Femi Falana, human rights lawyer,
has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of only
respecting the rights of influential criminal suspects.
Presenting a paper on Wednesday
at the 2019 law week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Epe branch, Lagos
state, Falana said Nigeria operates a double criminal justice system, one for
the rich and the other for the poor.
The senior advocate of Nigeria
(SAN) said corrupt politicians and some senior lawyers have hijacked the
criminal justice system, working together to frustrate the effective
prosecution of corruption cases pending in several courts.
Falana urged “progressive
lawyers” to team up with other patriotic forces to promote equal justice system
in the country.
“Apart from two former governors,
namely Messrs Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, the list of convicted persons is
made of lowly-placed individuals in the society,” Falana said.
“Owing to abuse of court process,
rich defendants have continued to frustrate their prosecution with the
connivance of some senior lawyers.
“By virtue of section 17 (2) (a)
of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), every citizen shall have
equality of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law. But in
practice, the rich and poor defendants are not treated equally by Nigerian
courts. Apart from the fact that rich litigants have the means to hire the
services of the best lawyers in any area of the law, the courts are manned by
judges who are not neutral in the class struggle being waged daily by the
Nigerian people.
“Notwithstanding that the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been accused by the
bourgeois media of engaging in Gestapo tactics with respect to the treatment of
suspects, it cannot be denied that the rights of influential criminal suspects
are well respected by the commission.
“The big men and women implicated
in allegations of serious economic crimes being investigated by the commission
usually receive polite letters of invitation, telephone calls or text messages
advising them to contact named investigators whose telephone numbers are
supplied.”
Falana said rich suspects always
apply to be kept in EFCC’s cells since they are much more comfortable than
police and prison cells.
“If and whenever influential
criminal suspects report themselves they are treated with utmost courtesy by
the investigators. Since they are presumed innocent until they are proved
guilty by the State they are never paraded before the media, regardless of the
gravity of the offence committed by them,” Falana said.
“Unlike what obtains in western
countries it is infra dignitate to subject big men and women to the restraint
of handcuff in Nigeria. Hence, hell was let loose when a chieftain of the
Peoples Democratic Party on trial for money laundering was recently handcuffed
by the Kuje prison authorities.
“A few years ago, the Olusegun
Obasanjo administration apologized in writing to a former police chief who was
handcuffed by the EFCC while he was on trial for money laundering and corrupt
practices to the tune of N17 billion.”
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