Inside a crowded court room at Ikoyi, Lagos, a furious judge vented his anger at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for frustrating the trial of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. Justice Okechukwu Okeke, wondered why the commission would “deliberately act” to delay the trial of Adeyemi Ikuforiji after 13 months. The judge, who retired on May 18, adjourned the trial indefinitely. “Whenever the prosecution is ready to diligently handle their case, hearing notices will be issued,” Mr. Okeke said. The EFCC’s handling of the Lagos Speaker’s trial elicited concerns from analysts who question the federal government’s continued use of private lawyers to prosecute cases at the court. The use of private counsels gained its roots during the military era when the military rulers sought to buy private lawyers to their side by “throwing juicy briefs at them” according to Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos based lawyer. “It is inappropriate. It is tantamount to abuse of office,” Mr. Ogunye said. Delaying trial The trial of Mr. Ikuforiji began in March 2012; but a series of – and sometimes frivolous – adjournments dogged the trial. Last November, Godwin Obla, the lead prosecution counsel, forced the judge to adjourn twice after he failed to appear on the scheduled dates. One year after Mr. Ikuforiji’s trial, the prosecution had called just one witness. The judge, knowing that his retirement was at hand, fixed about 10 consecutive trial days, a move that saw Mr. Obla withdrawing from the case citing his commitment in other courts. The Department of Public Prosecution, DPP, of the Federal Ministry of Justice is saddled with, among other functions, public prosecution of accused persons in all court of competent jurisdiction. The department, headed by a director, is also expected to give legal advice to the Nigerian Police and other law enforcement agencies, ministries, and extra-ministerial departments. Mr. Ogunye said that the DPP is supposed to handle litigation cases of the federal government. “The practice (of using private lawyers) is, in itself, undermining the institutional capacity of the Federal Ministry of Justice who have offices with lawyers who are supposed to horn their skills,” he said. On February 22, Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos, compelled the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, to disclose the list of criminal prosecutions carried out by the Ministry of Justice through private lawyers. Chuks Nwachukwu, who represented the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, who sought the information at the court, said that the danger of the AGF’s practice of using private counsels is that the country loses public competence in the prosecution of crimes. “Our officers are sitting idle while prosecutions are being given to private legal practitioners,” said Mr. Nwachukwu. “And mind you, it is unconstitutional, it is immoral. Many lawyers do not understand…., they say it’s a brief, it’s Attorney General’s fiat. “But that is not Attorney General’s fiat according to the Common Law. It’s an abuse of that power which the Attorney General has under the Common Law to empower a private person to prosecute a crime on behalf of the public,” Mr. Nwachukwu said. Mr. Nwachukwu added that the power does not mean that the Attorney General is hiring a counsel to do his job. “The power is that the Attorney General is empowering a private person who otherwise has no locus in law to prosecute an offence which is deemed against the state and not against him as a private person; but he is interested in fighting a public cause,” said Mr. Nwachukwu. “So the Attorney General now lends him his name for him to be able to have the standing to prosecute that cause which he feels passionate about. So the expense of prosecution is borne by him. It’s not borne by the state. “But what they are doing now is the Attorney General hires counsel and pays him outrageous sums of money from the public purse for him to do the job that the public has hired the Attorney General to do. That is corruption,” Mr. Nwachukwu added.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:52:32 +0000