14 How corruption is strangling anti-graft war
When the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) was enacted in 2015, it was intended to facilitate speedy conclusion of criminal trials and save costs for the federal government. But many of the cases commenced under the Act have suffered delays. O
For two years, the false assets declaration trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has stalled. However, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had managed to conclude its case after calling four witnesses.
Saraki’s lawyers have indicated intention to file a no case submission, claiming that the prosecution had failed to establish the allegations against him. Only time will tell what becomes of the case once this is done.
Since September 2015, the trial of former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, on charges of diversion of $2.1bn arms fund and illegal possession of firearms and money laundering, has not made any appreciable progressive.
In the five-count charges of illegal possession of firearms and money laundering before a Federal High Court in Abuja, Dasuki’s trial has yet to commence after two years as he is objecting to the concealment of identities of witnesses sought by the government.
In the two other cases of diversion of arms funds before the FCT High Court, the intermittent failure of the Department of State Services (DSS) to produce Dasuki has stalled the progress of the cases. Many observers are seeing the hands of the unknown in the protracted legal problem.
Next is the trial of the former Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, who was in January 2016, arraigned on allegation of receiving N400 million from Sambo Dasuki through his company, Destra Investments Ltd. in November 2014.
Metuh’s trial progressed speedily within four months with the EFCC concluding its case and Metuh opening his defence.
However, an attempt by Metuh in December 2016 to subpoena Dasuki in court to testify over the alleged payment of the arms funds for PDP’s 2015 election campaigns, was on February 23 refused by the court, including his application to travel abroad for medical treatment on the grounds that they were meant to delay the trial.
The judge also stated that Dasuki was not on Metuh’s initial list of witnesses, adding that he is not a compellable witness as nothing was tendered to show that efforts were made to get him from the authorities and failed.
Following the ruling, Metuh’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), who appealed the decision before the Appeal Court, stated that he had lost confidence in Justice Abang’s court and asked him to recuse himself from the trial.
This is coming after he had earlier written the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, to transfer the case to another judge.
Also, the trial of a former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, on allegation of concealment of N270m property before an Abuja Federal High Court, was expected to be concluded after Justice Adeniyi Ademola dismissed his application for no-case submission and asked him to open his defence following the conclusion of the case by the EFCC. Curiously, the case has stalled since April 2016.
The trial judge was in October 2016 arrested and charged with money laundering and unlawful possession of firearms. But following his discharge by the FCT High Court, the case is yet to be continued because of many issues.
Apart from the trial of former Adamawa State governor, Bala Ngillari, the trials of other former state governors are still lingering in various courts.
The former governors include; Joshua Dariye (Plateau), Jolly Nyame (Taraba), Murtala Nyako and Umar Fintiri (Adamawa), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia) and Sule Lamido (Jigawa). Some commenced under the present administration or were inherited from previous administrations have yet to see conviction and sentence.
Also, the trials of former military officers such as ex- Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, former Air Chiefs AVM Mohammed Dikko Umar and AVM Adesola Amosu are foot dragging.
Other officers facing different litigations include AVM T. Omenyi (MD, NAF Holdings), AVM R.A. Ojuawo (Air Force Tactical Air Command, Makurdi), Col N. Ashinze (Special Military Assistant to former NSA Sambo Dasuki). Their cases suffered several setbacks such that none has been successfully convicted and sentenced. While some lawyers attribute the delays to judicial administrative issues, technicalities or the adoption of delay tactics by defence lawyers, others blame the prosecution agencies for doing shoddy investigations.
Reacting, an Abuja-based lawyer, Barr. Okechukwu Onwukwe, blamed the tactics of parties with bad case who would look for loopholes in procedure or technicalities to capitalize on and mess up the case of the opposing party, as one of the reasons why cases stall in the courts.
The lawyer faulted the weaknesses in the ACJA and the mode of its enactment at the National Assembly, explaining that one of his clients had filed a case at an Abuja Federal High Court seeking to nullify the Act in its entirety or to invalidate some sections that border on ‘holding charge’ and ‘jurisdiction.’
In his assessment, a former Attorney General of the Federation, Akin Olujimi (SAN), blamed the lack of proper investigation to the delays and failings in the anti-corruption war.
“The other aspect is the machinery with which they are pursuing the fight against corruption. When you look at the prosecution of cases all around the country, many of those cases have fallen by the way side because they couldn’t get the evidence to sustain the allegations. There are many in which trials are not going on speedily as envisaged by the reforms carried out in the criminal law,” he said.
“You find that in most cases, they charge people to court without thorough and proper investigation. What happens is that when these cases are charged to court, and hearing goes on you find the prosecution still going about investigating in a case they are already trying in court and they keep on amending the charge. Meanwhile, these are things they ought to have done before charging the cases to court. So for one, two years, the prosecution has not been able to conclude their case. They believe in fighting corruption you have to let everybody know, so they charge every Dick and Harry to court.
“In the developed world it is not every case they charge to court. If they do objective analysis and find out that they cannot sustain the charge, they let the accused go. So these are the things we have to consider in the fight against corruption. Not that you want to fight corruption and you charge everything to court and you end up losing here and there. That can be very embarrassing and in a way it also opens up the prosecution to criticism,” he added.
Barr. Usman Idris said the success of the anti-corruption war lies in the ability of the prosecution to properly marshal its case.
“In as much as the anti-corruption war is on, there is still room for improvement,” he said. However, Barr. Ahmad Eleburuike debunked the view that ACJA has failed to address delays in criminal trials. He said the over burdening of judges with many cases had affected their ability to deliver on time of six months earlier intended by the Act. He therefore solicited for more courtrooms to handle these cases.
He submitted that the ACJA had partially achieved its objective by making the provisions to fast-track cases.
‘Criminal matters need care and diligence because of the principle of fair hearing,” he said.
The trials of former military officers such as ex-Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, former Air Chiefs AVM Mohammed Dikko Umar and AVM Adesola Amosu are foot dragging