Ozekhome rejects proposed Amnesty Bill for looters

Renowned constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Chief
Mike Ozekhome (SAN), on Friday, condemned the proposed Amnesty Bill
for treasury looters, rejecting the proposal in totality and
describing it as scandalous.

Ozekhome, while reacting to the proposal stated that the bill is
not only scandalous but also debasing.

“I totally, wholeheartedly and unambiguously reject with every
fibre in me, the proposed bill to give amnesty to treasury looters.
The bill is a most scandalous and debasing bill that is highly
retrogressive, immoral, obscene and counter productive. The bill is
simply dead on arrival; yes, as dead as dodo,” he said.

The senior advocate also disagreed with those who believe that
the proponents of the bill, in proposing it, were simply actuated
by malice, corruptible tendencies or with a view to protecting
themselves in or after office, adding that they were simply
encouraged by the clear and extant provisions of Section 270 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which allows for plea
bargain.

“The section clearly provides that the prosecution may enter
into a plea bargain with an accused person,either directly or
through his representative before the accused has entered his
defence through giving of evidence in court. A plea bargain allows
for the return of part or the whole of loot or proceeds of crime by
an accused person in exchange for a lesser punishment where the
prosecution’s case is weak or where the accused has cooperated with
the state and has agreed to make restitution for the victim of the
crime,etc.

“This is to avoid unnecessary expenses and waste of time,
resources and energy on the part of the state where securing
conviction of the accused person is not guaranteed by the evidence
available to the state. However, I am more inclined to agree with
those who believe that a wholesome embrace and enactment of such a
bill into a separate Act would amount to totally legalizing and
legitimizing corruption as a fundamental objective and directive
principle of state policy,in a most brazen manner,” he
explained.

Ozekhome stated further that this will be quite dangerous, not
only to the already battered image of the country but also runs
against the grain of preservation of national ethos, morals and
ethics as such a law would send the dangerous signal that
corruption indeed pays and that all that a corrupt public officer
needs to do is to shamelessly steal the country blind and then
quietly return part of the loot whilst he and his family relax and
enjoy the country’s treasury for the remaining part of their
wretched and miserable lives.

“Such a bill will undoubtedly ignite and encourage corruption,
barefaced stealing of public funds and daring larceny of our
collective national wealth and common patrimony in their naked
forms, he concluded.

Renowned constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Chief
Mike Ozekhome (SAN), on Friday, condemned the proposed Amnesty Bill
for treasury looters, rejecting the proposal in totality and
describing it as scandalous.

Ozekhome, while reacting to the proposal stated that the bill is
not only scandalous but also debasing.

“I totally, wholeheartedly and unambiguously reject with every
fibre in me, the proposed bill to give amnesty to treasury looters.
The bill is a most scandalous and debasing bill that is highly
retrogressive, immoral, obscene and counter productive. The bill is
simply dead on arrival; yes, as dead as dodo,” he said.

The senior advocate also disagreed with those who believe that
the proponents of the bill, in proposing it, were simply actuated
by malice, corruptible tendencies or with a view to protecting
themselves in or after office, adding that they were simply
encouraged by the clear and extant provisions of Section 270 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which allows for plea
bargain.

“The section clearly provides that the prosecution may enter
into a plea bargain with an accused person,either directly or
through his representative before the accused has entered his
defence through giving of evidence in court. A plea bargain allows
for the return of part or the whole of loot or proceeds of crime by
an accused person in exchange for a lesser punishment where the
prosecution’s case is weak or where the accused has cooperated with
the state and has agreed to make restitution for the victim of the
crime,etc.

“This is to avoid unnecessary expenses and waste of time,
resources and energy on the part of the state where securing
conviction of the accused person is not guaranteed by the evidence
available to the state. However, I am more inclined to agree with
those who believe that a wholesome embrace and enactment of such a
bill into a separate Act would amount to totally legalizing and
legitimizing corruption as a fundamental objective and directive
principle of state policy,in a most brazen manner,” he
explained.

Ozekhome stated further that this will be quite dangerous, not
only to the already battered image of the country but also runs
against the grain of preservation of national ethos, morals and
ethics as such a law would send the dangerous signal that
corruption indeed pays and that all that a corrupt public officer
needs to do is to shamelessly steal the country blind and then
quietly return part of the loot whilst he and his family relax and
enjoy the country’s treasury for the remaining part of their
wretched and miserable lives.

“Such a bill will undoubtedly ignite and encourage corruption,
barefaced stealing of public funds and daring larceny of our
collective national wealth and common patrimony in their naked
forms, he concluded.