Reflections on the planned special courts

A recent news report by Saturday Punch said the Federal Government has begun moves to establish special courts to try corruption-related cases as part of the efforts to fight graft in the country. The newspaper revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari was opting for a comprehensive onslaught against the problem of corruption in the country and has concluded plans to submit a bill on the planned special anti-corruption courts to the National Assembly.
It was also reported that the Presidency had commenced the process of identifying fearless judges that would be saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting corrupt persons. The Federal Government, the paper said, was planning to establish 37 Special Courts to try corruption in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and the 36 states of the Federation. The decision is anchored on the long delay by regular courts in deciding corruption-related cases.
This is a most welcomed move that methinks must be given the needed fillip by all stakeholders in the Nigerian project. Going forward with this lofty initiative, President Muhammadu Buhari should begin to shop for 36 judges with the requisite integrity and boldness to decide cases in line with the law and not according to influence of the people or the pecuniary gains that come with associating with them.
The President must be meticulous in picking the people because if the wrong set of Judges are picked, it would mess up his positive intensions. Corruptible Judges would end up doing wishy-washy job for the nation.
There is corruption and stealing everywhere in the world but the main difference between corruption in Nigeria and in advanced societies is that whereas corruption is celebrated in Nigeria, it is punished in civilised or well organised societies. In Europe, US and Some Middle East countries, citizens are deterred from corrupt practices by the kind of punishment meted to offenders. In some, it is capital punishment and the penalty is death.
This explains the recent call by the Labour movement in Nigeria as represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) calling for capital punishment for corruption and it is worth considering. This is more so when all corruption cases or stealing from the public till cannot take place without the active connivance of the civil or public servants themselves. It will be an interesting experience if government accedes to the request of the Labour movement. It will mean an end to corruption in the land or in the worst case scenario, reduce corruption to an all time low level.
That way, there would be massive savings from hitherto corrupt practices and revenue diversion would cease providing much more to finance development.
The National Judicial Council should begin to look inwards and provide judges with impeccable reputation to preside over the planned courts. All nominees should be subjected to special
screening by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission and the Department of State Security for the right set of Judges that would be appointed. The government working in tandem with anti-graft agencies should be able to identify judges with a passion for the law and the constitution rather than deference to personalities. The anti-graft agencies should screen the nominated judges by doing background checks on them, particularly looking at their history at the bench.

For this very important national assignment, we need judges that are bold, courageous, and fearless. They must have delivered sound judgements in the past. Nigerians don’t want those who play to the gallery.
Also, since this is a democracy and not an autocratic regime, it will be important for President Buhari to go through acceptable legal channels. The National Assembly must play a pivotal role by urgently amending the constitution to set up these courts. Both the executive and legislature should start with speed if they must realise this fantastic objective before the end of their four years tenure.
The need for the clamour for special courts for certain cases such as corruption has to do with the processes of law. Judges have corrupt cases and other cases to attend to, but if we have special courts for corruption cases, it would facilitate the process. I don’t think it will be too much to ask that a special court be dedicated to corruption and treasury looting cases.
If these Special courts must operate efficiently and transparently, government must also be prepared to fund them adequately. Government should put certain resources and laws in place for such special courts to achieve their intended goals. If it means reviewing existing laws, the National Assembly should review them expeditiously to remove the slap- on- the- wrist judgments such as was experienced in the Pension Funds Scam case.
Again, it is important for government to focus on capacity building for the EFCC, ICPC and Anti-fraud unit of the Nigeria Police Force to enhance the competence of investigators and prosecutors. Investigations are still being muddled up by anti-graft agencies. We have seen cases where smart lawyers latch on simple technicalities and loopholes from poor investigations to let big time corrupt persons and criminals off the hook and to get away with their loot. The time for the special courts is now because justice delayed is justice denied and in corruption cases, citizens are the one ones who suffer as a result.