Adoke: Control Of EFCC Is To Strengthen War On Corruption

Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, Attoney General of the Federation.

Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, former Attorney General of the Federation.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria on Monday at the Nigerian Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Reform Conference in Abuja explained the need for his office to exercise control over anti-corruption agencies in the country.

 

Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, Attoney General of the Federation.

According to the minister, the move by his office to exercise control over the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was necessary in order to strengthen the fight against corruption and protection of human rights.

 

Stated that the full weight of the law would be brought on any anti-graft agencies that went beyond their investigative and prosecution powers.

 

The minister noted the concerns of some well-meaning members of the society on the actions taken by his office some five months ago to make regulations to guide EFCC’s operations and assured Nigerians that the regulations which were made pursuant to section 43 of the EFCC Act, 2004 are meant to assist the EFCC to function properly and discharge its statutory mandate in line with the dictates of the constitution and rule of law.

 

According to him, “the regulations are not meant to stifle the work of the EFCC or make it a lame duck, but to ensure that due process is observed by all and sundry. In this regard, we shall not shy away from our constitutional responsibility and will not hesitate to bring the full weight of the law to bear on anyone that discharges his investigative and prosecutorial functions outside the confines of the law.”

 

After presenting his opening remarks,the Minister, on his way out, went to exchange pleasantries with the EFCC’s Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri and stated that EFCC remained a major partner in the war against corruption, economic crimes and money laundering and that his office would continue to extend the needed support to the agency to enable it fulfill its mandate.

 

He also stated that some lawyers had taken advantage of the prison decongestion programme to engage in unethical practices and said that a review of the programme by his office had shown that some lawyers collected part-payments to represent prison inmates only to abandon the cases.

 

In some cases, he said, lawyers have engaged in falsification of court documents or production of fake orders and judgments in order to claim money for work not done.

 

“We have compiled a list of those involved for possible blacklisting. A formal report of those involved in this unwholesome practice will be presented to the leadership of the NBA in due course,” the minister said.

 

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Declaring the conference open, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi called for the introduction of true federalism in the country.

 

He stated that before the criminal justice system can be reformed, there is an urgent need to reform the country.

 

He wants a situation where mineral resources found in each state would belong to that state and the state would only be expected to pay taxes to the federal government in the spirit of true federalism.

 

“Why should the Federal Government determine how much I pay workers working for the Rivers State Government and why should the National Judicial Council appoint a judge for the Rivers State High Court? the governor qeuried.

 

He maintained that there would be no Federal Government without the federating units and therefore asked that the federating units be made autonomous.

 

Amaechi insisted that the Federal Government had no business having a ministry of agriculture when it did not have the land to farm and called on the judiciary to interpret the constitution to strengthen federalism and not to concentrate powers in the hands of the Federal Government.

 

In his welcome address, the President of the NBA, Chief Joseph Daudu, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said that the fact that the conference was centred on reforms suggested that all was not well with the system in place or that the existing system had either collapsed or was hanging on a thread.

 

According to him, “this hypothesis is gaining ground because of the law and order crisis throughout the country. If it is not armed robbery it is kidnapping or house breaking. At the moment the country is grappling with new dimensions to crimes such as terrorism, militancy and riots.”

 

By Nnamdi Felix/ Abuja

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