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BEING PATIENT IN THE CORRUPTION CHARGES AGAINST PATIENCE JONATHAN

Everyone agrees that the major bane to Nigeria’s development rests in the twin concepts of bribery and corruption, however we all disagree on the right method to adopt in a bid to curbing the menace. The rule of law which presupposes that everyone including Mr President should operate on the planks of the law is a fundamental principle of law as enunciated by jurists, hence if Patience Jonathan is found wanting, she should be appropriately prosecuted not in the media but in the court of law properly so called.

It is a fundamental principle of our law, which is also enshrined in the constitution that an accused person remains innocent until proven guilty. Thus it is lack of knowledge of the law on the side of government to prosecute offenders on the media without undertaking appropriate investigation into the matter. The major problem we face in this part of our world is that we lack the patience and pain it takes to carryout adequate investigation of a matter as far reaching  as a criminal offence before bringing it into the public domain, for instance James Ibori, the former Governor of Delta state was arrested, prosecuted and discharged in Nigeria because the EFCC refused to take their time to trace the funds appropriately hence the Commission was not able to gather enough evidence to sentence him, and of course the same man pleaded guilty when the charges were read against in a UK court because the evidence presented before him by the prosecutors were weighty.

Again, any reasonable man observing the events in Nigeria may not doubt the fact that the fight against corruption by this government is one sided, this is not a defence, but it is morally wrong to target a select group because it sends a wrong signal. I stand corrected but since the beginning of this administration no member of APC has been prosecuted over corruption allegation charges, in fact almost all the heavy weights in APC were formally in PDP and yet nothing have happened to them.

I think the present government is playing to the gallery in its methods of fighting corruption, one, it is an administrative incompetency not to properly investigate a matter before arresting a suspect or charging them to court. Every good lawyer knows that without evidence a case is as good as dead, hence EFCC should use their time, money and intelligence appropriately. More importantly, the best way to fight corruption is not to go after those in opposition because it is a natural principle of human existence that what goes around turns around. Rather the President can strengthen our institutions so that they can work effectively so that even after he must have left office, the fight against corruption will still continue. The only inference one can draw from the imbroglio that is going on in the fight against corruption is that when Mr. President completes’ his term of office Nigeria may return back to where it was.

UWAKWE ROLAND

PHOTO CREDIT:NAIJ.COM

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