Buhari to forward bill to National Assembly to establish special anti-corruption courts

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has begun moves to establish special courts to try corruption-related cases as part of his government's efforts to fight graft in the country.

 

Elected to rid Nigeria of corruption and bring back sanity into public life, President Buhari has stepped up the pursuit of stolen funds since assuming office, with anti-corruption agencies prosecuting offenders. However, the scale of the corruption so enormous and the number of offenders so great, President Buhari is planning to establish special courts to deal with the matter.

 

Apparently, the president has concluded plans to submit a bill on the planned special anti-corruption courts to the National Assembly. In addition, President Buhari commenced the process of identifying fearless judges that would be saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting corrupt persons.

 

According to government sources, the presidency is planning to establish 37 special courts nationwide to try corruption in the Federal Capital Territory and the 36 states of the federation. One top operative of one of the anti-graft agencies, said that the federal government decided to set up the planned special courts because of the long delays by regular courts in deciding corruption-related cases.

 

He added:  “The President is being careful as he does not want people to do a wishy-washy job for him. Buhari is also pressing for the establishment of special courts to try corruption cases and he wants the courts to be established in Abuja and the 36 states of the federation so that they can fast-track such cases.”

 

Already, the federal government has contacted the National Judicial Council (NJC) to provide judges with impeccable reputation to preside over the planned courts. It is gathered that the NJC released the names of 100 judges from the 36 states of the federation to the leadership of the three major anti-corruption bodies after an internal selection process.

 

Judges were screened by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission and the Department of State Security on Tuesday. It was gathered that the focus of the exercise is to identify judges with a passion for the law and the constitution rather than deference to personalities.

 

Lagos lawyer Festus Keyamo, and the executive chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders Debo Adeniran, described the plan to create special courts to handle corruption cases as a welcome development. However, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joseph Nwobike, described the establishment of such courts as needless.