The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Prince Lateef Fagbemi has said that anyone found guilty of corruption should not enjoy state pardon.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who is also the Minister of Justice, counselled law enforcement agencies against shoddy investigations, urging them to have their facts before summoning anyone for questioning.
At a roundtable organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for state Attorneys General (AGs) in Abuja, on Monday, the AGF said: “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 minister said that the cooperation of all stakeholders, especially the AGs, was crucial in the fight against corruption.
Fagbemi advised the AGs to eschew nepotism, political witch-hunting, rivalry, and bigotry in the fight against corruption just because they want to please their governors. He also said there should be no basis for rationalising corruption or crimes.
He said their legal opinions on cases must be based on the facts as practised in the advanced countries, adding, “We should not give in to public sentiments. In Nigeria, we are polarised along political lines”.
The AGF advised participants and anti-graft agencies to conduct thorough investigations of cases before arresting suspects to avoid media trials.
“Let us be thorough and take our time before inviting someone for questioning. 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”, he added.
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 said.
