The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Judiciary are to blame for the tepid fight against corruption, which is the biggest problem of the country, President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Okey Wali (SAN) has said.
He also said held judges responsible for the protracted delay that have accompanied frivolous applications and necessary adjournments of cases, saying the anti-corruption agencies are culpable for shoddy investigations that have made a mess of prosecutions and stalled many cases.
Wali, speaking on Tuesday in Abuja while fielding questions after the inauguration of NBA’s Disciplinary Committee, lamented the unsuccessful prosecution of numerous high-profile corruption cases littering the court since 2007. He admitted that lawyers filing frivolous applications also have a fault but wondered why the judges aren’t striking such out.
“If they do, what are the judges doing with those frivolous applications? They accommodated them instead of striking them out.” he said. “The quality of investigations by the anti-corruption agencies has also made speedy prosecution of the cases impossible, because these shoddy investigations continued to hamper prosecutions efforts.”
On the competence of the agencies to carry out thorough investigations, Wali noted that none of them has a forensic lab, handwriting experts and other facilities that facilitate accurate, reliable investigative findings.
He urged the Judiciary to report to NBA disciplinary committee lawyers engaging in unwholesome acts dragging the courts back.
A total of nine disciplinary committees, one each for the North Central, North East, North West, South-South, South East, South West, Abuja and two committees for Lagos State were inaugurated.
They are to investigate complaints of unethical behaviour by legal practitioners and make findings of a prima facie case or otherwise. There are presently about 50 pending complaints against lawyers awaiting the attention of the committee at the NBA National Secretariat Abuja.
