QUERIOUS FIGHT CLUB TRIAL
The story behind the trial is interesting. Besides the red-herring, these shambolic probes are merely what Shakespeare describes as “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
How else can we explain a situation where a governor who is yet to account for two tranches of bail out and the refund from Paris Club claim to be a champion of the anti-corruption war?įor me, the Katsina graft war is like all others in the other states where incumbent governors are also up in arms against their predecessors with scant regard for fact and due process. Many more believe that the State Governors, without clear strategy only use the anti-graft “war” to cloak their incompetence, lack of preparedness for office and shift attention from their own corrupt practices.
QUERIOUS FIGHT CLUB CODE
It can be the only reason the fight against graft has suffered both in the courts and at the bar of public opinion in recent times.įor instance, many feel that had due diligence been carried out, the sting operations and cases of criminal prosecution carried out by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Department of State Service (DSS) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal in recent times against the former First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan former Minister of Niger Delta Godsday Orubebe senior advocate Mike Ozekhome and the duo of Justice Adeniyi Ademola and his wife would not have embarrassed the Nigerian government. This exposed the hiatus between fighting corruption and understanding due process in the fight against graft.įor many, what transpired in Katsina was symptomatic of the hasty manner investigation and prosecution are carried out in a manner that suggests persecution. It is, therefore, curious that the committee that sat only once, on June 1, came about the report submitted at mid-night on June 2 to Governor Bello Masari. However, without publicly appointing his replacement, the Katsina State Commission of Inquiry weekend submitted a report indicting those on trial along with Ibrahim Shema of pocketing N50.6bn belonging to the State government between and May 2015. Needless to say the court ordered that the judge should stand down for proceedings in Katsina. That position was sustained by the Court of Appeal in Kaduna on May 19, this year when the trial judges unequivocally said the fear of bias by those being probed led by the former Governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema was not misplaced. For them, calling on a particular judge, instead of asking the State Chief Judge to nominate someone was the beginning of travesty of justice.
When on February 19 last year, the Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari requested that his counterpart in Plateau State, Simon Lalong release a particular judge, Hon Justice Mohammed Ibrahim Sirajo, for an assignment to recover looted funds in Katsina, not a few of those indicted by various committees earlier set up smelt a rat. Witch-hunt is now being elevated into an art form. Yet, not a few well-meaning Nigerians have expressed concern that fifth columnists in his administration and at different levels across the country could be hiding under the anti-corruption war to serve their own selfish interests. “If we don’t kill corruption,” the President said, “corruption will kill the country.” In the early days of his administration, President Muhammadu Buhari hit the nail on the head about how serious a problem corruption had become.
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