The NBA said the judge did the right thing as stipulated by law.
The bar also advised government to accept the cease-fire offer of the Boko Haram “as doubtful as it may be” and urged government to declare a state of emergency in the educational sector with a view to arresting the declining educational standard.
Addressing reporters in Abuja, the NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN), said the weak law on corruption ,and not the judge,should be blamed for the light sentence of Yusufu.
He accused government for lacking a strong will to fight corruption.
Justice Talba’s verdict sparked negative criticisms of the judge across the country.
Wali said if the law under which the accused was charged imposed a maximum punishment of two years with an option of fine, then the judge should not be blame.
He advised the National Assembly to review all obsolete laws in the country, especially the Criminal Penal Code enacted in 1914 by the colonial master.
The NBA boss lamented that the Police lack investigation skills and rely only on confessional statements to prosecute over 90 per cent of criminal cases.
He said: ”When there is a crime, no evidence is retrieved from the scene of crime because finger prints are not taken. No data bank for finger print. In civilized clime, once a crime is committed, the Police take over the scene of crime. We don’t have finger prints and forensic experts anymore. All we have is confessional statement.”
On delayed trials, Wali said: “Trials are bound to delay when judges still take notes in long hand, yes, yes, writing from morning till evening. Technologically speaking, our courts do not belong to this century”.
Reading from the the communique issued on the NBA Peace and Security Summit which ended on Thursday in Abuja, Wali said: “The police force should be fe-trained and re-equipped to be able to confront the criminal menaces.
“It is becoming more evident with each passing day that the present military or armed approach at solving the problem of insecurity is not enough”.
It identified corruption, inequitable distribution of income and social amenities, unemployment, tribal and/or ethnic allegiances, poor and ineffective educational system, poor leadership, religious and cultural intolerance, corrupt and ill-trained and ill-equipped police force, religious manipulations, and porous border entry points as causes of insecurity.
Wali said further: “The political class should work hard to fulfil the expectations of the masses by providing good governance and avoiding corruption and loud and ostentatious living with ill-gotten wealth.
“Government should take urgent steps to address the problems of excruciating poverty in the land, inequitable distribution of income and basic economic infrastructure and unemployment.
“Governments at all levels should, as a matter of urgency, introduce scholarship schemes for the purposes of taking the loitering millions of children off the streets and into schools-possibly boarding schools-and thereby keep them away from the reach and influence of crimes of different shades and colours.
“Government should put in place anti-reprisal mechanism whereby victims of violence and insurgency are quickly pacified and economically restored and rehabilitated.
“Government should create a transparent and trust-worthy mechanism for dialoguing with insurgents as well as for addressing their grievances.
“Government should display convincing strong will in fighting corruption and should avoid using the law enforcement agencies as instruments of blackmail or selective justice.
“The heads of various levels of court in the land should treat corruption, security-related and kidnapping cases as of utmost public policy importance by designating some courts in their various jurisdictions to handle and determine such cases on the day-to-day basis.
“Government should champion the move to get the National Assembly to amend the constitution and remove the immunity clause in order to underscore government’s seriousness in fighting corruption at all levels.
“A moderated position between pro- and anti – state police proponents is recommended to the effect that the police force, both at the federal and state levels, should be made independent in terms of appointments, commands and operations and finances in order to eliminate the abusive uses to which the power holders have been known to put the police since Nigeria’s independence.
“That the NBA would put in place appropriate machinery for monitoring and investigating impunity and executive lawlessness.
“The EFCC Act should be amended to incorporate the fullness of the provisions of the first EFCC bill drafted by Justice Kayode Esho Committee which proposed that anybody exhibiting wealth beyond his visible means of income be made to account for his source of income.
“The police force should be re-trained and re-equipped to be able to confront the criminal menaces of our present time.”
TheNation
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