Balarabe, Durojaye, Tsav tackle Onaiyekan for begging for Presidential pardon to looters

There is no reprieve yet for corrupt past leaders who served in the last administration but have returned their looted funds. The aggregate opinion of leaders of thought is that they should be made to face the music.
Their hope of getting pardon went further down, as many prominent Nigerians kicked against the plea by the Catholic Bishop of Abuja Arch Diocese, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, for presidential pardon for those who have returned their funds looted from the Federal Government’s coffers. Onaiyekan’s plea is coming on the heels of President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent declaration at the last media chat that those who had returned their looted funds would not be al¬lowed to go scot-free.
In a sharp opposition to Onai¬yekan’s call for leniency, many concerned stakeholders who spoke with Sunday Sun insisted that the due process of the law should be allowed to take its course. In their opinion, heavy sanction should be imposed on those found to be guilty of steal¬ing public money to serve as deterrent to others. On the other hand, however, there are a few people who believe that the Presi¬dent could use his prerogative of mercy to pardon those who have voluntarily returned their loots in view of their admission of quilt.
Among prominent leaders of thought who reacted to the devel¬opment were: a former governor of the Old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Senator Olabiyi Durojaye, Abubakar Tsav and Yusuf Ali (SAN). This is what they have to say:
Balarabe Musa
The President should not pardon the looters. The matter should go to court. Let the court decide. If it goes to court, the court can decide to be lenient on any individual who have returned the loots. The President can recommend in one way or another for lenient treatment. Since the President will be represented in court by the Attorney-General of the Federation or somebody ap¬pointed by him, he can ask the court for leniency in view of the fact that these people admitted their faults. And, of course, the court can always give that leniency, if the accused admits quilt. But it is not for Mr. President to pardon anybody under the present circumstance because he doesn’t know who, if pardoned, will not destroy the case. So, he should send them to court for due process of trial. Before judgment, he can appeal to the court for leniency in view of admission and plea for leniency. The constitution provides that AGF can discontinue or withdraw from any criminal case before judgment. Even at that, the President should not use that prerogative because of the possibility of the process being abused under the circum-stance Nigeria has found itself.
Senator Olabiyi Durojaye
Let our revered Cardinal intercede for those who have refunded stolen money; perhaps, God will forgive them. But the clergy or anyone for that matter should not persuade Mr. President to deviate from the laid down rules of the law. Laid down rule of the law does not say once you return stolen goods, you are no longer a thief. There is nothing like that in the law. The law must take its course. What people should note is that the looting of the treasury by people put in positions of trust to serve the nation is an offence not only against the government that is in power now or at the time they looted, but against the whole nation and against God. A good many people have died of hunger in a country that literally flows with milk and honey because of the looting of our treasury. Not only that, many young people, male and female, have been lured into criminality out of frustration of having no job because money that should have been made available to develop the economy have been diverted into the private pockets of some selfish people who often transfer those funds abroad to create employment for other people’s children to suffer our own children. When it comes to kindness, I believe I stand among those who are kind by nature. But for the purpose of those who have stolen and refunded their loots, not only must they refund, interest should also be calculated and charged on what they returned and they should be charged to court. And if found guilty, they should be penalized heavily to serve as a deterrent to others. Why I will not ask for execution for them, there should be no leniency by way of pardon. They should refund, pay interest and forfeit their properties to the government and then sentenced to long prison terms. We must put Nigeria right.
Yusuf Ali SAN
If there is a provision in our law that we can pardon those who kill others, why can’t we pardon people who stole money and returned the money? There is nothing sacrosanct about it; after all, forgiving is divine. So, I don’t see anything unusual about it. That is the whole essence of plea bargaining. What is important to me as a person and important to most Nigerians is to see that this money is recovered. If people go to jail for 150 years, if the money is stocked, we are not going to gain anything from it.
So, we must get our priorities right. What will deter people is not just sending looters to jail. Since the time we have been killing armed robbers, have they stopped robbing? Most people who go to jail as house breakers come out as armed robbers. Our prison is not reforming people, it is rather complicating issues. I think, honestly, if the government thinks those who have shown remorse and returned our money should be pardoned, I don’t have any stress about that. The only thing is that government must make public the names of those who returned money so that we know the faces of those who really stole.
Abubakar Tsav
This is what we have been doing in this country and we are not moving forward. If we are saying people who committed offence should be pardoned, when will they start to learn their lessons? Let the President follow what the law says. It is this kind of thing that is encouraging criminality in our society.
But once somebody does something and you sentence him, he will not do it again. As far as I am concerned, they should not destroy our country by asking that these people should be pardoned. Take for instance the issue of Boko Haram, if they had equipped the military sufficiently, may be some of these bombings and killings would not have taken place. I am very disappointed that people who read the law, people who read the Bible and Quran and know what God Almighty has said are the ones calling for pardon.