By Soni Daniel, Northern Regional Editor & Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA—Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, said for the country to make meaningful headway in the fight against corruption, the legal profession must be sanitised.

Olusegun Obasanjo

Obasanjo, who maintained that the justice sector had a lot to do, spoke on a day the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, alleged that lawyers constituted part of the problems hampering the anti-corruption drive of the present administration.

Magu said it was disheartening that senior lawyers, without qualms, collect as much as N870 million to defend corrupt civil servants facing criminal prosecution in court.

He said the EFCC had concluded plans to go after lawyers that helped corrupt persons to launder public funds through the acquisition of properties, as well as those that aided their clients to escape justice.

Former President Obasanjo and Magu spoke at separate judiciary related events that took place in Abuja.

While Obasanjo spoke at the official presentation of the book, ‘S.T. Hon’s Constitutional and Migration Law in Nigeria’, Magu aired his views at a one-day workshop on Anti-corruption, Ethics of the Legal Profession & Justice Sector, jointly organised by the Nigerian Bar Association and the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC.

Obasanjo, who spoke shortly after the book, written by a constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Sebastian Hon, was reviewed by the Dean of Law Faculty, University of Jos, Prof. Dakas Dakas, said he supported calls for cleansing of the legal profession.

While aligning himself with Prof. Dakas who decried recurring cases where courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction delivered rulings to contradict each other over the same matter, Obasanjo said: “With all the criticism that their has about the practitioners, I concur with the book reviewer and I add that if our country must make progress, the law profession must have a lot to do.”

The book launch was also attended by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who in his remarks, commended the author for being clear and unequivocal in addressing controversial legal issues of law, especially the Law of Evidence.

Meanwhile, addressing participants at the anti-corruption workshop, the EFCC chairman, Magu, said lawyers were free to probe activities of the commission.

The EFCC boss said he attended the workshop to gain the cooperation of lawyers in the current fight against corruption in Nigeria.

“When I learned about this event, I said let me rush to see these people, who have been causing a lot of impediment in the work that we are doing.

“I am here today to plead with you lawyers to join us, together we can tackle corruption, it is for the betterment of the country. Our own time is now but our children deserve a better Nigeria.

“Frankly speaking, what is important now is the interest of the nation. We should all put it first before personal interests. Now you see a civil servant paying a lawyer N870m. How did that money come? Some are even getting more than a billion Naira, it is not fair.

“Imagine that someone will carry N2.1billion and transfer it through the account of a lawyer. I strongly believe that the lawyers have the greater stake in this matter more than any other person.

‘’To both the defence lawyer and the man presiding, there is a lot of expectation of Nigerians from you.

“You are free to look at us from outside. It is easier for someone to look at what we are doing wrong and come to me and say, Magu, this is what should be done, not going to the pages of newspapers to arrange big grammar.

“Very soon, if you are involved in money laundering, we will come after you. It does not matter who you are. Very soon, we will look at how people assisted others to buy properties or how some of you assisted others to escape justice. We will look into it and come after you. The law is no respecter of person”, Magu added.

Similarly, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, decried the practice of lawyers deliberately using frivolous interlocutory applications to frustrate corruption cases.

On his part, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, who was represented by the Special Assistant to the President on Research and Special Projects, Mr. Sylvester Imhanobe, said it was wrong for lawyers to discus matters before a court in the media.

“A situation where lawyers address press immediately they come out of court, the AGF is seriously concerned about it”.

While declaring the workshop open, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, represented by Justice Kudirat Ekekere-Ekun of the Supreme Court, also agreed on the need for the legal profession to be sanitised.

He said: “There is need for us to look inward to review our ethical standard. If charity begins at home, self appraisal must certainly also begin there too.  We must ask ourselves questions as to the delay causes to the administrations of justice”.

The CJN said the country deserve a legal system that operate with sound ethics, even as he commended the Prof. Itse Sagay led Committee for its efforts to “institutionalise the fight against corrupt practices in Nigeria”.