Rich And Powerful Nigerians Have Hijacked The Criminal Justice System – Falana

Front line lawyer and human rights advocate, Femi Falana (SAN), has added his voice to cries of disappointment in the judiciary by Nigerians following the lenient sentence passed on Mr John Yakubu Yusufu, the Police Pensions boss who diverted N23 billion.
Information Nigeria recalls that Mr. Yusufu was convicted for two years with the option of a paltry sum of N750,000 fine. Falana in his reaction to the judgement, blamed the court stressing that it implies that the court displayed solidarity in this case.
He also maintained that a few Nigerians have hijacked the criminal justice system in the country. “The powerful rich in Nigeria have hijacked criminal justice in Nigeria with connivance of the bar and the bench. So, it is important for Nigerians not to isolate a few of these cases, but they have to be examined holistically.”
Falana added that the development did not come to him as a surprise because it followed the pattern of previous sentences on most of the big frauds recorded in the country.

According to him, “This development follows the particular pattern of  treating the rich with kid gloves while other people are being railroaded to jail. In previous cases, it has always been  light sentences for the rich, like the case of former Governor Lucky Igbinedion who was asked to pay a fine of N3million; Cecelia Ibru was asked to forfeit to the government hundreds of millions of naira.”
On the new charge against Yusufu, Falana said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will do better this time in seeing that justice is done adding that the punishment for the new offence which is failure to declare assets, attracts five years imprisonment.
InformationNigeria