Chairman of the Presidential
Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Professor Itse Sagay had advised
those whose names appeared of the Federal Government’s looters list on what to
do.
According to Sagay, “If the
subject matter of the allegation feels defamed, he can sue; his right is there
to protect himself and get damages. So, the Federal Government has absolutely
not erred in law by releasing the list.”
Sagay, a professor of law, spoke
in a interview with Sun.
He said: “A trial means that a
person is being prosecuted and the case has to be proven beyond reasonable
doubt.
“And if that is done, there will
be conviction. So, that is not affected. Even if the Federal Government released
a certain list of looters, once they are charged to court the Federal
Government still has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the persons are
actually guilty of the offence.
“In this case, it does not apply
because the Federal Government was acting in obedience to a court order made by
Justice Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos. So, there is no breach there.
“And it is my view, and I’m
making it subject to superior views, that judges are not illiterates or laymen;
they are people that are learned in law too.
“So, even if something is
published about somebody, which is false, they shouldn’t be prejudiced; they
are supposed to be subjective and cool headed enough to look at the evidence
before them.
“They are not going to be carried
away by what is in the newspapers and say that because it’s in the newspapers,
somebody is guilty. I don’t expect a judge who is trained in law and is put in
a very responsible position to behave like that. So, I don’t see why the
publication should affect them in any way.”
On whether the government and the
opposition were not trivialising the issue of corruption in the polity with the
claims and counter claims between them following the release of the list, Sagay
said, “Well, the PDP people may turn it into a political thing.
“I expect that Nigerians are
intelligent enough to know the difference between black and white. If they see
any false names being listed just to act as counter attack, they will know.
“I mean I don’t really think
Nigerians are like marines who have been out of their country for ages; I don’t
know what is happening.
“They know the people who have
looted their assets; they know the people who have pauperised the country, who
have turned it into a wretched country without any funds or resources such that
the Federal Government is now struggling to reinstate it as a functioning
state.
“Nigerians know that; so, nobody
can becloud the atmosphere by just releasing names in revenge.”
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