Sometime last year, I wrote an article where I accused the judiciary of aiding and abetting the high-arched corruption in the country. Both the lawyers and the judges do not seem to understand that in the avowed fight against corruption, that we must rise above the technical legalese which they always cling to in frustrating the prosecution of accused persons. They throw all kinds of spanners into the works to stall the conviction of accused persons. That is why the cases are neither dismissed nor is any progress made on them. They just hang there, year after year, an act that only emboldens corrupt persons.
And given the fact that corruption occurs at a speed of 150km/ph, we tend to quickly lose sight of several cases, as too often, newer and even more daring ones come to overshadow older cases. That is why the judiciary has become the mortuary of corruption cases (permit the morbidity).
In this piece, I seek to draw attention, in no particular order, to some celebrated corruption cases that simply sank into the depth of the judicial system.
Starting from the more recent, I am worried that more than six months after the revelations of the Abdulrasheed Maina case hit the waves, wherein he was accused of embezzling N23.3 billion, we are neither here nor there on the case. It was reported that he fled the country. And that seems to be the last of the case. Money gone, suspect gone. Nigeria crawls on.
Much before his case was that of Kenny Martins and three others: Ibrahim Dumuje, Tony Icheka and Cosmas Okpara who were accused of embezzling N50 Billion Police Equipment Fund (PEF)- .Mr. Martins and his group were charged to court by the EFCC, but after a few detentions, the case is well rested in the judicial morgue. Money gone, suspects free, Nigeria crawls on.
Very recently too, another pension scam broke. This time, with the Director of Pension Accounts, Alhaji Sani Teidi Shaibu, accused of embezzling N5 Billion. He has just been granted bail, by an Abuja High Court. It will not be expected that his case will be treated differently. So in a few months, the case would have been firmly bottled up and quarantined in the bunker below.
Pray, where is Yakubu Yusuf who admitted stealing N23.3 Billion and got a paltry fine of N750,000 fine in place of two years imprisonment?
We cannot forget the case of Alhaji Farouk Lawan, who demanded and received a bribe of $620,000 from oil marketer, Femi Otedola allegedly to absolve his company (AP) from indictment in his committee’s report in the wake of the subsidy scam crisis. This case is even more ludicrous. Lawan admitted receiving the bribe. Otedola confirmed offering the bribe (on purpose). So what else is the lengthy adjudication for? Accepting offering the bribe (in whatever name it is called) is tantamount to pleading guilty. So what else is stalling sentencing if not for unnecessary legal studs aimed at frustrating conviction?
Yet worse, is the case of the oil marketers who were accused of fleecing the treasury to the tunes of Billions of U.S dollars, with their rougish claims during the subsidy scam regime. What has happened to the accused subsidy fraudsters? Since 2011, till date, what has happened? Was it not said then that because the sons of some sacred cows and proxies of top people in government were involved in the scam, that the trial will be mere histrionics? Is that not being proven?
Is it any wonder that we keep improving on our downward rating by Transparency International (TI) on the fight against corruption? Who says Abacha’s was a corrupt regime?
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