That is why Saraki and Dogara are there. I pray that the president reads your piece of yesterday. It is more than marvellous -080556794..