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| EFCC operatives |
OLADIMEJI RAMON revisits some decade-old, nearly-forgotten, unresolved corruption cases involving some of Nigeria’s ex-governors and serving public office-holders
Courts in Nigeria are littered with unresolved high-profile corruption cases.
Such cases were initiated close to or over a decade ago, but till date there has neither been conviction nor acquittal of the defendants.
While some of them have only recently resurrected back into public consciousness, others appear to either be hanging in the balance or have been outright swept under the carpet.
Former Executive Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, said 55 high-profile persons were charged to courts across the country between 2003 and 2013 for alleged plundering of the nation’s treasury to the tune of over N1.35tn.
According to Owasanoye, among these 55 high-profile persons were 15 former state governors, who were responsible for the stealing of over N146.8bn.
However, till date, there is no record of any ex-governor charged with corruption, who has been convicted.
Rather, many of the corruption cases talked about by Owasanoye are still pending in courts, more than or nearly a decade since they were filed.
A number of the accused remain in active politics, contesting and winning elections or appointed to sensitive public offices.
Owasanoye, who reeled out these figures on December 9, 2015 during a one-day ‘Workshop on Sections 306 and 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015’, jointly organised by PACAC and the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies in Abuja, concluded that “systemic corruption and impunity are prevalent in Nigeria.”
His assertion conveniently finds justification in the case of a former governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani, who was in 2007 arraigned for alleged N5.3bn fraud, but whose trial got protracted and just fizzled out.
Nnamani’s case was last heard of on July 7, 2015, the day his co-defendants entered into a plea bargain with the Federal Government, forfeiting their assets.
But as for Nnamani himself, who is the principal defendant, nothing has again been heard, especially as Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who was hearing the case, has since been suspended by the National Judicial Council over corruption allegations.
But despite his undecided corruption case, Nnamani contested and wormed his way into the Senate to represent Enugu East Senatorial District between 2007 – when he completed his second term as governor – and 2011.
He again contested in the 2015 general elections but lost.
The President of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), said when high-profile corruption cases are unresolved, they only create a breeding ground for impunity in the society.
Like Nnamani like Turaki
It’s now 10 years since a former governor of Jigawa State, Saminu Turaki, was arraigned for an alleged fraud involving N36bn, but rather than make any headway, the case has been fraught with melodrama.
Turaki jumped bail in 2014, causing the court to issue a warrant for his arrest.
Although the EFCC declared him wanted, the ex-governor moved about freely in the country for three years until he was arrested at a book launch, which he attended in Abuja in July this year.
With his case pending in court, Turaki sat in the Senate as a lawmaker.
New species of citizens
The case of the incumbent Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, who was charged with alleged N1.3bn fraud in 2005, is peculiar.
The EFCC alleged that Fayose perpetrated the fraud during his first stint as Ekiti State governor between 2003 and 2006, when he was unlawfully removed from office for alleged impeachable offences.
But while the fraud case yet lasted, Fayose was re-elected Ekiti governor in 2014. And since a governor, by virtue of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution, Fayose’s trial before the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti has since been put in abeyance.
It’s 12 years after the charges were filed, the court has neither convicted nor acquitted Fayose.
And as it appeared that the status of the case was fading out of public memory, Fayose, according to the opposition All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, allegedly claimed that he had been freed by the court – a claim which the EFCC, through its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, was quick to puncture.
“The case is still in court,” Uwujaren told our correspondent on the telephone.
“It is in the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti. It’s just that the man is a serving governor, that’s what stopped his trial,” Uwujaren said.
On the likelihood of Fayose’s trial resuming upon the completion of his tenure next year, Uwujaren said, “If he doesn’t have immunity, why not?”
But Fayose has declared presidential ambition, and if he succeeds by 2019 he would be clothed with fresh immunity.
The Chairman of PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), described Fayose and his like as “a genre of Nigerians who are neither convicted nor acquitted, who are neither guilty nor innocent.”
“They remain suspended somewhere in new phase as a new species of citizens,” the professor of Law said.
Among this special breed of Nigerians are ex-governors of Gombe and Ogun states, Danjuma Goje and Gbenga Daniel, respectively.
Goje, like Daniel, was arraigned in 2011 by the EFCC.
Six years after, there is no clear end in view to their trial.
Sometime in October last year, the Federal High Court in Jos issued a bench warrant against Goje for failing to appear for his trial.
The last mention of his case was on November 22, 2017, when it was further adjourned till February next year.
As Daniel’s alleged N211.3m fraud case seems to be wiping off public memory, the ex-governor is in moves to assume the leadership position of the major opposition party in the country, the Peoples Democratic Party.
Blasts from the past
Some of the protracted corruption cases that had hitherto gathered dust, while navigating the labyrinth of the judiciary, were only recently removed off the shelf and dusted.
They are starting afresh after being bogged down for about a decade.
The alleged N4.7bn fraud case of a former governor of Oyo State, Chief Rashidi Ladoja, which began in 2008 but got bogged down for nine years, is one.
Another is that of a former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, who has been answering 34 charges of alleged diversion of N2.9bn since 2007.
Both ex-governors are currently attending trial before Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
With incessant objections, long cross-examinations by the defence counsel and long adjournments that often breach Section 396 of the ACJA 2015 that stipulates day-to-day trial or an adjournment not beyond 14 working days, the end of these cases may be far-fetched.
Meanwhile, while their cases remained undecided for nearly a decade, both ex-governors remained in active politics.
Ladoja had nursed the ambition of returning as Oyo State Governor while Kalu has attempted becoming the President.
In furtherance of their political ambitions, Kalu recently moved from the defeated PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress; while Ladoja returned to the PDP, which is being reorganised ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The case of Joshua Dariye, ex-governor of Plateau State, is just like those of Ladoja and Kalu.
Dariye, who served as governor of Plateau State between 1999 and 2007, was charged with an alleged fraud of N1.2bn in 2007.
It’s 10 years after, the court has yet to decide whether Dariye is innocent or guilty.
Meanwhile, while his fate remained undecided, on account of stay of proceedings which he obtained to delay the case for nine years, Dariye was elected into the Senate in 2011 where he completed one term and is currently serving a second.
He only returned to court early last year to face his trial, when the Supreme Court, after about a decade, dismissed the appeal, which he filed to challenge the competence of the charges.
The N1.6bn alleged fraud case of a former Governor of Taraba State, Jolly Nyame, also made the number, having remained undecided seven years after it started.
Odili’s perpetual injunction
The case of Peter Odili, governor of Rivers State between 1999 and 2007, is one of a kind.
The EFCC had in 2007 issued an interim report alleging N100bn fraud against Odili.
In response, Odili, through the then Rivers State Attorney General headed for court and obtained an order of perpetual injunction barring the EFCC from questioning him.
The perpetual injunction granted by Justice Ibrahim Buba, donning Odili with a toga of immunity, remains one of the most criticised court’s decisions in the country.
But in spite of widespread public opprobrium that trailed the injunction, the court’s decision subsists till date, as the appeal filed by the EFCC to challenge it, has yet to be listed for hearing by the Court of Appeal since 2008.
The acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, was quoted last year as lamenting the perpetual injunction, which, like a magic spell, had tied the hands of the anti-corruption agency for nine years.
The motivation for many politicians to delay their criminal cases is rooted in Section 107 (1)(d) of the Nigerian constitution, which bars a convict from contesting for election into the legislature within 10 years of his conviction.
Beyond politics
But the scope of unresolved high-profile corruption cases is not limited to politicians.
Other cases, including those of some erstwhile bank chiefs, who were cited for corruption about 2009, are also caught in this ill web
On February 14, 2017, the EFCC commenced afresh, for the fifth time, the trial of a former Managing Director of the defunct Bank PHB Plc, Francis Atuche, accused of N125bn banking fraud.
Atuche, who has been standing trial since 2009, was re-arraigned for the fifth time before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos on February 14.
With incessant objections by his lawyer, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), every step of the way in the criminal proceedings, coupled with long adjournments, Atuche’s trial may as well take a lifetime.
The second charge pressed against him by the EFCC returned to Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja this November, after travelling for six years to the Supreme Court.
Similar fate befell the cases of former MDs of the Finbank and Intercontinental Bank, Mr. Okey Nwosu and Dr. Erastus Akingbola, respectively.
The Supreme Court last year set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal quashing the charges against Nwosu and ordered that he submit himself for trial before Justice Okunnu.
Akingbola’s case is still on appeal before the Supreme Court, which has yet to give a date for hearing.
Last year, the ex-bank chief filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit, attempting to recover all his assets seized by the Federal Government since 2009.
But the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), begged Justice Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court in Lagos not to give Akingbola access to his assets.
Malami said the assets were listed as exhibits in the case filed against the ex-bank chief.
The AGF said releasing the assets to Akingbola would foist a fait accompli on the Federal Government should the Supreme Court okay his trial before the high court.
Out of the N1.35tn allegedly looted in the statistics given by Owasanoye, eight persons in the banking industry, including Akingbola, Atuche and Nwosu, are being questioned for N524.5bn fraud.
Nigeria’s poor corruption rating
In 2014, Nigeria took 136 spot on the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, which captured 174 most corrupt countries. This same position was retained by the country in 2015 and 2016.
But in spite of this preponderance of corrupt acts, conviction of the perpetrators has been scarce – a bold statement that the corrupt are never punished in Nigeria.
A new chapter in the trial of corruption cases in Nigeria opened in 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari took the reins of power.
The Buhari anti-corruption fight has been so widespread that areas hitherto considered untouchable were dared.
Nowadays, military chiefs, judges, senior lawyers, just like politicians, are facing corruption charges.
These new cases filed under Buhari have only now joined the scores of high-profile corruption cases filed by past administrations which till date remain unresolved.
The Director of Information, National Judicial Council, Mr. Soji Oye, disclosed, in a statement on Sunday, that the Corruption and Financial Crimes Cases Trials Monitoring Committee recently set up by the NJC a few weeks ago, had received a list containing a total of 2,306 corruption cases.
In response to a request by the AGF, the EFCC, in September, furnished the AGF with a list of 105 high-profile corruption cases which the commission was either prosecuting or still investigating.
Former governors, whose names featured on the corruption list, included Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Gabriel Suswam (Benue); James Ibori (Delta); Martin Elechi (Ebonyi); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Ikedi Ohakim (Imo); and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom).
Akpabio is not only currently in the Senate, he is also the Senate Minority Leader.
These cases on the EFCC’s list are different from those being handled by its sister anti-corruption agency – the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.
A July 2016 letter written by the AGF to the anti-graft agencies indicated that many high-profile corruption cases had been investigated some years ago but charges were never filed against those found to be culpable.
Competent sources in the AGF’s office disclosed last December that the government had so much high-profile corruption cases on its hands, that getting funds to hire lawyers to prosecute them had become a problem.
According to the sources, paucity of funds was constraining the Federal Government’s bid to initiate criminal proceedings in court, where investigation of a number of high-profile persons had been concluded.
There is likelihood that many of the corruption cases filed under the Buhari administration will outlive the government, no thanks, particularly, to judicial bottlenecks.
The President had inter alia declared that the judiciary was his headache in his quest to combat corruption.
Out of the legion of corruption cases initiated two and a half years ago when the Buhari administration came on board, not more than four have reached the judgment stage at the lower court.
In all the four cases, the defendants were all discharged.
The Code of Conduct Tribunal dismissed the Federal Government’s corruption charges against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
The CCT convicted a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, on a charge of false asset declaration but his conviction was set aside by the Court of Appeal.
The AGF office on its own withdrew the charges of N1.97bn fraud it instituted against the former minister before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
A former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Stephen Orosanye, who was charged with N190m fraud, was also freed by an FCT High Court.
Same was the case of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, his wife, Olubowale, and a Senior Advocate of Nigera, Joe Agi, who were charged with giving and receiving gratification.
How lawyers frustrate corruption cases
With the rate at which many of the cases under the Buhari’s anti-graft war are moving, majority of them will likely outlive the Buhari administration, lose steam, become forgotten and join the league of abandoned and unresolved high-profile corruption cases littering the courts.
Indeed, defence lawyers in many cases are employing dilatory tactics mainly to buy time and allow the Buhari era to pass.
Sadly, some judges are knowingly or inadvertently playing into the hands of such lawyers by acceding to constant requests for long adjournments, against the provision of the ACJA 2015, which was specifically designed to eliminate delay in trial of criminal cases.
The ACJA has been described as a revolutionary law and one of its radical provisions is its Section 306 which abolishes stay of proceedings in criminal cases.
Though the law does not stop any defendant from challenging the validity of the charges, its Section 221 forbids the judge in the lower court from delivering a ruling on such preliminary objection until the final judgment in the case.
Section 396 of the Act also provides for day-to-day hearing or an adjournment not beyond 14 working days.
But these legal provisions, specifically put in place to forestall a situation where corruption cases last for decades in court, are being observed more in breach by majority of the judges and lawyers involved in high-profile corruption cases.
The defence lawyers have also resorted to other dilatory tactics not pre-empted by the ACJA, including raising incessant objections to admissibility of documents and competence of prosecution witnesses to testify.
Another delay tactics being employed by defence lawyer is to wait till when the case has reached an advanced stage and then accuse the judge of bias with a request that the case be transferred to another judge where it will start afresh.
For example, the N22.8bn alleged fraud case of a former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu (retd.), which began in June 2016, has been bogged down on account of objections and endless adjournments.
Though the EFCC listed 40 witnesses in the case, more than one year after trial started, the anti-graft has hardly been able to call more than two.
The use of objection is particularly bad when there are many defendants and defence lawyers, as in Amosu’s case.
The lawyers take turns to severally raise objections anchored on one issue after another, causing the judge to write and deliver rulings on objections every step of the way.
The President laments
Buhari, whose major campaign promise was to rid the country of corruption, has continued to lament the snail’s pace of the corruption cases under his watch as time runs out on his administration.
“I am worried that the expectation of the public has yet to be met by the judiciary with regard to the removal of delay and the toleration of delay tactics by lawyers,” the President fumed last year July when he attended the opening ceremony of a workshop jointly organised in Abuja by PACAC, the National Judicial Institute, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
“So far, the corruption cases filed by government are not progressing as speedily as they should in spite of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015, especially because the courts allow some lawyers to frustrate the reforms introduced by the law. This certainly needs to change if we are to make success in our collective effort in the fight against corruption,” Buhari lamented.
All eyes on NJC
In the fight against corruption, the buck stops with the judiciary and unless the third arm of government buys into it, all efforts to emancipate the country from the shackles of corruption would be hopeless.
Hope may, however, be on the way as the National Judicial Council, seeming to have heard the President’s and Nigerians’ cries, few weeks ago, announced the introduction of certain drastic measures to curb excesses of lawyers and remove factors that cause delay in criminal trials.
As announced by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who is the Chairman of the NJC, on the occasion of the special court session heralding the 2017/2018 Legal Year, heads of various courts had been directed to dedicate certain courts solely to the hearing of corruption cases.
Justice Onnoghen said, “We, in the judiciary, are fully aware and in fact worried by concerns expressed by members of the public on the very slow speed with which corruption cases in particular are being heard or determined by our courts.
“Although the Administration of Criminal Justice Act contains many commendable provisions aimed at speeding up the process of criminal prosecution generally, it is clear that we still need to employ more strategies to support and strengthen this law in fast-tracking the criminal justice system.
“In this regard, we have directed all Heads of Courts to compile and forward to the National Judicial Council, comprehensive lists of all corruption and financial crime cases being handled by their various courts.
“They have been directed to designate, in their various jurisdictions, one or more courts, depending on the volume of such cases, as Special Courts solely for the purpose of hearing and speedily determining corruption and financial crime cases.
“Where such cases come on appeal, to either the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court, special dates on each week, shall be fixed solely for hearing and determining such appeals.”
Furthermore, the NJC announced the inauguration of an Anti-corruption Cases Trial Monitoring Committee to routinely visit such special courts, observe the conduct of judges and lawyers to determine if they are keying into and abiding by “our renewed efforts at ridding our country of the cankerworm.”
The CJN said it would no longer be business as usual for defence lawyers whose stock-in-trade is delaying corruption cases.
He said, “Any judicial officer found wanting would be dealt with decisively, and shown the way out swiftly.
“Members of the Bar are, therefore, enjoined to shun all tactics and ploys which constitute clogs in the seemingly slow-winding wheels of justice so that they do not come to a grinding halt.
“In this regard, we have just directed heads of courts to clamp down on both prosecution and defence counsel who indulge in the unethical practice of deploying delay tactics to stall criminal trials.
“Heads of courts are now to report such cases to the NJC, which, in turn, would transmit them to the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee, in the case of Senior Advocates, and Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee in the case of other legal practitioners.
“To further improve the administration of justice, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the Practice Directions as well as the Rules of Court should be complied with.
“I have also observed the practice by members of the Bar wherein a lead counsel appears before the courts in representation of a client with as many as a hundred and even more lawyers.
“We have issued a directive, which should extend to other courts, that lawyers appearing in the Supreme Court should not be more than five for each party, including the lead counsel in order to avoid waste of time and space in the courtroom.”
These deliberate initiatives have been widely applauded.
Sagay described them as “a leap forward in the anti-corruption war,” noting that, judicial hostility is fatal to the country’s anti-graft war.
It is hoped that the sincere implementation of these initiatives will mark the end of the road for the legion of unresolved high-profile corruption cases littering courts across the country.
It is hoped that these efforts would launch the country out of the dark era where the corrupt escape retribution and continue to dominate the nation’s political space with impunity.
In this article:
Courts in Nigeria are littered with unresolved high-profile corruption cases.
Such cases were initiated close to or over a decade ago, but till date there has neither been conviction nor acquittal of the defendants.
While some of them have only recently resurrected back into public consciousness, others appear to either be hanging in the balance or have been outright swept under the carpet.
Former Executive Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, said 55 high-profile persons were charged to courts across the country between 2003 and 2013 for alleged plundering of the nation’s treasury to the tune of over N1.35tn.
According to Owasanoye, among these 55 high-profile persons were 15 former state governors, who were responsible for the stealing of over N146.8bn.
However, till date, there is no record of any ex-governor charged with corruption, who has been convicted.
Rather, many of the corruption cases talked about by Owasanoye are still pending in courts, more than or nearly a decade since they were filed.
A number of the accused remain in active politics, contesting and winning elections or appointed to sensitive public offices.
Owasanoye, who reeled out these figures on December 9, 2015 during a one-day ‘Workshop on Sections 306 and 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015’, jointly organised by PACAC and the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies in Abuja, concluded that “systemic corruption and impunity are prevalent in Nigeria.”
His assertion conveniently finds justification in the case of a former governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani, who was in 2007 arraigned for alleged N5.3bn fraud, but whose trial got protracted and just fizzled out.
Nnamani’s case was last heard of on July 7, 2015, the day his co-defendants entered into a plea bargain with the Federal Government, forfeiting their assets.
But as for Nnamani himself, who is the principal defendant, nothing has again been heard, especially as Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who was hearing the case, has since been suspended by the National Judicial Council over corruption allegations.
But despite his undecided corruption case, Nnamani contested and wormed his way into the Senate to represent Enugu East Senatorial District between 2007 – when he completed his second term as governor – and 2011.
He again contested in the 2015 general elections but lost.
The President of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), said when high-profile corruption cases are unresolved, they only create a breeding ground for impunity in the society.
Like Nnamani like Turaki
It’s now 10 years since a former governor of Jigawa State, Saminu Turaki, was arraigned for an alleged fraud involving N36bn, but rather than make any headway, the case has been fraught with melodrama.
Turaki jumped bail in 2014, causing the court to issue a warrant for his arrest.
Although the EFCC declared him wanted, the ex-governor moved about freely in the country for three years until he was arrested at a book launch, which he attended in Abuja in July this year.
With his case pending in court, Turaki sat in the Senate as a lawmaker.
New species of citizens
The case of the incumbent Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, who was charged with alleged N1.3bn fraud in 2005, is peculiar.
The EFCC alleged that Fayose perpetrated the fraud during his first stint as Ekiti State governor between 2003 and 2006, when he was unlawfully removed from office for alleged impeachable offences.
But while the fraud case yet lasted, Fayose was re-elected Ekiti governor in 2014. And since a governor, by virtue of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution, Fayose’s trial before the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti has since been put in abeyance.
It’s 12 years after the charges were filed, the court has neither convicted nor acquitted Fayose.
And as it appeared that the status of the case was fading out of public memory, Fayose, according to the opposition All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, allegedly claimed that he had been freed by the court – a claim which the EFCC, through its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, was quick to puncture.
“The case is still in court,” Uwujaren told our correspondent on the telephone.
“It is in the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti. It’s just that the man is a serving governor, that’s what stopped his trial,” Uwujaren said.
On the likelihood of Fayose’s trial resuming upon the completion of his tenure next year, Uwujaren said, “If he doesn’t have immunity, why not?”
But Fayose has declared presidential ambition, and if he succeeds by 2019 he would be clothed with fresh immunity.
The Chairman of PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), described Fayose and his like as “a genre of Nigerians who are neither convicted nor acquitted, who are neither guilty nor innocent.”
“They remain suspended somewhere in new phase as a new species of citizens,” the professor of Law said.
Among this special breed of Nigerians are ex-governors of Gombe and Ogun states, Danjuma Goje and Gbenga Daniel, respectively.
Goje, like Daniel, was arraigned in 2011 by the EFCC.
Six years after, there is no clear end in view to their trial.
Sometime in October last year, the Federal High Court in Jos issued a bench warrant against Goje for failing to appear for his trial.
The last mention of his case was on November 22, 2017, when it was further adjourned till February next year.
As Daniel’s alleged N211.3m fraud case seems to be wiping off public memory, the ex-governor is in moves to assume the leadership position of the major opposition party in the country, the Peoples Democratic Party.
Blasts from the past
Some of the protracted corruption cases that had hitherto gathered dust, while navigating the labyrinth of the judiciary, were only recently removed off the shelf and dusted.
They are starting afresh after being bogged down for about a decade.
The alleged N4.7bn fraud case of a former governor of Oyo State, Chief Rashidi Ladoja, which began in 2008 but got bogged down for nine years, is one.
Another is that of a former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, who has been answering 34 charges of alleged diversion of N2.9bn since 2007.
Both ex-governors are currently attending trial before Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
With incessant objections, long cross-examinations by the defence counsel and long adjournments that often breach Section 396 of the ACJA 2015 that stipulates day-to-day trial or an adjournment not beyond 14 working days, the end of these cases may be far-fetched.
Meanwhile, while their cases remained undecided for nearly a decade, both ex-governors remained in active politics.
Ladoja had nursed the ambition of returning as Oyo State Governor while Kalu has attempted becoming the President.
In furtherance of their political ambitions, Kalu recently moved from the defeated PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress; while Ladoja returned to the PDP, which is being reorganised ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The case of Joshua Dariye, ex-governor of Plateau State, is just like those of Ladoja and Kalu.
Dariye, who served as governor of Plateau State between 1999 and 2007, was charged with an alleged fraud of N1.2bn in 2007.
It’s 10 years after, the court has yet to decide whether Dariye is innocent or guilty.
Meanwhile, while his fate remained undecided, on account of stay of proceedings which he obtained to delay the case for nine years, Dariye was elected into the Senate in 2011 where he completed one term and is currently serving a second.
He only returned to court early last year to face his trial, when the Supreme Court, after about a decade, dismissed the appeal, which he filed to challenge the competence of the charges.
The N1.6bn alleged fraud case of a former Governor of Taraba State, Jolly Nyame, also made the number, having remained undecided seven years after it started.
Odili’s perpetual injunction
The case of Peter Odili, governor of Rivers State between 1999 and 2007, is one of a kind.
The EFCC had in 2007 issued an interim report alleging N100bn fraud against Odili.
In response, Odili, through the then Rivers State Attorney General headed for court and obtained an order of perpetual injunction barring the EFCC from questioning him.
The perpetual injunction granted by Justice Ibrahim Buba, donning Odili with a toga of immunity, remains one of the most criticised court’s decisions in the country.
But in spite of widespread public opprobrium that trailed the injunction, the court’s decision subsists till date, as the appeal filed by the EFCC to challenge it, has yet to be listed for hearing by the Court of Appeal since 2008.
The acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, was quoted last year as lamenting the perpetual injunction, which, like a magic spell, had tied the hands of the anti-corruption agency for nine years.
The motivation for many politicians to delay their criminal cases is rooted in Section 107 (1)(d) of the Nigerian constitution, which bars a convict from contesting for election into the legislature within 10 years of his conviction.
Beyond politics
But the scope of unresolved high-profile corruption cases is not limited to politicians.
Other cases, including those of some erstwhile bank chiefs, who were cited for corruption about 2009, are also caught in this ill web
On February 14, 2017, the EFCC commenced afresh, for the fifth time, the trial of a former Managing Director of the defunct Bank PHB Plc, Francis Atuche, accused of N125bn banking fraud.
Atuche, who has been standing trial since 2009, was re-arraigned for the fifth time before Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos on February 14.
With incessant objections by his lawyer, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), every step of the way in the criminal proceedings, coupled with long adjournments, Atuche’s trial may as well take a lifetime.
The second charge pressed against him by the EFCC returned to Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja this November, after travelling for six years to the Supreme Court.
Similar fate befell the cases of former MDs of the Finbank and Intercontinental Bank, Mr. Okey Nwosu and Dr. Erastus Akingbola, respectively.
The Supreme Court last year set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal quashing the charges against Nwosu and ordered that he submit himself for trial before Justice Okunnu.
Akingbola’s case is still on appeal before the Supreme Court, which has yet to give a date for hearing.
Last year, the ex-bank chief filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit, attempting to recover all his assets seized by the Federal Government since 2009.
But the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), begged Justice Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court in Lagos not to give Akingbola access to his assets.
Malami said the assets were listed as exhibits in the case filed against the ex-bank chief.
The AGF said releasing the assets to Akingbola would foist a fait accompli on the Federal Government should the Supreme Court okay his trial before the high court.
Out of the N1.35tn allegedly looted in the statistics given by Owasanoye, eight persons in the banking industry, including Akingbola, Atuche and Nwosu, are being questioned for N524.5bn fraud.
Nigeria’s poor corruption rating
In 2014, Nigeria took 136 spot on the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, which captured 174 most corrupt countries. This same position was retained by the country in 2015 and 2016.
But in spite of this preponderance of corrupt acts, conviction of the perpetrators has been scarce – a bold statement that the corrupt are never punished in Nigeria.
A new chapter in the trial of corruption cases in Nigeria opened in 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari took the reins of power.
The Buhari anti-corruption fight has been so widespread that areas hitherto considered untouchable were dared.
Nowadays, military chiefs, judges, senior lawyers, just like politicians, are facing corruption charges.
These new cases filed under Buhari have only now joined the scores of high-profile corruption cases filed by past administrations which till date remain unresolved.
The Director of Information, National Judicial Council, Mr. Soji Oye, disclosed, in a statement on Sunday, that the Corruption and Financial Crimes Cases Trials Monitoring Committee recently set up by the NJC a few weeks ago, had received a list containing a total of 2,306 corruption cases.
In response to a request by the AGF, the EFCC, in September, furnished the AGF with a list of 105 high-profile corruption cases which the commission was either prosecuting or still investigating.
Former governors, whose names featured on the corruption list, included Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno); Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Gabriel Suswam (Benue); James Ibori (Delta); Martin Elechi (Ebonyi); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Ikedi Ohakim (Imo); and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom).
Akpabio is not only currently in the Senate, he is also the Senate Minority Leader.
These cases on the EFCC’s list are different from those being handled by its sister anti-corruption agency – the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.
A July 2016 letter written by the AGF to the anti-graft agencies indicated that many high-profile corruption cases had been investigated some years ago but charges were never filed against those found to be culpable.
Competent sources in the AGF’s office disclosed last December that the government had so much high-profile corruption cases on its hands, that getting funds to hire lawyers to prosecute them had become a problem.
According to the sources, paucity of funds was constraining the Federal Government’s bid to initiate criminal proceedings in court, where investigation of a number of high-profile persons had been concluded.
There is likelihood that many of the corruption cases filed under the Buhari administration will outlive the government, no thanks, particularly, to judicial bottlenecks.
The President had inter alia declared that the judiciary was his headache in his quest to combat corruption.
Out of the legion of corruption cases initiated two and a half years ago when the Buhari administration came on board, not more than four have reached the judgment stage at the lower court.
In all the four cases, the defendants were all discharged.
The Code of Conduct Tribunal dismissed the Federal Government’s corruption charges against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
The CCT convicted a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, on a charge of false asset declaration but his conviction was set aside by the Court of Appeal.
The AGF office on its own withdrew the charges of N1.97bn fraud it instituted against the former minister before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
A former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Stephen Orosanye, who was charged with N190m fraud, was also freed by an FCT High Court.
Same was the case of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, his wife, Olubowale, and a Senior Advocate of Nigera, Joe Agi, who were charged with giving and receiving gratification.
How lawyers frustrate corruption cases
With the rate at which many of the cases under the Buhari’s anti-graft war are moving, majority of them will likely outlive the Buhari administration, lose steam, become forgotten and join the league of abandoned and unresolved high-profile corruption cases littering the courts.
Indeed, defence lawyers in many cases are employing dilatory tactics mainly to buy time and allow the Buhari era to pass.
Sadly, some judges are knowingly or inadvertently playing into the hands of such lawyers by acceding to constant requests for long adjournments, against the provision of the ACJA 2015, which was specifically designed to eliminate delay in trial of criminal cases.
The ACJA has been described as a revolutionary law and one of its radical provisions is its Section 306 which abolishes stay of proceedings in criminal cases.
Though the law does not stop any defendant from challenging the validity of the charges, its Section 221 forbids the judge in the lower court from delivering a ruling on such preliminary objection until the final judgment in the case.
Section 396 of the Act also provides for day-to-day hearing or an adjournment not beyond 14 working days.
But these legal provisions, specifically put in place to forestall a situation where corruption cases last for decades in court, are being observed more in breach by majority of the judges and lawyers involved in high-profile corruption cases.
The defence lawyers have also resorted to other dilatory tactics not pre-empted by the ACJA, including raising incessant objections to admissibility of documents and competence of prosecution witnesses to testify.
Another delay tactics being employed by defence lawyer is to wait till when the case has reached an advanced stage and then accuse the judge of bias with a request that the case be transferred to another judge where it will start afresh.
For example, the N22.8bn alleged fraud case of a former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu (retd.), which began in June 2016, has been bogged down on account of objections and endless adjournments.
Though the EFCC listed 40 witnesses in the case, more than one year after trial started, the anti-graft has hardly been able to call more than two.
The use of objection is particularly bad when there are many defendants and defence lawyers, as in Amosu’s case.
The lawyers take turns to severally raise objections anchored on one issue after another, causing the judge to write and deliver rulings on objections every step of the way.
The President laments
Buhari, whose major campaign promise was to rid the country of corruption, has continued to lament the snail’s pace of the corruption cases under his watch as time runs out on his administration.
“I am worried that the expectation of the public has yet to be met by the judiciary with regard to the removal of delay and the toleration of delay tactics by lawyers,” the President fumed last year July when he attended the opening ceremony of a workshop jointly organised in Abuja by PACAC, the National Judicial Institute, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
“So far, the corruption cases filed by government are not progressing as speedily as they should in spite of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015, especially because the courts allow some lawyers to frustrate the reforms introduced by the law. This certainly needs to change if we are to make success in our collective effort in the fight against corruption,” Buhari lamented.
All eyes on NJC
In the fight against corruption, the buck stops with the judiciary and unless the third arm of government buys into it, all efforts to emancipate the country from the shackles of corruption would be hopeless.
Hope may, however, be on the way as the National Judicial Council, seeming to have heard the President’s and Nigerians’ cries, few weeks ago, announced the introduction of certain drastic measures to curb excesses of lawyers and remove factors that cause delay in criminal trials.
As announced by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who is the Chairman of the NJC, on the occasion of the special court session heralding the 2017/2018 Legal Year, heads of various courts had been directed to dedicate certain courts solely to the hearing of corruption cases.
Justice Onnoghen said, “We, in the judiciary, are fully aware and in fact worried by concerns expressed by members of the public on the very slow speed with which corruption cases in particular are being heard or determined by our courts.
“Although the Administration of Criminal Justice Act contains many commendable provisions aimed at speeding up the process of criminal prosecution generally, it is clear that we still need to employ more strategies to support and strengthen this law in fast-tracking the criminal justice system.
“In this regard, we have directed all Heads of Courts to compile and forward to the National Judicial Council, comprehensive lists of all corruption and financial crime cases being handled by their various courts.
“They have been directed to designate, in their various jurisdictions, one or more courts, depending on the volume of such cases, as Special Courts solely for the purpose of hearing and speedily determining corruption and financial crime cases.
“Where such cases come on appeal, to either the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court, special dates on each week, shall be fixed solely for hearing and determining such appeals.”
Furthermore, the NJC announced the inauguration of an Anti-corruption Cases Trial Monitoring Committee to routinely visit such special courts, observe the conduct of judges and lawyers to determine if they are keying into and abiding by “our renewed efforts at ridding our country of the cankerworm.”
The CJN said it would no longer be business as usual for defence lawyers whose stock-in-trade is delaying corruption cases.
He said, “Any judicial officer found wanting would be dealt with decisively, and shown the way out swiftly.
“Members of the Bar are, therefore, enjoined to shun all tactics and ploys which constitute clogs in the seemingly slow-winding wheels of justice so that they do not come to a grinding halt.
“In this regard, we have just directed heads of courts to clamp down on both prosecution and defence counsel who indulge in the unethical practice of deploying delay tactics to stall criminal trials.
“Heads of courts are now to report such cases to the NJC, which, in turn, would transmit them to the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee, in the case of Senior Advocates, and Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee in the case of other legal practitioners.
“To further improve the administration of justice, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the Practice Directions as well as the Rules of Court should be complied with.
“I have also observed the practice by members of the Bar wherein a lead counsel appears before the courts in representation of a client with as many as a hundred and even more lawyers.
“We have issued a directive, which should extend to other courts, that lawyers appearing in the Supreme Court should not be more than five for each party, including the lead counsel in order to avoid waste of time and space in the courtroom.”
These deliberate initiatives have been widely applauded.
Sagay described them as “a leap forward in the anti-corruption war,” noting that, judicial hostility is fatal to the country’s anti-graft war.
It is hoped that the sincere implementation of these initiatives will mark the end of the road for the legion of unresolved high-profile corruption cases littering courts across the country.
It is hoped that these efforts would launch the country out of the dark era where the corrupt escape retribution and continue to dominate the nation’s political space with impunity.
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