The presiding judge of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto division, Justice Muhammad Lawal, has urged Nigerian anti-graft agencies to prioritise going after the highly corrupt persons rather than focusing solely on young street-level fraudsters, popularly known as ‘Yahoo boys.'”
The judge made this known at the opening of a one-day conference with state Attorneys-General in the North-West on strengthening ICPC’s capacity for corruption prevention, held in Kano.
He argued that prosecution of graft must be deep and encompassing.
This is as he noted that part of the problems facing fighting corruption in the country are judges.
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On the position of Justice Lawal, the ICPC boss maintained that it was not difficult to go after the bigger fish if only the slow processes of the justice system in the country could be upscaled with the use of advanced technology.
Justice Lawal said, “Part of the problem in the fight against graft in the country are judges. I have come across cases where judges give ex-parte orders to stop investigations. We have to be very careful in granting orders against anti-corruption agencies, as it amounts to ultra vires.
“Once you stop anti-corruption agencies from investigating, you are killing the anti-corruption fight and matter. There are preventive measures to expose corruption and related activities in the public interest,” he added.
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