The activist said the NBA
had been making attempts to weaken the EFCC for the past 10 years.
The human rights activist,
Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), says the Nigerian Bar Association has become notorious
for frustrating Nigeria’s anti-corruption war.
Falana specifically accused
the NBA of frustrating the case of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
against convicted ex-Delta Governor, Mr. James Ibori.
The senior advocate said
this in a write-up titled, ‘The Fight Against Anti-Corruption Agencies by the
NBA’ on Sunday while reacting to calls by the NBA that the EFCC should be
stripped of its prosecutorial powers.
Falana said, “The NBA
leadership accused the EFCC of acting ultra vires by usurping the powers of the
Attorney General in collaborating with the Metropolitan Police in the
investigation of Chief James Ibori, ex-governor of Delta State.
“When Chief Ibori was eventually
charged with money laundering by the EFCC at the Federal High court, Awokulehin
J. (as he then was) upheld the preliminary objections of the defence team led
by Messrs J. B. Daudu SAN, and Austin Aleghe, SAN, and struck out the 170
charges.
“Even though he was given a
clean bill of health by the Federal High Court, Chief Ibori was later convicted
and jailed by a British court on the basis of the same evidence.
“Despite the fact that the
handling of the case exposed the Nigerian judiciary to gargantuan
embarrassment, the NBA never challenged senior lawyers who have continued to
frustrate the prosecution of corruption cases through frivolous objections,
interlocutory appeals and stay of appeals as well as orders of interlocutory or
perpetual injunctions in favour of treasury looters.”
Falana said he was not
surprised that the new NBA President, Abubakar Mahmoud, called for the
stripping of the EFCC power to prosecute.
He said former NBA
Presidents including Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) had all done the same in the past but
failed.
While citing several cases,
Falana said the EFCC had the power to prosecute criminal cases without recourse
to the AGF.
He, however, warned the
AGF, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), not to allow himself to be misled by the NBA,
which he (Falana) noted had not shown support for the anti-graft war.
“The renewed campaign
against the EFCC is not unconnected with its temerity to charge some senior
counsel to court for corrupt practices. In a demonstration of solidarity, the
NBA has mobilised scores of lawyers to defend the accused persons,” he said.
The senior advocate slammed
the NBA for its opposition to the recent report released by the National Human
Rights Commission which listed the names of alleged electoral offenders.
“It is rather unfortunate
that the NBA has suddenly become the defender of electoral offenders when the
reports compiled by its own election monitoring team had confirmed the
violations of the Electoral Act 2010 by political thugs and other enemies of
democracy in several parts of the country,” he said.
Falana said he would defend
the NHRC free of charge if the need arose.
corrupt world
ReplyDelete