Are Nigerians been robbed of justice?

It was last week while receiving an American envoy that the chairperson of The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Madam Farida Waziri, confirmed to the generality of Nigerian public that the agency has decided to settle the undertaken prosecution of the former United State vice president Dick Cheney as a former executive official of Halliburton out of court, through the mechanism of a plea bargain that confers on the commission the reception of the total sum two hundred and fifty million dollars, in order to drop the subsisting criminal charges of solicitation, currying of influence and abetting in the offering and reception of bribes to the officials of the Nigerian Liquefied Gas Company, in the Bonny Island contractual undertaking of 1994-1995 period during the past Abatcha administration.

The other component of the plea agreement as obtained by the corruption fighting and prevention agency, was that all the individuals and personnel alleged to have participated in commission of the crime but that are of foreign descent, stand to benefit from the discontinuing of the prosecution process, thus foreign national citizens involved in the act of giving bribes to Nigerian government and company officials would not be prosecuted by the agency. However the local Nigerian accomplices to the commission of the alleged crime would still be prosecuted to the full limit of our laws, as such the grace of the plea bargain agreement did not seem to have been extended to the Nigerian citizens, thus the agreed pact between the Nigerian government officials and the United States of America diplomatic officials, sought and settled for a less embarrassing circumstantial situation to the governments of both countries, this position was later affirmed by the spokesperson of the commission Mr. Femi Babafemi.

The principal officials of this administration which included the president himself and more particularly the chairperson of the commission, had at different fora and occasions stated that there would be no sacred cows in the prosecution and execution of court judgements against persons accused of corruption and corruption related activities, thus it is with a lot of surprise that the latest release from the agency reached Nigerians, where the principal officials of the commission while gloating announced to the world the deal to excuse alleged offenders on the alter of payment of large sum of money, some Nigerians were even congratulating the agency for collecting millions of American dollars from the Halliburton officials, yet the agency was never set up as a funds collection outfit as the previous times it sought to sell seized assets, issues of financial impropriety were repeatedly raised against the leadership and other officials of the commission.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission came into existence during the time of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration, after undue and strenuous pressure from the international community, because the Nigerian nation was seen as a country that tolerated corruption and corruption related activities, thus the agency was expected to prosecute persons accused of partaking in activities relating to corruption and money laundering, however it is also within the purview and powers of the commission to serve as a deterrence organ, by preventing activities that could lead to the commission of the criminal act of corruption, thus settlement agreements that further creates the impression that Nigeria is comfortable with the act of corruption, does nothing to aid the general belief and principal reason for the setting up of the agency, more so as the international community would be left with the belief that our fight against corruption is a mere lip service, indeed an American advisor linked to the case was quoted as saying that it is better to pay the money than be subjected to our corrupt legal system, what an irony!

Countries all over the world pride themselves in granting the best deals to their citizens, in terms of necessary rights and even un-entitled privileges that are bestowed to its nationals, thus the present and subsisting plea agreement that sought to treat Nigerian and foreigners differently, has further established in the eyes of Nigerians and indeed the greater international community, that these nation perceives its citizens as lesser in importance than other foreign nationals, because the accused persons were treated differently by the interdiction agency which does nothing to prevent or even deter corruption acts, indeed this action would further cement the belief that the fighting of corruption in Nigeria is merely halfhearted, as even the case of those Nigerian citizens accused of corruption would simply die in the courts due to non diligent prosecution.

The impetus for the execution of a plea bargain agreement anywhere in the world is the aggregation of the balance of culpability of an alleged offender, thus the degree and weight of involvement is measured to determine the extent of perceived guilt, as to whether the alleged offender is guilty and the body of weight of evidence is against the position of the alleged offender, thus plea bargain agreements when applied rightly always serves the interest of justice, in terms of ensuring quick and efficient prosecution of crimes and the achievement of justice in a cost efficient basis to the tax payer. However when it is applied merely to subvert the cause of justice by introducing and tolerating favoritism, the plea bargain option generally loses credibility in the eyes of the public.