I have been wondering why the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) keeps warning lawyers and journalists as is being widely reported in the Nigerian Newspapers. It would seem that he would rather want an easy conviction or no trial at all for the accused. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
The role of a lawyer is to use every legal means to defend his or her client. Just this morning, I was discussing with my friend, about his experience as a junior with late Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, SAN, QC, of blessed memory, described by Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, as the ‘most able lawyer in black Africa . He told me that when Chief FRA Williams was defending Salisu Buhari (the former Speaker of the House of Representatives) he went to ask Chief FRA Williams why he chose to defend the man. Chief FRA Williams defended his decision by saying that a ‘man can not be convicted based on what is said about him in the newspapers’. Salisu Buhari was eventually impeached. But that is the culture at the Bar. A Barrister could even be in court and be given a dock brief, to defend an accused who is unknown to him or her.
Our laws are based on the Constitution. One of the fundamentals is that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Second, is that alleged criminals are allowed to be represented by Counsel and Counsel is legitimately allowed to be paid. Whilst Cops are paid to catch bad guys, the Lawyer is paid to free them or in some instances prosecute them and the Journalist is paid to tell the story. All sides are actors in the development of nationhood.
I heard Mr Ibrahim Magu, EFCC Chairman on Aljazeera saying that when EFCC begins an investigation the accused cannot escape. As a matter of fact, a prosecutor isn’t supposed to aim at getting a conviction at all cost. When information is available that supports the defence, the prosecutor is required to make this available to the defence. Well in the ideal world.
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People who steal Nigeria’s money have their conscience to deal with and if caught, may face jail term apart from the disgrace that comes with it. I am not sympathetic to this , these are actions taken of their own free will.
That said we have a greater and higher duty to preserve rule of law.
The story is told in Inferno about Dante and his guide Virgil, on their way to Hell, saw a crowd of dead souls outside the entrance to Hell. Virgil then explained to Dante that those souls were repugnant to God and Satan, because they didn’t choose a side. They were therefore worse than the greatest sinners in hell. They were left to wander below heaven but outside hell. Those individuals when alive remained neutral at a time of great moral decision. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy made this famous with the quote: ‘The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality’.
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It behooves on the leaders of the Bar and the Press to guard the constitutional freedoms jealously and remember that what goes around, comes around if anything at the least!! It is a question of who will bell the cat in these perilous times. It is a matter for horses, beggars and cats at the EFCC.
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