The Federal Government has begun moves to establish special courts to<\/p>\n
try corruption-related cases as part of the efforts to fight graft in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
Investigations on Friday revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari was
\nopting for a comprehensive onslaught against the problem of corruption
\nin the country.<\/p>\n
It was learnt that the President had concluded plans to submit a bill
\non the planned special anti-corruption courts to the National
\nAssembly.<\/p>\n
It was also gathered that the Federal Government was planning to
\nestablish 37 of the Special Courts to try corruption in the Federal
\nCapital Territory, Abuja and the 36 states of the Federation.<\/p>\n
A top operative of one of the anti-graft agencies, who confided in one
\nof our correspondents, said that the Federal Government decided to set
\nup the planned special courts because of the long delay by regular
\ncourts in deciding corruption-related cases.<\/p>\n
It was further gathered that the President recently made a demand for
\n36 judges with the requisite integrity and boldness to decide cases in
\nline with the law and not according to influence of the people or the
\npecuniary gains that come with associating with them.<\/p>\n
The anti-graft officer said, \u201cThe President is being careful; he does
\nnot want people to do a wishy-washy job for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuhari is pressing for the establishment of special courts to try
\ncorruption cases. He wants the courts to be established in Abuja and
\nthe 36 states of the federation so that they can fast-track such
\ncases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigations further revealed that the Federal Government had
\ncontacted the National Judicial Council to provide judges with
\nimpeccable reputation to preside over the planned courts.<\/p>\n
It was gathered that the NJC released the names of 100 judges from the
\n36 states of the federation to the leadership of three major
\nanti-corruption bodies in the country after an internal process of
\nselection.<\/p>\n
The judges were screened by operatives of the Economic and Financial
\nCrimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related
\nOffences Commission and the Department of State Security on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
It was gathered that the focus of the on-going screening exercise is
\nto identify judges with a passion for the law and the constitution
\nrather than deference to personalities.<\/p>\n
The officer stated, \u201cOn Tuesday, the NJC forwarded the list of 100
\njudges to the anti-corruption agencies for screening. The exercise is
\nmeant to select the judges for the special courts the President is
\nmoving to establish to try corruption cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan is to get judges that are bold, courageous, and fearless.
\nMany of them must have delivered sound judgements (in the past). They
\ndon\u2019t want those who play to the gallery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe screening exercise is very intensive; they are passing through
\nthe NJC that has the list of all the judges. When the NJC is through
\nwith its screening, it passes the list of the judges to security
\noperatives and the anti-graft agencies to continue with the
\ninvestigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd because this is a democracy, they have to go through acceptable
\nlegal channels; they have to amend the constitution to set up these
\ncourts. They want to start with speed; even the legislatures have to
\nbe involved to amend the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was also learnt that the anti-graft agencies screened the judges by
\ndoing background checks on them, particularly looking at their history
\nat the bench.<\/p>\n
The source said, \u201cWe are working on the information we got about them
\n(the judges). There are those who have been compromised in the past,
\nwho will not be part of the arrangement.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the anti-corruption agencies are not saying much about the
\non-going screening exercise, which is said to have entered its second
\nphase.<\/p>\n
When our correspondent contacted the Head of Media and Publicity of
\nthe EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, on the telephone on Friday, he said
\nthat he was not aware of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not aware of the exercise you are talking about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the Resident Consultant, Media and events of the ICPC, Mr.
\nFolu Olamiti, said that he could not comment on the story, when
\ncontacted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t comment on it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Also, the Acting Director, Information, National Judicial Council, Mr.
\nSoji Oye, said he was not aware of any plan to create special
\ncorruption courts.<\/p>\n
It will be recalled that the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, had
\nin 2012, when he was being screened by the Senate, called for the
\nestablishment of special courts for corruption cases.<\/p>\n
He had said, \u201cThe reason for the clamour for special courts for
\ncertain cases has to do with the processes of law. Judges have corrupt
\ncases and other cases to attend to, but if we have special courts for
\ncorruption cases, it would facilitate the process. I don\u2019t think it
\nwill be too much to ask that a special court be dedicated to
\ncorruption cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, and Executive Chairman of the
\nCoalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran, described the
\nplan to create special courts to handle corruption cases as a welcome
\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n
But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Joseph Nwobike, described the
\nestablishment of such courts as needless.<\/p>\n
Keyamo, however, urged the government to put certain resources and
\nlaws in place for such special courts to achieve their intended goals.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cEstablishment of special courts will not solve the entire
\nproblem of anti-corruption cases and it will not solve all the
\nproblems of criminal cases. But it will go a long way if the courts
\nare well equipped and have rules that will help fast track such cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecial courts will not address the integrity of judges that will be
\nsitting there. It is a welcome development and government should go
\nahead to establish them but some things should be put in place for the
\ncourts to achieve the intended goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adeniran also described the establishment of special corruption courts
\nas desirable. He said such courts would help in quick determination of
\ncorruption cases.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cIt is desirable to the extent that it will hasten up the
\nadjudication on corruption cases and will make it easier for the
\njudges to handle.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Nwobike said that instead of creating special courts, government
\nshould focus on capacity building to enhance the competence of
\ninvestigators and prosecutors.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cIt is needless. It will amount to waste of judicial
\nresources to set up special courts to try corruption cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frontiers Newspaper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Government has begun moves to establish special courts to try corruption-related cases as part of the efforts to fight graft in the country. Investigations on Friday revealed that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n