Convicted Pension Thief Must be Retried - NLC
29 January 2013
Press Statement
We are startled at the judgement by an Abuja High court
yesterday which convicted a man who already admitted stealing N23billion out of
over N40billion found to have been stolen from the coffers of the Nigeria
Police Pension Fund between January 2008 and June 2011 to just two years in
prison with an option of fine in the sum of N750, 000.
That Justice Abubakar Talba could only convict such a high
profile thief who has enriched himself with money reserved for people who have
served this country honestly and have retired into abject poverty and penury to
a scandalous two years imprisonment with an option of fine in the ridiculous
sum of N750, 000, shows clearly that the Nigerian judiciary is being
compromised and obviously encouraging corruption in a country that has lost
most of her earnings to a few individuals who have used their public offices to
corruptly enrich themselves.
It becomes more alarming that the pension thief’s counsel had
urged the court to be lenient on his client as he has ailing aged parents and
responsibility to pay the school fees of his children.
These reasons are as irresponsible, callous just as the offence
he committed in the first place. The money he stole has left thousands of families
in hunger, perpetual pains and in some cases, even death. This thief didn’t deserve
any leniency.
This judgement is not in the public interest and cannot be
acceptable to Nigerians who are continuously worried about their future in
retirement should the judiciary continue to encourage those caught with public
funds with convictions that are clearly not punitive enough for the convict to
be remorseful, the judiciary will be encouraging the Nigerian people to opt for
jungle justice and treat these high profile criminals the same way pick pockets
are treated.
This particular judgement is not only unpatriotic but clearly
against national interest as our people are united against corruption which has
brought our collective image to global ridicule and our national economy to
near collapse.
We urge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to
immediately appeal against this judgement or call for a retrial, while we call
on the National Judicial Council to investigate both the judge and the entire
case.
Given our commitment to the anti corruption crusade, which we
believe members of the National Assembly must also be committed to, we urge the
National Assembly to review our judicial system to make it more patriotic and
function in the interest of democracy which will be threatened should this type
of ridiculous judgement be allowed.
This judgement lacks moral values and has not demonstrated
that laws and judicial institutions are capable of protecting the interest of
ordinary people as well as safeguard national interests. And this portends
danger for democracy anywhere in the world.
This judgement, if allowed to stay will be a direct
encouragement to corruption and corrupt officials who will not mind deepening
their stealing zeal knowing that the punishment they will face would be soft
and harmless.
Kiri Mohammed
Acting President
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