Chairman Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay SAN has advocated “stiff punishment for counsel, particularly Senior Advocates, who have turned obstruction and frustration of proceedings on high-profile corruption cases into an art.”
Sagay said such punishment for SANs must include denial of right of appearance in such high profile and grand corruption cases.
Sagay said this on Wednesday at Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)’s latest media roundtable titled: Strategies and Approaches for the Successful Completion and Effective Prosecution of Abandoned and Unresolved High Profile Cases of Corruption in Nigeria. Combating Grand Corruption and Impunity in Nigeria. The roundtable held in Ikeja Lagos is organized in collaboration with TrustAfrica.
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Ogun State Mr. Olumide Ayeni who chaired the event said, “Any person who loves this society will welcome and attend events of this nature. It is a very important subject we are here to discuss, to find ways of addressing the cankerworm that has evaded our society.”
Mr Okoi Obolo- Obla, Special Assistant on Prosecution to President Muhammadu Buhari who represented the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami SAN said, “I admire what SERAP is doing. It is not Buhari’s work to fight corruption alone, it is all our fight. It is corruption that is fuelling this agitation by the different groups.”
Mr. G.K Latona Head of Legal, of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) representing EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu said, “We are not working at cross purposes with the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation; we are cooperating with them. We have a wide range of corruption cases in concert with state agencies. The Attorney General Office has the right to initiate new high-profile corruption cases and investigate it themselves without waiting for cases initiated by the EFCC. We are also working on best practices manuals for the prosecutors and investigators If you want a corrupt free society, we must all work towards it.”
Mr. Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud SAN President Nigerian Bar Association said “Lawyers should report to NBA anything they observe in court that is corrupt.”
