- Says the two legal bodies only defend the fundamental human rights of the VIPs
By Debo Popoola
Popular lawyer and activist, Mr Femi Falana has accused some members of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Body of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (BOSAN) of encouraging corruption by shielding corrupt political office holders by demanding for their fundamental human right whenever they are being charged to court.
Mr Falana said this on Thursday while delivering a paper at a colloquium on anti-corruption war organised by the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, University of Lagos.
The colloquium also had in attendant as discussants scholars such as the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Dr. Femi Aribisala and Dr. Ayo Obe.
Mr Falana, in his keynote lecture titled “Rule of Law and Treatment of Politically-Exposed Corruption Cases”, said the two legal bodies, BOSAN and NBA, always shut their eyes when ordinary citizens are being trampled upon by corrupt politicians when the funds that should been used for the betterment of the country are being syphoned; but these bodies are active to protect the fundamental human rights of the political VIPs when the law is taking its turn against them. He cited the case of 70 soldiers that were court marshaled in camera and how the NBA and BOSAN did not defend their human right.
He said: “The Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria has urged the government to fight corruption under the rule of law. On its own part the NBA has censored the Federal Government for violating the human rights of certain suspects. But neither the BOSAN nor the NBA has deemed it fit to caution the members of the legal profession who are determined to frustrate the prosecution of corruption cases.
“As far as both bodies are concerned, human rights are the exclusive reserve of the bourgeois. Hence, the tenets of the rule of law are only invoked when the trial of VIPs is involved, while human rights are violated in Nigeria when the looters of the treasury are arrested and detained for a few days without trial.”
Mr Falana also advised the president to ensure that special courts are created for different corruption trials going on in the country.
The activist lawyer also advised that politicians who have been accused of corruption should not be granted bail; he likened them to robbers and kidnappers. He said: “Since victims of grand corruption including armed robbery and kidnap suspects are not usually admitted to bail, those who are charged with looting the treasury should no longer be granted bail.”
