HOW JUSTICE SYSTEM FRUSTATE GARTF WAR

THE exploitation of the Nigerian justice delivery system by the defence counsels of suspects being tried for graft is hampering the efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to bring such individuals to justice, the agency’s Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, has said.
Therefore, he called for the review of the extant laws and the reform of the justice delivery system to ensure speedy dispensation of graft cases in the country.
Lamorde told a sensitization workshop for members of staff of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Thursday in Abuja that defence lawyers exploit all loopholes to set their clients free, adding that such actions have clogged justice delivery over the years.
“When we take matters to court, the defence lawyers exploit all loopholes to get their clients out of the justice noose, the constitution which guarantees unfettered access to justice,” he said. “You have a politician we investigated while he was in office but because he enjoys immunity, we left him for eight years to run his course.
“The investigation started in 2003 but we could only institute a charge in 2007. As at then, the substantive matter had not been addressed. We were still at the preliminaries but he lost at the High Court, Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.

“Then he came back to the High Court and brought another preliminary objection,” relying on the law that, “at any stage, if you bring out the issue of jurisdiction, you have to set aside the substantive matter and deal with the issue of jurisdiction.”
Against this background, Lamorde, who was represented by the EFCC Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Osita Nwaja, applauded the National Conference for recommending that immunity clause be removed, stressing that if people do not have cover when committing crimes, the rate of corruption in the country would be reduced.
He further suggested: “You need partial immunity for certain offices, and for certain kinds of crime, so that you don’t shout at your neighbour and somebody takes you to court and you spend all your time on that case. It shouldn’t be a blanket removal of immunity because that would be abused, there should be qualified removal.”
Also speaking, the NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah, represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Jerry Ugwu, said the programme aimed at enlightening the commission’s staff to ensure that they deliver their services with integrity and avoid compromise.