Corruption cancer and perpetual injunctions.

One thing that has been scientifically proved about corruption is that when the system is able to punish those involved in corrupt practices, the quantum decreases steadily. When there is immunity for engaging in corrupt practices however, the quantum and scale of corrupt acts grows astronomically. Since the height of Nuhu Ribadu’s successes in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), confidence returned fully to the practitioners of grand corruption in Nigeria.
Nigeria is today the only country in the civilised world where corrupt persons could get court injunctions stopping the prosecutorial agencies and the courts from investigating and prosecuting their corrupt acts.
For the anti-corruption struggle to gain its élan, it is imperative that the administration of justice is able to do its work and deliver justice to all.
President Buhari has established a panel of experts to advice him on the war against corruption. In developing their strategy for the President, they need to focus on a number of issues. The first is that our struggle against corruption has focused too narrowly on the corrupt officials rather than the corrupt system so the approach has to be broadened along the following lines. The prosecutorial system has become extremely corrupt and public officials simply bribe the prosecutors so that they do their jobs badly. When EFCC charges a corrupt official with 300 counts, its clear that the intention is to distract, divert and ensure the prosecution is pursuing the case along too many directions for a successful case to be made. When two or here counts with serious research and diligent work can send someone to jail, running around 300 counts is a diversionary tactics that must henceforth be tracked and punished. Nigeria has also been unable to carry out police reform that empowers the police stations and officers doing the job rather than concentrate all resources in the office of the Inspector General. Police prosecutors must have the necessary resources to carry out their work. It’s good that the police have just established the “Complaint Response Unit” to allow citizens report rogue police officers. I hope citizens take up the challenge.
Over the life of the Fourth Republic, corruption among judges has also become a real problem. The fact that corrupt public officials can bribe judges with hundreds of millions has created a new dynamic in which some of them succumb to the temptation. The sanction they face of being sacked after investigation by the National Judicial Council is simply not strong enough. Such judges must be prosecuted and sent to jail if guilty for others to get the message. Finally, the impunity of lawyers, especially Senior Advocates of Nigeria who facilitate corruption must also end. For the anti-corruption struggle to gain its élan, it is imperative that the administration of justice is able to do its work and deliver justice to all.