Former Minister of Justice and
Attorney General of Nigeria, Akin Olujimi, on Friday explained why the police,
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt
Practices Commission (ICPC), continue to lose corruption cases in court.
He explained that the ugly trend
was due to lack of thorough investigation.
Olujimi noted that the fight
against corruption in Nigeria would remain shallow if anti-graft and security
agencies only rush to court to satisfy Nigerians thirst for conviction.
Speaking in Ibadan, the Oyo State
capital, the former AGF insisted that lack of thorough investigation has led to
anti-graft and security agencies presenting insufficient evidence in court.
Olujimi also urged Nigerians not
to expect hurried judgements when corruption cases were brought before the
courts.
He said, “From 2003 till today,
even though the EFCC, ICPC and police make arrests and take people to court,
corruption still seems to be on the front burner, and is fighting back.
“As practitioners of the law, we
have come to know that investigation of cases is not thorough. The judge was
not there when the offence was allegedly committed and can only rely on the
evidence produced by the prosecution.
“So, if that evidence cannot
sustain the charge, the judge releases the accused. It is therefore very
important for the EFCC, ICPC to ensure that they carry out a thorough
investigation and there is no need for them to rush to court just to please the
public.
“The public would want the judge
to convict the accused person in one or two weeks. It doesn’t work like that
anywhere in the world.
“The UK, US may trail the suspect
for a year before they make an arrest. Before they make an arrest, they would
have gathered all evidence, such that the lawyers would guide the police so as
to gather the necessary evidence to sustain the charge.
“In Nigeria, it is only the
police, EFCC that carries out their investigation alone without carrying along
the prosecution, and so, there are gaps in the investigation, which the defence
counsel exploits to his advantage.
“The public needs to know that
the procedure for trial in court does not move as rapidly as they think, except
where an accused person pleads guilty.
“The prosecution may be
presenting his case for a year and defence has not started because he has many
witnesses. The judge taking the case also has other cases to attend to.
“So, we have to be patient
because there is a procedure that has to be followed and by this, we will begin
to have better results in the prosecution of corruption cases.”
This APC lead administration keep acting movie,they know the step they are taking is wrong but they want us to feel they are working by fighting corruption mean while we've understand is all propaganda of various Movies in various series. You will take a man to the court,the Judge will instruct DSS or EFCC or PMB to bring the defendant to the court for cross examination they will bluntly refuse and you expect the Judges to give you judgement,when you know they are professionals,no way. We beg the Judicial system to help Nigerians by Judging their cases in the best International standard. When President Trump brought a ban on US visa,the Antony general of US revert it as a chief Judge. Thats how a system is suppose to be runned.Not doing the will of Mr president. If is not the Judiciary today many innocent Nigerians would have been in jail on this Military administration in disguise
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