Corruption trial: Presidency to hire senior lawyers

The Presidency plans to hire senior lawyers of high integrity to
lead prosecution of some corruption cases pending in courts.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and
Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement
Saturday.

This came a day after the Federal High Court dismissed all the
13 counts of money laundering and passport fraud filed by the
Federal Government against a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice
Sylvester Ngwuta, who was among the judicial officers whose houses
were raided by the operatives of the Department of State Services
in 2016. He was subsequently charged with various graft offences by
the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

But the vice president’s spokesman said the present
administration would not relent in the pursuit of corruption cases
as Nigerians expected those who had violated public trust to face
consequences.

He said many corruption cases pending in courts, arising from
the conduct of the past administration, would “hopefully benefit
from establishment of special courts for the speedy trial of
corruption and other criminal cases.”

Akande stated: “We have a number of lawyers, senior lawyers,
people with solid reputations, who have volunteered to assist in
prosecuting the cases and soon, the prosecuting agencies will be
assigning specific cases to them.”

He said in spite of the concerns about the delay in the pursuit
of some of the corruption cases, no one should underestimate the
government’s resolve to push all the cases to a logical
conclusion.

“To those who have asked what has happened to the several
instances of corruption that we have spoken about, we say wait and
see.

Sometimes, the wheels of justice may be slow, as it is often
said, but they grind exceedingly fine. Let Nigerians know that
justice will be served in the end, and the world will see it. We
have a president and a vice president who will not take no for an
answer on this matter,” he said.

Akande said Nigerians had not forgotten the severe damage
“caused the economy by the rampant abuse of public trust and grand
larceny that characterized the past administration.

“Those who are asking our people to simply forget the blatant
violation of public trust and the pillaging of the nation’s
commonwealth witnessed in the past, are saying wittingly or
otherwise that we should forget where the shoe actually pinched and
pretend as if the social raping of the nation never occurred.

“We have a situation where a former first lady came out openly
to claim over $171m found in her accounts and you think Nigerians
will simply overlook that. You have a situation where hundreds of
billions have been recovered including the discovery of $43M cash
in an apartment in Ikoyi, and you think Nigerians will simply
forget that?”

The Presidency plans to hire senior lawyers of high integrity to
lead prosecution of some corruption cases pending in
courts.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and
Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement
Saturday.

This came a day after the Federal High Court dismissed all the
13 counts of money laundering and passport fraud filed by the
Federal Government against a judge of the Supreme Court, Justice
Sylvester Ngwuta, who was among the judicial officers whose houses
were raided by the operatives of the Department of State Services
in 2016. He was subsequently charged with various graft offences by
the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

But the vice president’s spokesman said the present
administration would not relent in the pursuit of corruption cases
as Nigerians expected those who had violated public trust to face
consequences.

He said many corruption cases pending in courts, arising from
the conduct of the past administration, would “hopefully benefit
from establishment of special courts for the speedy trial of
corruption and other criminal cases.”

Akande stated: “We have a number of lawyers, senior lawyers,
people with solid reputations, who have volunteered to assist in
prosecuting the cases and soon, the prosecuting agencies will be
assigning specific cases to them.”

He said in spite of the concerns about the delay in the pursuit
of some of the corruption cases, no one should underestimate the
government’s resolve to push all the cases to a logical
conclusion.

“To those who have asked what has happened to the several
instances of corruption that we have spoken about, we say wait and
see.

Sometimes, the wheels of justice may be slow, as it is often
said, but they grind exceedingly fine. Let Nigerians know that
justice will be served in the end, and the world will see it. We
have a president and a vice president who will not take no for an
answer on this matter,” he said.

Akande said Nigerians had not forgotten the severe damage
“caused the economy by the rampant abuse of public trust and grand
larceny that characterized the past administration.

“Those who are asking our people to simply forget the blatant
violation of public trust and the pillaging of the nation’s
commonwealth witnessed in the past, are saying wittingly or
otherwise that we should forget where the shoe actually pinched and
pretend as if the social raping of the nation never occurred.

“We have a situation where a former first lady came out openly
to claim over $171m found in her accounts and you think Nigerians
will simply overlook that. You have a situation where hundreds of
billions have been recovered including the discovery of $43M cash
in an apartment in Ikoyi, and you think Nigerians will simply
forget that?”