The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has said those found guilty of corruption should not be granted state pardon.
Fagbemi, who also advised law enforcement agencies against shoddy investigations, tasked them to have their facts before summoning anyone for questioning.
According to a statement by the Special Assistant to the President on Communication and Publicity, Office of the AGF, Kamarudeen Ogundele, on Monday in Abuja, the AGF stressed that everyone’s cooperation is needed to fight corruption.
According to the statement, the AGF spoke at a roundtable organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission for state Attorneys General in Abuja on Monday.
The statement quoted the minister as saying, “I will suggest in our next constitution review exercise that we expunge those found guilty of corruption from benefiting from powers of ‘Prerogative of Mercy’ to serve as a deterrent to others.
“The cooperation of all stakeholders, especially the AGs, is crucial in the fight against corruption.”
He further advised the state Attorneys General to eschew nepotism, political witch-hunting, rivalry, and bigotry in the fight against corruption just because they want to please their governors.
While adding that there should be no basis for rationalising corruption or crimes, Fagbemi noted that legal opinions on cases must be based on the facts as practised in advanced countries.
“We should not give in to public sentiments. In Nigeria, we are polarised along political lines”, he said.
The AGF advised participants and anti-graft agencies to conduct thorough investigations of cases before arresting suspects to avoid media trials.
He said, “Let us be thorough and take our time before inviting someone for questioning. Please don’t do a shoddy job and be quick to say we have caught a big fish…You will catch a big fish. If it is two or three big fish you are able to get in a year and you are thorough, it is alright. ”
The AGF also counselled against filing bogus counts of charges against defendants just to generate frenzy in the public against the suspect.
“Nobody wants a 50-count charge…make it five or six and be sure. Make sure you get him (suspect) in,” he asserted. Punch
