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Tag: Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC)

  • Abacha loot: How cash transfer program will work, by Osinbajo

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo Wednesday said the cash transfer programme involving the recovered $322million Abacha loot will be stringently monitored to ensure transparency.

    He said monitors would visit the individual households that have been identified through “deliberate targeting”.

    The Vice-President spoke in Abuja when he launched the Monitoring of Recovered Assets through Transparency and Accountability (MANTRA) Project.

    It was at a roundtable organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) to mark the First African Day of Anti-Corruption.

    Read Also:How Abacha loot should be spent-ANRP

    The roundtable had the theme: “Enhancing Domestic Resources for Sustainable Development Goals by Improved Asset Recovery and Asset Return”.

    The Switzerland Government, based on a memorandum of understanding with Swiss banks and the World Bank, returned $322million to Nigeria.

    A Swiss court order that led to the repatriation of Abacha loot was made on the condition that the World Bank will supervise the money’s utilisation to prevent mis-management and re-looting.

    Special Adviser to the President on Social Protection, Mrs Maryam Uwais, who represented the Vice President, said the beneficiaries of the cash transfer are households contained in the National Social Register that was built using targeted machanisms to identify poor and vulnerable households.

    Mrs Uwais said: “By the end of this year, we should have a register of the entire country. This register is where all our beneficiaries will be mined from. There is a number for each of the beneficiaries, and we’ll have their pictures captured.

    “When we started, three banks offered to support us with the biometrics. By the time they started going to the locations, they realised it was costly for them. So they backed out.

    “Now, we’re working through agents to ensure we pay at the last mile, because if a person is on this register, and is actually deserving of this our N5, 000, many of them cannot travel for long distances.

    “Many of them need the money so we don’t want them spending money going to look for their money. So we’re using the agents. We’re working to see that their biometrics are captured.”

    She said data generated during the cash transfer programme would be used for planning purposes.

    “It’s more than just financial inclusion. It’s also social inclusion. It’s important for planning that every state is aware of where these people are located. We’re also collating data on access roads to these communities, nearest primary schools, secondary schools, healthcare centres, and connectivity issues.

    “There is a huge conversation on how to ensure that we’re able to make payment by virtual wallet, because a lot of our women on pay days are visible when they go to collect their money and we need to protect them.

    “In two or three communities, we’ve have incidences where the youths come around and say: ‘We selected you, so you must drop a levy’. For that reason we engaged the Minister of Interior who introduced us to the D-G of Civil Defence. Now we have armed men that escort our agents on pay day to pay these women.

    “We try to encourage them to adopt a saving culture. It’s about mentoring and encouraging them to form savings groups, and take ownership. It’s much more than cash.”

    Budget Office Director-General Mr Ben Akabueze debunked concerns that the money was not appropriated. He said a provision was made for it in the 2018 budget.

    “In the budget for 2018 for instance, we have reflected in the revenues a total of N512billion of recoveries, including domestic recoveries and those from outside. In reality, this has been appropriated. It’s part of the funds that along with other government borrowings and revenues have been appropriated.

    “Also, in the 2018 budget, we have a provision for N500billion for social investment programme, which includes conditional cash transfers,” Akabueze said.

    PACAC Executive Secretary Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, speaking on the sidelines of the roundtable, said cash transfer programmes are done globally.

    “It’s a temporary thing to bring people out of poverty and including them in social welfare. The register being used was developed by the last administration, working with the World Bank. It’s not being done on political party basis. Ekiti, Oyo and Kwara states had the framework, and that’s why they had a head start.

    “Monitors go there directly to check. It’s not by calculation. If it were left to politicians, they’d put people they want. But that is not happening. The media should go and check it out. Conditional cash transfer was going on before Abacha money was returned.

    “Do you know there are people who have never held N2,000 in their hands? The Swiss judgment is clear: the money should be used for Nigerian people and should be monitored by the World Bank. Based on the parameters in the MOU, nobody can steal the money unless the World Bank is complicit,” Owasanoye said.

  • 8,000 whistle blowers recorded in one year – Presidential panel

    No fewer than 8,000 whistle blowers were recorded by the Federal Government in the last one year, the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption ( PACAC ), has said.

    Executive Secretary of PACAC, Prof. Bolaji Owasonoye, told our correspondent in New York that the whistle blower’s policy had succeeded resoundingly.

    Owasonoye said: “Just a few weeks ago, PACAC, in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Finance, looked at one year of that policy.

    “We looked at what has worked, where it has not worked very well, what we can improve and it came there that the policy has been resoundingly successful.

    “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t review where we were, which was what we were doing at that event. Over 8,000 whistles received, some of it have yielded very good results.

    “We also looked at the fact that the policy is not directed at pursuing cash recoveries only. But at misgovernance, abuse of power, position, violation of regulations and all that. The policy covers everything”.

    The scribe said the policy had been a stop-gap measure, pending the time it gets a legislation.

    Owasonoye also explained that a whistle blower might not get up to five per cent of the recovered loot, if the amount is very huge.

    He said: “The truth of the matter is that the parameters have never been varied. PACAC prepared the whistle blower’s policy.

    “The policy states that a whistle blower who gives a whistle that leads to cash recovery can earn up to five per cent of the amount recovered. Indeed, there’s a scale.

    “The higher the amount that is recovered, the lower that you get. But if your whistle leads to the recovery of a lower amount, you can get the maximum of a five per cent.

    “So there’s never been problem, just that the public didn’t understand how this policy is supposed to operate. So there’s a scale. So if you blow the whistle and something like a billion naira, you can earn up to the five per cent.

    “If it’s above a billion, under five billion, you get may be up to 2.5 per cent or four per cent; it’s graduated. And all over the world, that’s the way it is.

    “When your information leads to a very high recovery, the amount goes down. There’s been no dispute about people getting what is due them”.

    He said of the 8,000 whistles received, not all led to recoveries or were credible, adding however, government is not offended because when citizens give information, the government has a duty to try and investigate.

    “You never can tell when what you’re pursuing will lead to something significant, so you can’t afford to ignore.

    “That’s why the whole whistle blower arrangement, all the law enforcement agencies are part of it and investigations can take a little while,” he said.

    He said to reassure whistle blower, there would be an agreement signed with the Attorney-General Office, indicating all one is entitled to from the recovery and deciding how the money would be paid.

    “And that’s why over one year, nobody’s identity has been blown, which shows you that the mechanism for blowing whistle and receiving whistle and investigating is credible.

    According to him, there is no controversy as to the payment to the whistle blower for the recovery of the 43 million dollars cash in Lagos.

    “Sometimes when people bring information, they think they are the first and only person to give information whereas law enforcement agencies may actually already have information on that issue and might have been working on it.

    “All of these are things that need to be clarified by investigation and that appears to slow down the process. But there’s no controversy as to what people are entitled to.

    “The top limit is five per cent. Indeed, the policy itself says that the government may pay an amount lower but no more than five per cent,” he said.

    NAN

  • Sagay: I did not threaten judges

    Sagay: I did not threaten judges

    Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) chairman Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) has denied a report that he threatened judges, saying his views were misrepresented.

    The report (not by The Nation) had the headline:  Sagay threatens judges who ignore provisions of ACJA.

    He said in a statement: “I want to deny emphatically that I issued any threat to judges.  What I said was that some judges still adjourn corruption cases for more than the maximum of 14 days stipulated by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).

    “I also said there have been cases in which judges have adjourned to give rulings in interlocutory applications instead of waiting for the Day of Judgment on the substantive matter to read both ruling on the interlocutory application and judgment on the substantive issue of corruption.

    “I then added that in my view, such lapses constituted gross misconduct deserving of sanctions by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

    “Thus, the use of the term ‘Sagay threatens judges’ is inflammatory sensationalism.  I appreciate that newspapers have to make sales in order to survive.  But that should not give rise to undue sensationalism and offensive terms at the expense of accuracy and the true message of the person interviewed.

    “I am very open to interviews because I believe that the press is a critical institution in the fight against corruption. This cooperation and openness will be destroyed by the publication of inaccurate, self-serving and misleading statements in the guise of interview reports.”

    Read Also:Sagay: Obasanjo’s comments insulting, inappropriate

  • Our anger against judiciary – PACAC

    Our anger against judiciary – PACAC

    The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption ( PACAC ) Monday said it was not at war with the judiciary, but was “furious” with some judges and lawyers who allegedly sabotage the judicial process.

    A member of the committee, Prof Femi Odekunle, said PACAC was not against the judiciary.

    He spoke in Abuja at the opening of a four-day Capacity Building Workshop for Judges, Magistrates, Area Court Judges and Registrars, organised by PACAC in collaboration with the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Ishaq Bello, said criminal cases in which much progress have not been made would be struck out.

    A justice of the Court of Appeal, Helen Ogunwumiju, who gave the keynote address, urged judges to take firm control of their courts so the judiciary does not become the weakest link in law enforcement.

    The workshop is on The Application of the Practice Directions on the Implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.

    Prof Odekunle, who chaired the event, said: “Contrary to the perception in certain quarters, PACAC is not against the judiciary, the legal profession or any set of judges or lawyers.

    “Yes, PACAC is furious against a few judges, and a few lawyers who are sabotaging the anti-corruption fight, because the few not only frustrate the fight, they also damage the diligent and honest work of the so many good and hardworking judges of our judiciary.”

    Prof Odekunle said judges alone are not to blame for the delay of cases.

    “For instance, judges cannot be blamed for the archaic rules/regulations that literally ‘tie’ the hands of judges and give room for the God-forsaken shenanigans of defence lawyers; incompetent prosecutors further disabled by under-funding, under-staffing or inadequate logistics; and investigators who by default (and sometime by design) ignore to properly ‘service’ the ingredients to prove and offence,” he said.

    Justice Bello said a committee to be known as De-clogging Panel, would be set up after the workshop with a mandate to identify dormant criminal cases to be struck out.

    He said he sent out circulars to all the prosecuting agencies six months ago asking them to compile a list of cases that they could no longer prosecute so they could be struck out.

    None of the security agencies responded, he said.

    “As soon as we’re able to set up this panel, we’re going to strike out these cases. Judicial tolerance is being overstretched.

    “Because we keep bending backwards on the ground that these are cases of armed robbery, murder, the investigating authorities tend to over-capitalise on that and keep seeking adjournments without completing investigations.

    “Cases tend to stay in court unattended. By the time we have this panel, I assure you, we’re going to throw out these cases, whether they’re armed robbery or murder cases.

    “If they choose to re-arrest, we’ll give them time-line to complete the prosecution, because we must rescue the integrity of the judiciary and the justice system. This we want to do,” he said.

    Justice Bello urged judges to exercise caution in extending remand orders.

    He said such detention orders were being granted as a matter of course, with suspects sometimes being unduly detained.

    “I think we (judges) should be more proactive, particularly when there is a second remand request.

    “We must be able to find reasons; legitimate grounds as to why the extension of the remand order earlier granted should be made. This will check the excesses of the remanding authority. This we should know should not be a matter of course. We must be able to ascertain why.

    “In the first instance, we may allow it to go, but when you want to keep the detained persons, you must give us reasons why there should be an extension of the remand order. The idea is to ensure expeditious completion of investigation and reduce delay of trial,” he said.

    Justice Ogunwumiju urged judges to be firm and in control of their courts and not let lawyers dictate proceedings.

    “We must take back control of our courts. We are dominus litis (master of a suit) in our courtroom. I have never been able to understand how any court would allow counsel representing a client get the opportunity to dictate the tune in the courtroom.

    “The law has given the judge the power to dictate the tune for lawyers and litigants to dance to. The judiciary cannot afford to allow itself to become the weakest link in the enforcement of our laws because the wheels of justice grind so slowly.

    “It is my ardent hope that all chief judges will follow this laudable example and enact similar Practice Directions in their various jurisdictions,” Justice Ogunwumiju said.

  • Sagay: DHQ right to declare IPOB a terrorist organisation

    Sagay: DHQ right to declare IPOB a terrorist organisation

    Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Chairman Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) yesterday backed the military’s declaration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation.

    He said he agreed with the Defence Headquarters’ description of IPOB as a terror group even if he was not sure whether the army complied with legal requirements in making the pronouncement.

    Sagay, in an interview with our correspondent, said IPOB exhibited characteristics that justified being so described.

    According to him, even if the group wanted secession, there were better ways of doing it than using abusive language and stoking violence, which he accused IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu of.

    He said: “Whilst I’m not sure of the legal parameters of that declaration, in practice, I agree. If you look at it, we’re very lucky that this thing did not get out of hand.

    “They (IPOB) were coming in their thousands, establishing road blocks, bringing out Northerners – for what, I don’t know – to kill some of them? If that is allowed, then the country is finished. Then they burned down a police station, killed a policeman.

    “For Christ’s sake, even if you want Biafra, you don’t have to be violent. If you look at the words that Kanu uses on the social media, how he has described our President and the rest of us as living in a zoo – abusive, violent, intemperate words – kill, kill, kill, all those in my view, constitute in totality acts of terrorism in which they can push undiscerning youths into rage and violence, which can be destructive.

    “You saw Moslems seeking protection in Port Harcourt. If you start killing Northerners and the North reacts, then we’ve had it.

    “I just thank God that the North is showing some maturity and some sense of restraint while this is being curbed. But we really need to curb IPOB, otherwise they will turn this country into a tinderbox.”

    Sagay said he would not stop expressing his views on issues of national importance despite the Senate asking President Buhari to call him to order.

    When reminded that the All Progressives Congress (APC) also once cautioned him about his criticisms of the National Assembly, the law professor described the party’s leadership as “a failure”.

    He said: “As for the leadership of the APC, I think they are the most unprincipled group of people. They are lily-livered, weak, and cannot run any organisation. The whole party is collapsing under them. They cannot control anybody.

    “In fact, they’re now encouraging and accepting ‘rogue elephants’, pampering people who are destroying the party, saying ‘let’s not annoy them too much’, but they’re destroying the APC house.

    “So, I think the APC leadership is weak, is too compromising and is certainly a failure as far as I’m concerned.”

    Sagay said the war against corruption could not be won without committed judges.

    He accused some judges of “deliberately” sabotaging the crusade by obstructing justice.

    His words: “We are very concerned about the judiciary. Without the judiciary, we can kiss the anti-corruption war goodbye. We must have a committed judiciary, otherwise they will keep messing up any case that comes. It’s so easy to give a reason, which will appear to be reasonable, and the public will say the anti-corruption agencies have not done their homework. It’s not so.

    “Quite a number of the judges are deliberately taking decisions which I’d say indicate their hostility to the anti-corruption war. There are judges who are hostile. There are judges who interfere when such cases are going on, using their position to ensure that government loses.

    “Government is aware of all this. It’s just that some of us are not in a position to take decisions. People who should be stopped are slipping through and still being relevant when in fact they should be pushed aside into retirement where they will not interfere in the anti-corruption struggle.

    “There are reports on these judges, some by the Department of State Services (DSS). I feel that judges who are not committed to the eradication of corruption should be eased out of the system.”

    Sagay said he stood by his assertion that the Senate was self-centered and unsupportive of the anti-graft war.

    “One of the most critical Bills pending before them – the Special Crimes Court Bill – was yet to be passed,” he said.

    The PACAC chairman said it was rather the Senate that owed him an apology for abusing him for speaking the truth.

    “I didn’t abuse them. I merely said they’re not committed to the Nigerian people, that they’re there for themselves alone. I provided the figures to show it. I know the worse exists.

    “There are certain things I didn’t say. I did not even mention what the Majority Leader, Deputy Senate President and Senate President get as extras. Those extras run into hundreds of millions of naira. What I said at that lecture is a tip of the iceberg.

    “Our aim is for the National Assembly to finally admit that they’re frittering away our national assets and preventing these funds from being used for various other vital sectors to create more employment and fix infrastructure.

    “If you recall, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Lamido Sanusi said they were consuming 25 per cent of our budget. They didn’t deny it. Instead, former President Jonathan forced Sanusi out.

    “If we look at the senators’ allowances, we should ask ourselves questions. Should we be the ones clothing senators? Should my tax be used in hanging agbada on a senator?

    “How many times has government provided clothes for workers? But these men who are overpaid are still asking us to clothe them as if they arrived in Abuja naked.

    ”These same people ask us to pay them hardship allowance for doing their job. What of the man who is earning N18,000 a month, who operates machinery and sweeps the streets? No one pays them hardship allowance!”

    “Yet, people who live in tremendous luxury get paid hardship allowance running into billions. Why are Nigerians quiet about it? I don’t understand it,” Sagay said.

    On the Senate’s refusal to confirm Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu, Sagay said it was the President’s exclusive prerogative to decide how long he remains in office.

    “Magu can act indefinitely. The Senate does not have jurisdiction in this matter. It is the President who does because of Section 171 of the Constitution. This government is being a bit gentle, not wanting to ruffle feathers. Maybe that’s why they’re politicians and in government.

    “If people like me who are not politicians were there, these people (senators) would have heard a different message. I’d have rammed things through and damned them to go and do whatever they like, and let’s see who would come on top.

    “I believe that ultimately, righteousness, a good cause, a belief in principle will prevail. We’re dealing with people who are undergoing all sorts of investigations; they cannot face the righteous.”

  • How the elite cause poverty in the North – Sagay

    How the elite cause poverty in the North – Sagay

    What led to Nigeria’s backwardness in spite of the nation’s huge wealth and potential was the topic of discussion at a re-union symposium organised by Hallmarks of Labour Foundation (HLF) in Lagos, Thursday. The event with the theme: Restoring a tolerant and value-driven society to Nigeria, was held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Victoria Island.

    The lead speaker and chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay, linked the foundation of the country’s stagnation to disequilibrium among the geo-political zones, saying the ongoing call for restructuring was a timely reminder of the need for political re-organisation and true federalism.

    Sagay, in his two-part paper titled: Good governance and restructuring, disagreed with the view of the former Nigeria permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), Prof Ibrahim Gambari, who believed the development disparity and poverty rate between the North and South was as a result of inequality in school enrolment and childhood diseases which put the North at disadvantage compared to the South.

    Gambari was absent at the event, but his paper was read in parts by Sagay.

    The PACAC chairman described development challenges facing the North as self-inflicted, stressing that the leadership style of northern elite and traditional rulers caused to the region’s woes.

    Sagay said: “When the national campaign for immunisation of children against polio disease was on, the northern elite vigorously resisted the programme and falsely alleged that it was the European plot to curtail the fertility of northerners and to reduce their comparative population relative to the rest of the country. They even killed members of the team deployed to immunise their children.

    “The same belief applies to education. There is a culture in the North that encourages uncontrolled production of children without the accompanying commitment to send them to school. Instead, their children are abandoned and turned Almajiris.”

    In response to the question of poverty in the North, Sagay pointed out that the northern states draw more funds from the federation account compared to the whole of the South. He said the North has more local government and states than the South, wondering why poverty remained prominent in the North.

    He said: “It is the northern rulers and governing elite that are suppressing and oppressing their own people, preparing them for a life of poverty, disease and poor education. These are peculiarly northern problems and the North forms part of the Nigeria’s national conundrum.”

    Sagay said the current challenges facing the nation called for actions to promote good governance and restructuring. He noted that Nigeria took off as country with unique potential for accelerated development, adding that the First Republic politicians in all regions governed with honesty and commitment to common good.

    He, however, said the value of governance declined after the First Republic was aborted as a result of political intolerance, saying the nation became the caricature of poverty, destitution and suffering humanity.

    Sagay said the political elite is lacking in vision and integrity. He pointed particularly at the current Senate, which he described as a house of visionless and parasitic leaders who have no integrity. He said the prefix – Distinguished – attached to each senator’s name was undeserving and an abuse of the term.

    He said: “Our current ruling class, particularly the Senate, has no value, no honour, no vision, no integrity and no compassion for the suffering of the Nigerian masses. The attachment of ‘distinguished’ to their names is a horrible bastardisation and gross abuse of the use of that term. I reject it with contempt when anyone addresses with that unfortunate term.”

    Sagay, a professor of Constitutional Law, faulted the nation version of constitutional democracy, describing it as a un.

    itary system. He said the nation’s “inconsistent federalism” is subjecting the states to financial subordination of the Federal Government.

    He called for restructuring and enthronement of true federalism to make federating unit viable. He said opposition to restructuring is a fear of losing cheap money coming from the Niger Delta’s crude oil.

    Chief Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof Philip Asiodu, in his paper titled: Repositioning education in Nigeria for peace and development, said the Federal Government needed to restructure the education system to promote development.

    The event’s chief host and former Vice-Chancellor of University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Prof Umaru Shehu, HLF has made Nigeria a decent society by instilling values of patriotism and honesty in young people.

    The chairman of the occasion and former Secretary-General of Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, observed that there was need to return History as a compulsory subject in schools to enable the youth learn about the efforts of the nation’s founding fathers. He said the Foundation had produced 51 role models since its inception.

    Others dignitaries at the event included the Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, former Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Registrar, Prof Oladipo Akinkugbe, first woman Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Folake Solanke, former VC of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, and foremost geographer, Prof Akin Mabogunje, among others.

     

  • Sagay: Bank chiefs aiding corruption should face trial

    Sagay: Bank chiefs aiding corruption should face trial

    The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) will push for the prosecution of bank chiefs who connive with looters to hide stolen funds, its chairman, Prof Itse Sagay (SAN), said yesterday.

    According to him, the “monstrous epidemic of high profile corruption” could not have afflicted Nigeria without bankers’ collusion.

    They must not get away with it, Sagay said.

    “In my own little way, we are going to push for the prosecution of such bank chiefs. They must be prosecuted,” he said.

    Sagay said the legislature, senior lawyers, especially Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), and some “hostile and powerful judges” work against efforts to rid the country of corruption.

    “There is a gang-up of the of the powerful political, business and banking elite that is determined to frustrate the anti-corruption struggle,” he said.

    The PACAC chairman delivered a public lecture in Lagos on the topic: The many afflictions of anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria. It was organised by the Nigerian Society of International Law.

    Sagay said the National Assembly was made up of self-serving lawmakers who allocated N125billion to themselves alone this year.

    He said while the United States President earns $400,000 per annum, a Nigerian senator earns over $1.7million.

    Sagay said apart from a basic salary of N2.4million per month, they earned allowances, such as hardship (50 per cent of basic salary), newspaper allowance (50 per cent), wardrobe allowance (25 per cent), entertainment (30 per cent), recess (10 per cent) and leave (10 per cent), among others.

    The total allowances, he said, amounts to N29.5million per month and N3.2billion per annum.

    “Perhaps the most notorious example of the legislators’ resistance to the war against corruption is the rejection of the right of the executive to choose the persons who will spearhead that struggle.

    “The clear impression is created that Nigerian legislators are in office for themselves and not for the populace.

    “Not surprisingly, the National Assembly has not passed a single bill for the promotion of anti-corruption war since it commenced business in July 2015. The Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, the Proceeds of Crime Bill and the Special Criminal Court Bill remain in a virtual state of stagnation.

    “What evidence do we need to establish the hostility of the eighth Assembly to the anti-corruption war?” Sagay queried.

    The eminent professor of law described corruption in the judiciary “a national tragedy that should be avoided at all cost”.

    He said no one would have remotely imagined as recently as 1999 that judges could indulge in the crime of selling their judgments to the highest bidder for hundreds of millions of dollars.

    The National Judicial Council (NJC), he said, does not have a disciplinary capacity to deal with crimes of such gravity.

    “That is why, tragically, we are now experiencing judges being tried in courts like common criminals. That is why the anti-corruption and security agencies have taken it upon themselves to continue from where the NJC stopped.

    “It is a painful but necessary sacrifice we must make in order to cleanse and sanitise the system and to breathe new life into it,” he said.

    Sagay said SANs deserve “harsh punishment” for shamelessly approaching judges and introducing them to a “demeaning and shameful culture” of bribery and corruption.

    “These SANs deserve the harshest punishment of all. Anti-graft agencies and the police must monitor and investigate the activities of lawyers who receive a share of the proceeds of crime as their fees,” he said.

    Sagay said it was largely SANs, “stuffed full of money”, who designed every scheme imaginable to frustrate the trial of 15 former governors since 2007, out of whom only two were convicted.

    According to Sagay, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has recorded several successes, including massive recovery of stolen assets, elimination of high profile looting and prosecution of high profile cases, including judges, which he said were previously ignored.

    “The anti-corruption struggle is like a long distance race – a marathon. It cannot be concluded overnight. The opposition is extremely powerful, using state resources to fight back.

    “What we are going to see is a progressive dismantling of the corruption infrastructure. Convictions will occur now and again, but there will be frequent forfeitures of looted funds and other types of property. Remove stolen loot from the culprit and his life becomes miserable.

    “In addition to loot recovery, high profile looting at the executive level has been eliminated. Nigeria was bleeding from numerous open wounds when this administration took over about two years ago. All the bleeding has been staunched.

    “What is now needed is the positive support of the citizens of this country in this titanic struggle,” Sagay said.

     

  • Sagay to Judiciary: You’re hostile towards anti-graft war 

    Sagay to Judiciary: You’re hostile towards anti-graft war 

    … PACAC chair slams NJC for condoning corrupt judges

     

     

    Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) chairman Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) Wednesday accused the judiciary of undermining the war against corruption.

    He said the judiciary has shown hostility towards efforts to rid the country of graft.

    “The judiciary is not on board in the anti-corruption fight,” Sagay said.

    It was his closing remarks at a conference on “Promoting International Cooperation in Combating Illicit Financial Flows and Enhancing Asset Recovery to Foster Sustainable Development” in Abuja.

    The three-day conference was organised by PACAC in collaboration with the ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs.

    Eminent professor of International law and jurisprudence, Akin Oyebode, agreed with Sagay’s assessment.

    He said the judiciary has lost its glory and needs “redemption” from its “transgressions”.

    Sagay faulted the National Judicial Council (NJC) for recalling judges who were suspended over corruption allegations.

    He said one of the recalled judges, whose name he did not reveal, was notorious for making financial demands from lawyers and accepting gratifications.

    To him, such a judge should not be allowed to remain on the Bench.

    The PACAC chairman also criticised the recall of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

    The judge was arraigned on 18 counts of corruption charges, but an FCT High Court upheld his no-case submission and struck out the case.

    The prosecution appealed the verdict, while there is a pending charge against Justice Ademola at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

    Sagay said: “NJC’s decision to recall them, especially Ademola, whose case is a life case, and others who have not been charged but are going to be charged, for me, is a sign of hostility to the fight against corruption.

    “We cannot afford the judicial hierarchy to engage in espirit de corps (a shared feeling of loyalty) with members of their group that have fallen in the corruption struggle.

    “They must join the executive whose mantra is total or near elimination of corruption for the sake of the survival of this country. Judges have a duty to join in this determination.

    “So, that sort of decision that was taken gives the impression that they are hostile to the struggle. That’s one reason I said they’re not on board,” he told newsmen on the sidelines of the conference.

    According to Sagay, corruption is so rife in the judiciary that some judges brazenly demand money from lawyers, and despite being aware of such judges, NJC tolerates them.

    “There so many judges now who demand money from lawyers or accept money from them. I know a judge who will come to you today and say: ‘My mother died, please send money to me’. Lawyers will send N200, 000 to him. The next day, he’d say: ‘My daughter is getting married’. Another day: ‘My uncle has been made a chief, we’re contributing.’

    “Nobody in the judicial hierarchy will deny that these judges exist. And one of them is among those going back now. He has collected money from hundreds of lawyers. And everybody knows this.

    “Should that person be on the Bench? He has desecrated the bench; he has brought it down; he’s a common beggar, who is ready to compromise his position if you give him money on the excuse of burying his father.

    “That man has millions of naira and dollars in his account already accumulated through this means. People like that are being asked to go back. That’s why I said the judiciary, for now, is not with us in the struggle against corruption, and they need to be with us if that struggle is not to crash and if this country is not to crash with it,” Sagay said.

    He said PACAC would continue to engage with the judiciary to make judges realise that the country’s future is bleak if they do not join the battle.

    “We interact with judges a lot, from the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to the magistrates. We’ve visited most of them, and we’ll keep on visiting and talking and persuading them to realise that it is in their own interest to be as fervent and determined and passionate about elimiminating the sourge of corruption, and that any of their brethren who is suspected to be guilty of corruption is a destroyer of all that the judiciary stands for. He’s an enemy of the judiciary.

    “The judiciary, in my view, is the highest of the three arms of government. When a judge descends from that level and comes into the mud to join in looting and accepting money from lawyers who have no name to protect, the judicial hierarchy, the clean ones should come down hard on such judges, harder than the poor man who is sentenced everyday for stealing a goat.

    “The judge who is guilty of corruption is almost guilty of a crime against humanity, because what he is doing is to undermine the whole integrity of the state.

    “It means that when we have a major issue that can affect the future of the country, we can’t go to him, because he’s dishonest, he lacks integrity and is fraudulent and will not decide the case according to the justice of it.

    “So it’s a very dangerous thing that is happening now and the judges must embrace the fight against corruption otherwise this country has no future,” Sagay said.

    The PACAC chairman said there was no pressure from the executive on the judiciary to convict those accused of corruption at all cost.

    However, he urged judges not to consider only the legal aspects of a case, but the justice side as well.

    Sagay said: “They should apply the law and justice. Law without justice is useless.

    “When a case comes before a judge, before he even hears the legal arguments, he looks at the facts and claims. He should be able to say in his mind: ‘Justice seems to be on this side’. There are some cases in which the legal arguments favour one side. But that side is the unjust side.

    “The English legal system and common law has educated us and given us a culture of being able to, as a judge, look at the case, use our own creativity to ensure justice is not lost because of legal arguments, and to use creative argument to ensure that justice prevails. That’s the way we were trained, but that is not happening.”

    For Prof Oyebode, the judiciary should redeem itself if it is to remain the common man’s last hope.

    “I think the judiciary now seeks redemption because of its transgressions. We just have to wish them well and hope that a greater day lies ahead for judges in contemporary times,” he said.

    According to him, appointment of “misfits” as judges contributed to the fall in standards.

    Oyebode said: “Prof Sagay, many years ago, wrote a book saluting the Supreme Court in terms of the judgment they handed down and the effervescence of the judiciary under the leadership of people like the late Kayode Eso, the late Chukwudifu Oputa and other distinguished jurists. They gave a testament to posterity.

    “But, since then a lot of water has passed under the bridge. There have been some misfits appointed to the judiciary – those who have abused or compromised their high judicial office.

    “The judiciary is the custodian of due process and rule of law, and if gold rusts, what should iron do? I am part of those who believe that a people get the judiciary that they deserve.

    “If Nigerians believe that the judiciary has a role to play in the scheme of things, then they must fight and defend the appointees, hoping that the appointees themselves would reflect the confidence that people reside in them.

    “There was a time we had great judges who never compromised their status, role or function. I can’t say that today for some of our judicial officers.

    “It’s not that there are no good men and women in courts. I’m glad to observe that none of my students in the Supreme Court and other courts had been found wanting. I’m not claiming credit for their acting according to their judicial office though.

    “In 1992, I gave a lecture at the Bar conference in Port Harcourt. The title was: ‘Is the judiciary still the last hope of the common man?’ The jury is still out on whether the judiciary can play their allotted role of being the last hope for the common man.”

     

  • Nigerians react to Plea Bargain to fight corruption

    Some Nigerians have expressed their views about the use of Plea Bargain to fight corruption in the country.

    Among them were Legal experts who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Abuja, saying that Plea Bargain remained an option in the country’s legal jurisprudence to reclaim governments’ stolen funds and property.

    They urged relevant authorities to perfect the act in order to reduce spending on prosecution of cases of corruption.

    On the widespread assertion that the system often aborted justice, the legal experts said plea bargain provided room for government to recover part of looted funds that could have been totally lost.

    Jubrin Okutepa (SAN) said his position before now was that plea bargain in the manner it was being operated was subject to abuse.

    Okotepa said there were now defined guidelines and parameter on how people could observe plea bargain and its consequences as put up by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).

    The PACAC was set up to scale up advocacy against corruption in private sectors and professional associations as part of efforts to fight corruption.

    Okutepa said looking at the guidelines set up by the committee, it would work if there was a will power on the part of the state to push it through and also a will power on their part not to defeat the guidelines by not granting state pardon to the looters.

    He called on states to put in place sufficient funds and technological materials that would nip in the bud some of the scientifically organised crimes in terms of money laundering and other corruption related offences.

    He condemned the general saying that the plea bargain was a slap on the judiciary.

    “Let me correct an impression; judiciary is not a prosecutor, it is not investigator but the judiciary only acts on the cases brought before it.

    “So, if the states are serious about fighting corruption then the investigative apparatus must be strengthened, it must not use investigation as a source of income.

    Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) said plea bargain would save the government the money to prosecute and also save the accused the harassment of standing trials.

    He said it was a way of saying that “the loot we have traced to your account, concede certain percentage of it to the government and you go with the rest’’.

    “It is better to allow plea bargain to work in our system because a case on such can run for 10 years at the end of which government will lose the case and the looters will smile home with the loot’’.

    Balarabe Musa, former Governor of the old Kaduna State in the second republic, described plea bargain as the height of corruption in the system which made the political leadership even more guilty.

    Musa said in a civilised country a thief was supposed to be prosecuted and if found guilty, he should be punished in accordance with the law, “but unfortunately Nigerians have coined another way to escape punishment’’.

    “Plea bargain is sending a wrong message that everybody is at liberty to steal and once you are caught the worst you can do is to plea bargain with the government or political leadership and in the end you would work away with something substantial.

    “If this is not nipped in the bud it will eventually lead to the destruction of the society.

    Balarabe recalled that the issue of corruption or any leader stealing public funds and getting away with it was not part of the country’s political game during the period of amalgamation till 1965.

    Mr Tunde Aremu, Campaign Manager, Action Aids (Nigeria) said that plea bargain being an option in the fight against corruption was one of the most inappropriate ways to fight corruption.

    He said treasury looting had led to the death of so many people in the country.

    “When you talk about plea bargain you are telling people that they can steal and there would always be a way out.

    “You are saying people can steal money and come back under certain negotiation, conditions and give government a certain percentage and get away,’’ Aremu said.

    He said the way forward was that anybody that was caught looting the treasury must face the full wrath of the law, and be sent to jail for stealing public funds.

     

  • Payment default: Nitel/Mtel creditors report liquidator to FRCN, PACAC

    Payment default: Nitel/Mtel creditors report liquidator to FRCN, PACAC

    Creditors have dragged the appointed liquidator for Nitel/Mtel, Otunba Olutola Senbore, before the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).

    In a petition, signed by a representative of the creditors, Mr. Sebagen Henry Noboh and dated October 20, 2016, the complainants decried what they considered lack of accountability in the payment of their claims.

    According to them, the Liquidator has paid only 16.5 percent of the amount stated in his offer letters to individual creditors, leaving a balance of 83.5 unaccounted for. The offer letters, dated May 12, 2015 were personally signed by the Liquidator.

    They added that the 16.5 percent was paid to them in two installments of 15 percent in May 2015; and 1.5 percent in July 2016, an interval of 14 months.

    At issue is the N51, 648, 643, 000 proceeds from the sale of the core assets of Nitel/Mtel to Natcom Consortium for $252.25 million by the last administration.

    The Consortium had fully paid up since March 2015, but the creditors are still struggling to get their money from the Liquidator, more than 18 months after he received the money.

    The Liquidator had fixed the amounts payable to each of the about 300 creditors based on available funds, in line with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990.

    One of the issues raised was the decision of the Liquidator to be paying them in piecemeal, stating that it was in clear violation of provisions of the CAMA Act.

    They expressed fears about the safety of the funds and the probability of the Liquidator releasing the 83.5 percent balance without intervention from the relevant monitoring agencies.

    Also affected are the various consultants to the creditors whose cheque the Liquidator has refused to release, despite legally contracted agreement documents said to be in his possession.

    The petition added, “We urgently seek the intervention of the FRCN for independent examination of the Liquidator’s account records, because he has remained evasive since July.

    “We also believe that the outcome of PACAC’s investigation might give President Muhammadu Buhari a clue into certain tendencies that have cast doubts on the credibility of the exercise.

    “Findings by the two bodies may as well form the basis for appropriate follow-up action with the relevant economic and financial crime law enforcement agencies.

    “For now, we can only appeal to FRCN and PACAC to expedite action on this matter before it is too late. We are afraid the safety of the funds in custody of the Liquidator is highly threatened”.