THE JUDICIARY: PROSECUTORS, SALARIES, ET AL

Iwas at the Federal High Court, Abuja on June 14, 2017 and the judge handling our matter was apparently upset because it was brought to his/ her notice that some people that lost a case before him/her allegedly sponsored the publication of an article accusing him/her of corruption. So, when I read my lord’s mood, I cautioned myself to trade softly in the court. Our case was called and a harmless application was moved by a SAN; the lawyer for the plaintiffs didn’t oppose, but sought for costs. I also didn’t oppose the application and my lord asked, “Mr. Hussaini, are you also seeking for costs?” I said “No my lord!” All in a bid to be careful with the court. Indeed, it shows on the judge’s face that some of them are also disturbed when they are accused of corruption.

A more interesting thing happened when two cases of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission were called after ours and with all due respect, an unprepared junior counsel appeared to move two faulty motions for leave to do something before they charge some accused persons. The court berated the prosecutor and brought to his notice his mistakes. In fact, in one of the motions, EFCC failed to exhibit the petition or complaint brought to it, which was said to be fundamental. But the court granted the application, saying something like “so that they should not say that it is Justice so-so-so and so (the judge’s name) that is allowing corruption.”

Actually, the judge had to even ask that prosecutor why he insists on coming to that court if he knows that he will always make mistakes. This means that the prosecutor, and indeed many other prosecutors are poorly prepared, and that could be a leeway that sets an accused person off the hook.

But I also tried to be fair to the prosecutors because, they are poorly funded as compared to the big law names they face in court for the defendant and the large number of cases they handled per person.

I used to presume during my university days that whenever I see a lawyer with a squeezed or reddishblack, old suit and gown, s/he is either a prosecutor or a senior lawyer.

Mark you, I’m not talking about Bukola Saraki’s trial on the above argument because, it was a SAN that prosecuted it. For EFCC and other anti corruption agencies to be successful in the myriad of multibillion naira cases handled by them, there has to be a provision for proper funding. They should be taken care of like employees of other agencies regarded as prestigious such as NNPC, FIRS, etc.

Finally, an argument that may not be totally disregarded is that which claimed that the victory of Saraki is a compromise by the APC-led government in a bid to solve its intra-party crises. No matter what will be the reason for the recent developments on the war against corruption, one thing that is clear is that there is a real problem somewhere that has to be solved.