What stalls the trial of these high corrupt political cases?

Emeka Ibemere

By May 29, 2015, some of the serving governors must have completed their eight- year second term tenure run for the seventh democratic dispensation, since civilian government came on board. 

And it will make it, 15 years since the former governors were taken to court on sundry corruption charges slapped on them by the Federal Government of former Presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo and the late Musa Yar’Adua, from 1999 to 2003 and to 2007, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, ICPC and other anti-corruption agencies.

 Virtually all the ex-governors and political office holders during the regime of the former Presidents, especially, Obasanjo’s era were hounded and charged to court for allegations of corruption and 15 years after that so-called anti-corruption regime left power, those cases are lying indefinitely in several Nigerian High Courts, Appeal Courts and Supreme Courts without clue on when the cases would finally end.

In May 1999 to 2007, about 23 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors, six Alliance for Democracy, AD, ex-governors and seven All Nigerian Peoples’ Party, ANPP, and other Ministers including civil servants were arrested and detained for one corrupt charges or the other after the expiration of their immunity powers.

Eight years after, another about 23 ex- PDP governors were also arrested and charged to court. James lbori, who ruled Delta State, is now serving his sentences in a foreign country was arraigned in Nigeria for looting Delta State ‘commonwealth’, but escaped prosecution in Nigeria.

DSP – Alamieseigha another PDP former Bayelsa State was jailed for looting of the state’s treasury. But Alamieseigha has been granted presidential pardon. Lucky Igbinedion who ruled Edo State was also convict for looting the state funds. Aside this trio, no other ex-governor has had his case completed.

Peter Odili, ex- Rivers State governor has obtained perpetual court injunction not to be arrested by the EFCC or other organ of the government. EFCC is still in court to quash the injunction. Chimaroke Nnamani -, ex-governor of Enugu State is still in court for looting.

Ayo Fayose former Ekiti State governor and a member of PDP, was in court for looting his state money until he bounced back as governor few months ago, his case according to the EFCC is in court.

 Rasheed Ladoja then of the PDP was ex-governor of Oyo State and was dragged to court for looting, Ladoja has changed party and is going to flag the Accord Party flag for 2015 gubernatorial election next month, yet his case is still with the court. What of Alao Akala former Oyo State governor, who was in court for looting but is going to contest the next month’s election as gubernatorial candidate. Close to Akala, is Gbenga Daniel, former Ogun State governors who is also in court for looting his State’s fund and today, even as his case file is still dusty at the court, the man has gone up to become party founder and BOT chairman of the party-SDP.

 Ikedia Ohakim played a return back to capture the PDP governorship ticket for Imo State, after he was rejected to go for second term but failed. Ohakim like his co-travellers in corruption charges is also in court for looting Imo State ‘commonwealth’.

PDP National Chairman, Adamu Muazu, an ex-governor of Bauchi State has a case in court for looting over N19billion from the state treasury. Joshua Dariye ex- Plateau State governor is still in court for looting Plateau State treasury. Jolly Nyame ex- Taraba State governor’s case is hibernating in court for looting the state treasury. Abdullahi Adamu ex- Nassarawa State governor’s case has not been mentioned in the last one year by the court for looting the state treasury. Boni Haruna of Adamawa State was in court trying to face allegation of charges levelled against him when he was appointed Minister.

Saminu Turaki - ex- governor of Jigawa State’s case is hibernating in court for looting the treasury. Orji Uzor Kalu ruled Abia State and was charged to court for looting the treasury of Abia State, and today 15 years later the case is still ongoing.

The political godfather of APC and the man who has taken opposition fight to national level, Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos was dragged to Code of Conduct Tribunal for having foreign accounts while in power against government policy of zero foreign account for public officials. His case was dismissed on the grounds that he maintained the accounts before his election to the office of governor. Ex-governor Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State is also in court for looting and he has crossed from ANPP to PDP.

Prince Abubakar Audu ex- ANPP Kogi State governor was also dragged to court for looting. The two ex-national chairmen of PDP, Ahmadu Ali and. Bamanga Tukur have their sons in court for multi- billion naira oil subsidy fraud charges.

It would be recalled that under the previous EFCC, Chairman Nuhu Ribadu, the agency prosecuted and convicted a number of high-profile corrupt individuals, ranging from Nigeria's former chief law enforcement officer to several bank chief executives.

In September 2006, the EFCC had 31 of Nigeria's 36 state governors under investigation for corruption. In April 2008, the EFCC began an investigation of the very influential daughter of the former Nigerian President, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello for allegedly receiving N10 million ($100,000), stolen from the Ministry of Health. The former Health Minister and her deputy are currently on trial for stealing over N30, 000,000 ($300,000) from the ministry's unspent funds from that year.

On June 6, 2008, Chief (Mrs) Farida Mzamber Waziri was sworn in as the new chairperson of the EFCC. Then on the 6th of August 2008, the former chairman Nuhu Ribadu was demoted from Assistant Inspector General (AIG) to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP).

 Waziri was dismissed by President Goodluck Jonathan on 23 November 2011 and replaced by Ibrahim Lamorde as Acting Chairman, who has since been confirmed on the 15 February 2012 by the Nigerian Senate.

Speaking on the delay in cases involving high political office holders, Duru Martin, a lawyer told our correspondent that lawyers to the accused persons are the cause of the delay in prosecuting the cases. He said most of them keep on applying for adjournment upon adjournments to drag the case on flimsy injunctions. 

“In Nigeria, it seems only the poor ones go to jail while political rich and powerful are allowed to breath the air of freedom”, he stated. He added that Judges should try and detach themselves from granting perpetual injunction and restraining anti-graft agencies from investigating and prosecuting politically exposed persons.

Duru stated the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court need to make it a must for accelerated hearing of cases pertaining to corruption as well as appeals arising from them.

According to him, the trial of such cases required daily hearing at the Federal High Court. But it is gathered that corruption cases are adjourned for all manners of reasons contrary to the letter and spirit of the law.

 There was a recent case about an ex-governor who is facing a serious corruption case but his counsel, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, applied for adjournment ‘sine die’ to allow the defendant contest a gubernatorial election in one of the states.

EFCC once accused Danjuma Goje, a former governor of Gombe state, and four others standing trial on charges of conspiracy and money laundering amounting to N25billion of deliberately delaying their trial.

In a press statement on the resumed hearing of the case before Hon Justice Babatunde Quadri, the EFCC said defence counsel Adeniyi Akintola opposed an attempt by prosecution counsel, Wahab Shittu, to proceed on trial by calling his witnesses for cross examination.

Adeniyi reportedly urged the court to request Wahab Shittu to show to his clients and the court, an evidence of prosecutorial authority from the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice before the commencement of trial. He buttressed his position with references to related matters that have been settled at the High Courts, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Courts in this regard.

Citing the 1999 Constitution, Akintola said it is only the AGF and Minister of Justice that can prosecute a criminal case on behalf of the state or do so through the instrumentality of a fiat. He finally submitted that the only locus the prosecutor can have is to produce a fiat, duly signed by the AGF before the court, the absence of which implies an absence of authority to proceed in the trial thereby denying the accused persons and the court the right to know.

Akintola opted for the court in the present circumstance to dismiss the charge against the accused persons.

Initiative For Transparency In Governance, a None Governmental Organisation, recently reported the views of Nigerians on the topic and blamed Nigeria judicial system for much of the delays. The lawyers blamed conviction of Ibori and Akingbola in foreign land as an indictment on Nigerian judges and call for clean up.

Former justice of the Supreme Court Kayode Eso and former president, Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, had raised the alarm over the non- conviction of high-profile corruption suspects in the country while former Delta State governor James Ibori and former managing director of Intercontinental Bank Plc Mr. Erastus Akingbola have been convicted in the United Kingdom (UK) court.

The jurists also decried the conduct of some judges in their handling of high-profile cases, saying that there was the urgent need for Nigerian courts to convict high profile suspects standing trial for the past five years to restore confidence in the judiciary.

Eso and Akanbi also faulted the antics of some lawyers and prosecutors, saying that most of the cases are lost due to shoddy investigation and delayed tactics by the lawyers.

 They further want government to initiate a review of the country’s criminal justice system to reduce the abuse of interlocutory injunctions usually employed by lawyers to frustrate timely delivery of judgement.

“There are inherent things that are wrong with our courts, lawyers and the criminal justice system which make it difficult to secure convictions against the high-profile corruption suspects, Justice Eso said,

“Take, for instance, the same prosecution (EFCC) that filed 170- count charge against Ibori and failed to obtain conviction in Nigeria court got it right with mere 10- count charge in London court. The Nigerian court judge (Justice Marcel Awokulehin) said Ibori had no case to answer in all the 170- count charge”.

For effective administration of justice in the country, the eminent jurist called for the splitting of the office of the minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation (AGF).

He emphasised that the AGF should not be under the control of the executive, adding that such appointee “must be competent, above board and committed to the nation. His loyalty to the nation must be paramount”.

Explaining that the courts do not appear to appreciate the underpinning factor for fighting corruption, Akanbi posited that, for an effective war against corruption, Nigeria requires the services of investigators and prosecutors “who are competent and are above corruption and have ability to perform effectively”.

Blaming the politicisation of appointment of judges for the dearth of courageous judges in the country, he said, “As you lay your bed, you lie on it. How are judges appointed? In the past there was no question of lobbying; you are invited to the Bench. But today, people lobby, use influence to become judges. The politicians lobby for people to be appointed as judges. Unless we go back to the roots and appoint men of honour as judges, the problem will persist. The ‘fear of the unknown’ also encouraged judges not to be upright in the discharge of their duties.”

Also speaking on the issue, Itsey Sagay said, “There are two main reasons. Most of these major cases involving persons are stalled because they are part of the establishment. It’s like protecting each other.

“Our judicial system permits preliminary objection. Instead of going to defend yourself, you can file an application that the court has no jurisdiction over the matter. And then the appeal on the preliminary objection is dragged until it gets to the Supreme Court.

“Remove the right to make a preliminary objection. If you have a case, go and defend yourself. And if it is not possible to remove the application for preliminary objection, then the court should be allowed to take the preliminary objection and the substantive case together. Either you remove it or you allow for both the preliminary objection and the substantive case together.”

Adekoya said, “I believe the difficulty in obtaining convictions or concluding the trials of high-profile corruption cases in Nigerian courts is a result of the weak criminal justice system in Nigeria. UK newspaper reports show the amount of time and resources spent on investigating the offences before the offenders are brought to trial. Documents, bank statements and banking records are meticulously cross-checked before trial in order to ensure that charges brought can be proved beyond reasonable doubt.

‘’It is this lack of supporting infrastructure within our criminal investigative units that make convictions difficult. Sufficient investigation is not done before the accused is brought to court for trial. Once remanded on bail, investigations continue and eventually die out, either due to lack of resources or lack of commitment. Our criminal investigators require training in current methods of investigating especially in areas such as electronic bank transfers etc. If the political will to stamp out corruption exists, the funds will be made available to acquire the needed training and, where necessary, equipment.”

But Izinyon said, ‘’I won’t say that everybody is wrong or castigate anyone or the system in the trial of these cases. The London courts did not decide these matters within the same day they were filed. Some have dragged for years also in their courts.

“The two criminal justice systems differ. Ours was modelled to guarantee fair hearing. You can’t deny a person who raise objection against some charges because you want the matter decided immediately. But that does not mean that one would rule out manipulation by either the defence counsel or the other in this type of cases. The prosecution can be ready while the defence may raise one thing or the other to allow the matter drag endlessly.”

For Wahab Shittu, “the Nigerian judiciary system is not working the way it should work. This is attributed to the delay in the judicial process and the corruption in the judiciary. This is not to say that the entire judiciary is corrupt but you cannot overrule that there is corruption in the judiciary.

“But you cannot blame the judges alone. I think all stakeholders including lawyers, police officers and others should also be blamed. I think everyone has a fair share. The idea is to strengthen the integrity of the process.”

G O K Ajayi said, “The rich can afford the service of a lawyer of high legal standing, mostly SANs, to whom the courts often give regard and preference. The senior lawyers often approach the court with different kinds of injunctions which are capable of stalling proceedings.

“Another factor is corruption. Our society generally gives preference to status, hence the reason we have political interference in cases involving the rich who, at one time or the other, had made contributions towards installing a candidate into one political office or the other.

However, as another election draws near, and handover date moves to May 2015, it’s expected that more ex-governors are likely going to swell the list of corrupt politicians whose cases would be on trial for allegedly looting their states.