• Says Counsels Collude With Accused
Persons To Frustrate Trials
• Urges Overhaul Of Judicial System
COUNSELS to former governors and other high-profile Nigerians in the case file of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have been accused of colluding with accused persons to frustrate trials.
In an exclusive chat with The Guardian, Director of Legal and Prosecution Unit of the anti-graft agency, Mr. Chile Okoroma, admitted that, although the EFCC, which was established 10 years ago to fight corruption and economic vices, had made resonating impacts and got a few high-profile convictions, there have been public grumblings as to why major cases are pending in courts without reasonable convictions.
Specifically, the director mentioned the cases against former governors Orji Uzor Kalu, Jolly Nyame, Joshua Dariye, Gbenga Daniel, among others, which he claimed are in court and that one or two have entered trial stage.
Said he: “The case against Jolly Nyame is going on in court now. It was commenced in 2007 and we’ve called about nine witnesses. That case had to go to the Supreme Court on a preliminary issue and it came back to the trial court for trial to commence.”
“That was because they raised the issue of jurisdiction of the trial court—the High Court of FCT to try the case, which is becoming a norm now. When charges are filed, the first thing — even when it’s obvious that the court has jurisdiction — is that the defence counsels want to use one issue or the other to make sure the cases are frustrated. The issue was raised that there was no jurisdiction and prime official case to warrant him to stand trial. So it was canvassed, but the High Court overruled and they went to the Court of Appeal. They lost at the Court of Appeal and they went to the Supreme Court and they lost. Eventually, the matter had to come to the High Court of FCT for the matter to commence.”
According to the EFCC lawyer, the case against Dariye, which started about the same time, is taking the same process.
“They are now at the Supreme Court on the same issue of jurisdiction and the charge of not declaring a prime official case against him to warrant him standing trial. They lost at the court of first instance, which is the High Court. They have lost at the Court of Appeal and they are now at the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the trial is put on hold. It’s after we finish at the Supreme Court that we can now go back to the matter. That is if they don’t use another matter again to delay it.
On Fayose, he explained: “Now, we had the case against Ayo Fayose, former governor of Ekiti State. That case was commenced in 2006. It started at the Federal High Court Lagos. They had called one or two witnesses after raising some preliminary issues and following the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Federal Republic of Nigeria against James Ibori, whose trial was started in Kaduna and later taken to Asaba. The counsel to Fayose then brought an application for the transfer of the case that the matter be brought to Ekiti State, because the crime was alleged to have been committed under the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Ekiti State.
“The case was transferred to Ekiti; of course, to start afresh. When we got to Ekiti, they brought an application again, challenging the charge that it does not disclose a prime official case against him.”
He added that Uzor Kalu just took his plea and “started the whole process and taking the matter to the Supreme Court on the same issue of jurisdiction.”
Okoroma was, however, optimistic that justice will be done in the end. He cited cases involving hitherto untouchable Nigerians like former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tafa Balogun, who was successfully prosecuted and punished, a feat for which the EFCC earned international respect.
“Even the international community has confidence in the EFCC. They write us from abroad; I mean, those who have been scammed through the Internet. I think we are succeeding. There are proceeds of crime, which have been recovered and repatriated to the victims.
“We have Alamieyesiegha case, a former chief executive convicted. They are just there for people to see and we are still working. It’s just that the impact we made when we started, those things we did resonated because of the circumstances we were in then, so that when we are doing the same things again, they don’t reverberate the way it used to.”
The lawyer called for an overhaul of the judicial system to enable the anti-graft agency successfully prosecute pending and new high-profile corruption cases in good time.
Source: Guardian
