The light sentence handed to a director
in the Police Pensions Office, Mr. John Yusuf, by a Federal High Court
in Abuja is still the subject of what is gradually turning out to be a
nation-wide debate on the moral substance of the ruling.
Yusuf was convicted for defrauding the
Office of the sum of N27.2bn alongside six others, an offence punishable
under Section 309 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal
Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria, 2007. He was subsequently sentenced
to a two-year jail term.
Apparently worried that Yusuf, like a
few other public office holders convicted for graft before him, had
managed to negotiate this light sentence through the doctrine of plea
bargain, many Nigerians have wondered if the judiciary is actually deaf
to outcries against corruption and the present campaign to rid the
country of the evil.
The decision of the presiding judge,
Justice Abubakar Talba, in not responding positively to the plea of the
counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Rotimi
Jacobs, to sentence Yusuf as stipulated by law, has further weakened
public confidence in the ability of the judiciary to uphold the
principles of justice and fairness.
Among other examples, American
businessman, Bernard Madoff, is currently serving a 150-year jail term.
The former stockbroker, investment advisor and financier had pleaded
guilty to 11 federal felonies and admitted to turning his wealth
management business into a massive Ponzi scheme – which defrauded
thousands of investors of billions of dollars.
China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore
and Vietnam are a few examples of countries where brutal measures, as
officially prescribed by law, have helped to drastically reduce the
incidence of corruption.
In April, 2012, a Chinese court in
Beijing sentenced a prominent politician, Song Chenguang, to death with
two years reprieve for bribery.
Song was convicted for bribes worth the
equivalent of $2m (about N300m) between 1998 and 2010. A statement by
the Intermediate People’s Court of Tai’an city said that in exchange for
the money he had helped about 18 companies and individuals to gain
access to government contracts, projects, sales permission and
promotions.
The court had ruled that considering the
amount of money he received, Song must be severely punished. But the
two-year probation of the execution was granted after he confessed to
his crimes and was expelled from the CPC and removed from office.
In China, as with most other Asian
countries, corruption attracts a capital punishment. The reason may be
due to the fact that like Nigeria, China has lost billions of dollars in
public funds to corrupt government officials.
One of the cases of graft involved a
former chief executive of the Bank of China in Hong Kong, Liu Jinbao. He
was given a suspended death sentence for embezzling, solely or in
collaboration with others, more than $1.7m.
Such is the gravity of the offence in
that country that a statement published by the China’s Ministry of
Commerce says more than 4,000 officials have fled the country, taking
with them nearly $50 bn.
In November, 2012 the Chinese leadership
warned of a possible collapse of the state due to endemic corruption
and urged the ruling Communist Party, as well as patriotic Chinese to
rise up to the challenge.
Nigeria faces a similar situation unless
the country’s leaders stop paying lip service to the current fight
against this social cankerworm. The government must lead the way now by
providing an effective solution corruption. The people must be freed
from the cumulative yoke of corruption. The only way to do this, no
doubt, is to ensure that those who steal from the public treasury are
properly and severely dealt with.
Needless to add, endemic corruption
poses a grave danger to the continued existence and progress of the
country. With each passing day, it threatens to severe the fragile cord
that still binds what is left of this nation together. Corruption,
openly abetted by the glaring absence of an effective strategy from the
Federal Government to combat it, has reached a point at which nothing
short of drastic measures must be introduced to put an end to its menace
.
Obviously angered by the impunity with
which public office holders embezzled funds meant for the nation, the
Arewa Consultative Forum recently urged the National Assembly to
introduce the death penalty as punishment for graft. Although the call
had predictably ignited a controversy, the import was not lost on
genuinely concerned Nigerians.
The search for a most appropriate legal
solution to corruption may continue for a long time unless the
government takes a cue from some countries around the world and deal
squarely with it.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
Nigeria is Corruption incorporated. Even the judiciary that suppose to help out most of the judges are more corrupt than the police & EFCC that are mandated to prosecute offenders. Consider in ANAMBRA State where the Gov. Mr. Peter Obi have refused to conduct LGA Council elections, he receive and single handedly misappropriate the Funds acrued to this councils and nobody cares because GEJ is looking for support from the Governors, it's unfortunate and unacceptable to all. God will expose them one by one. Because our cry gets to Him daily.
ReplyDeleteThere is always a starting point. Please, revisit Cecilia Ibru,Bode George, Tafa Balogun among others. What has become of Bankole, Farouk and Otedola? - PH dude
ReplyDelete