Buhari searching for fearless’ judges to try corrupt leaders

Firstclass newsline gathered that President Muhammadu Buhari has begun
the process of identifying a few fearless and courageous judges who
will be saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting persons who
have been found to have stolen national resources.
Buhari had while granting audience to members of the National Peace
Committee led by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar in the Presidential Villa,
Abuja on Tuesday disclosed that the prosecution of the indicted
persons would commence in a matter of weeks.
"Those who have stolen the national wealth will be in court in a
matter of weeks and Nigerians will know those who have short-changed
them," the President had told his guests.
The source however learnt on Sunday that the prosecution would not be
open to "just any judge."
Firstclass newsline gathered that the President was committed to
ensuring that only judges who would expedite action on the cases and
would be fearless in discharging their duties would be enlisted for
the prosecution.
A source confided in a source that that was one of the assignments
Buhari gave to the Prof. Itse Sagay-led Presidential Advisory
Committee Against Corruption which he set up on Monday.
The source said it would not be necessary to set up special courts to
try corruption cases since efforts were already underway to identify
judges that would key into the President's dream of ensuring that no
looter was left unpunished.
He said, "We do not need to entertain any fear that the prosecution of
corruption-related cases will not be fast enough because many of our
courts are already weighed down by many cases.
"The truth of the matter is that not all judges will be considered to
take up the cases of those who have stolen our commonwealth.
"As a matter of fact, one of the assignments the President gave the
Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption led by Prof. Sagay
is to identify fearless and courageous judges that will handle the
cases.
"The idea is to ensure that the judges who will handle the cases will
not be just any judges. They must be those who will expedite actions
on the cases and discharge their duties with courage.
"You can see that with this development, the issue of special courts
for corruption cases may not come. It is about special judges."
Firstclass newsline also learnt that Buhari was already considering
withdrawing national honours from any individual found to have looted
the nation's treasury.
Firstclass newsline learnt that the President's position was that the
nation should not be seen to be honouring any fruadulent person.
"The President will not hesitate to strip any corrupt person of
national honour. Can you honour a person for milking the nation dry?
It is irrelevant how long such persons have been bestowed with the
national honours, they will be stripped of them," the source said.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said it was reasonable that anybody found
to be corrupt should be stripped of national honours.
Adesina however said such withdrawal of national honours would not be
done until affected persons had been convicted by competent courts.
"Although it has not been considered, it is reasonable that those
found guilty of corruption should be stripped of national honours
bestowed on them. However, this will not be done before conviction,"
the presidential spokesman said.
While announcing the establishment of the Presidential Advisory
Committee Against Corruption on Monday, Adesina had said its brief was
to advise the present administration on the prosecution of the war
against corruption and the implementation of required reforms in
Nigeria's criminal justice system.
He said the committee was also saddled with the responsibility of
developing comprehensive interventions for achieving the recommended
reforms.
Firstclassnewsline.net