The governor of Ondo State, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has urged the Federal Government to embark on the training and retraining of prosecuting officers handling corruption cases in the country.
This, he said would help the government ensure that it gets judgment against corrupt Nigerians involved in high profile corruption cases.
Akeredolu made the call at the maiden Public Lecture of the Faculty of Law of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo town in Oyo State, on Tuesday.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Hon. Agboola Ajayi, said investigations into cases in the country have to be improved on through the training and retraining of prosecuting officers and other stakeholders in the sector.
He pointed out that the government should do more in this regard so that the corruption cases being handled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies see the light of the day.
According to him, such development would go a long way in sanitising the nation, while at the same time, there would be speedy and more coordinated dispensation of justice.
Akeredolu described the maiden lecture as a welcome development, stressing that it would create more exposure and enlightenment for the students.
Delivering the lecture, entitled “Criminal Adjudication and The Challenge of Justice”, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, also said prosecuting officers are always in rush to arrest and arraign suspects.
He noted that, “in the developed countries, the police may be on the trail of a suspect for years or even more, before they make an arrest.
“In the meantime they will be gathering evidence, analyzing them and testing them against the law before they enter the court”
Olujimi called on the National Assembly to enact a law for the compensation of those who are wrongly sentenced or convicted by the court of law in the country.
“Those of us who are lawyers in the conduct of things are aware of many who are wrongly convicted in the process of prosecuting and later discovered the convicted persons are not guilty
“I call on the lawmakers at the National Assembly to enact laws that will compensate anybody who are wrongly sentenced or convicted.
“The convicted persons need to be compensated for the wrong conviction and time spent in the prison.
“Liberty of a man who is wrongly convicted is worth million of years spent in life, you can only realise the value of liberty until you are wrongly convicted” he said
Comments