The step taken by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the National Judicial Council (NJC), to prosecute retired Justice Mohammed Yunusa over the alleged bribery scandal involving Rickey Tarfa SAN has received accolade from a Civil Society Organisation (CSO).
The pronouncement of the Chief Justice of Nigeria that there will be no more dismissal of corruption cases without trail for high profile citizens, was also commended by the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL).
Speaking through its Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran, the Coalition said the development was a welcomed one and one which correlate with its position that the Nigerian Judiciary was not impervious to corruption contrary to what the public is being led to believe.
“Prior to now, CACOL had always asserted that the Judiciary was very crucial to the success of the anti-corruption war and that with a corrupt Judiciary, the war against corruption would not succeed. We added that the Judiciary could purge itself of corrupt tendencies if the right measures were put in place and implemented and that this applied to other arms of government.
“It has become pertinent to highlight the negative roles of some abettors and aiders of corruption in the law profession are playing in frustrating the progress of the anti-corruption drive for pecuniary gains at the expense of the consequences of their sharp practices to the country economically and morally”, Adeniran stated.
In CACOL’s view, the situation where corruption criminals via their stupendous ill gotten wealth simply hire the services of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), to help them wriggle through judicial trials to escape conviction for very glaring sharp practices must be put behind, for the anti-corruption to achieve success ultimately.
Exposing the regular method and tricks of high profile corruption suspects, CACOL’s Chairman said ; “the suspected criminals simply enlist the services of crooked lawyers and officials to influence equally crooked Judges presiding over their cases of corruption. That is why we see suspected corruption criminals running to court to take advantage of the gaps in our laws to escape justice.
“Given the loots in their possessions, they consciously plan with the aiders and abettors in the Justice sector to design escape routes for themselves at incredibly humongous costs that only those that have corruptly enriched themselves can afford, such practices thus make the supposed officers in the ‘Temple of Justice’ accomplices in the corruption crime they are expected to protect the society from. This is sad, very condemnable and must be stopped for the progress of the country”, he added
