FG seals looters’ fate

 Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said yesterday that the Federal Government has raised a formidable team to prosecute corruption cases. This is even as he ruled out any plea bargaining by the accused persons.

On how stolen funds would be recovered, he said the government was not ready to make compromises on terror- ism and financial crimes.

Malami disclosed this while receiving the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners in his office.

The group was in the ministry over issues bordering on securing the freedom for the over 200 female students seized in 2014 in Borno State.

The AGF re-stated President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to bring corrupt officials that led to heightened insurgency to book.

“We have put in place a national prosecution team that comprises all stakeholders for the purposes of ensuring the success of what charge is presented before the courts.

“The committee will be saddled with the responsibility of preferring relevant charges and ensuring that charges are preferred in line with the dictates of the law without compromises,” Malami said.

He noted that corruption cases under past administrations were deliberately com- promised during investigation to enable criminals escape punishment.

Malami, however, assured that steps had been taken to audit such cases with a view to bringing the culprits to justice.

“It is not just about having a team that will be prosecuting, but ensuring that relevant audit is taken as it relates to previous prosecution to ensure that those that are found wanting are brought to book, and then the future of prosecution in this country is further enhanced by having in place an effective legal team that will involve legal drafters for efficient drafting of charges, efficient investigators that will ensure that adequate proof of evidence that will establish the required ingredients of an offence are put in place, and then competent prosecutors that will now ensure that the required proofs are presented before relevant courts for the purpose of establishing guilt,” he said.

On the issue of plea bargaining as raised by the convener of the group, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, the AGF expressed his opposition to the policy and pledged the government’s commitment not to compromise the fight against terrorism and financial crimes.

“I cannot imagine someone being responsible for monumental deaths of our citizens and then going scot-free arising from plea bargain as a policy. It has never been the policy of the government to make compromises on terrorism and financial crimes. It will never be tolerated by the Office of the AGF.”

He described the abduction of the school girls as “tormenting and psychologically traumatisisng” for the nation.

“It is tragic for a nation to have a budget meant for arms’ procurement for the protection of lives and property of the citizens, and end up not having the arms, but compromising the process of making adequate provisions for the protection of lives of its citizens,.

“The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated sufficient skill and commitment to the protection of lives and property with- in the shortest practicable time of coming into existence, it has recorded tremendous success including confronting Sambisa forest head-on with the hope of rescuing the Chibok girls.”

The minister re-assured the group of government’s commitment to secure the girls’ freedom from captivity.

Earlier, the group’s convener and former Minister of Education, Mrs. Ezekwesili told the AGF that the inefficient governance of the immediate past government was largely responsible for the tragedy of the Chibok girls

She recalled that since the advocacy for the Chibok girls began in April 2014, no concrete step was taken by the former Jonathan administration to secure the safe return of the girls.

“In the movement, we have over time realised that it is the failure of governance that resulted in the abduction of the Chibok girls and that corruption was the key obstacle to the rescue of the girls.

“To that effect, therefore, we believe that in recent times and the revelations that have followed, it is clear that there is a lot your office must do in order to establish a framework that assures Nigerians that every bad behaviour that took place and facilitated the abduction of the girls and every bad behaviour that impeded their immediate release must be fully prosecuted.

“The matter of disclosure of the Presidential Task Force report on the fact-finding mission into the veracity of the abduction is key and urgent.

“This will put paid to the saying by some people that the Chibok girls’ abduction is a scam. How can the tragedy of the Chibok girls be scam when the government under which it happened instituted an inquiry into it, and there are parents who are crying that their children are not yet back? Their children are still with terrorists and their fellow citizens dare to call their experience a scam. The government owes it a duty to the girls under captivity, their parents, to the community of Chibok, the movement and to all well-meaning Nigerians that the report be transparently disclosed in its entirety so we will know exactly what made it possible for our Chibok girls to have been abducted”, Ezekwesili said.