Human rights activist, Dr. Charles Chinekezi has called for the reformation of the Nigerian police and the Judiciary to tackle corruption
In a chat with 247ureports.com, the activist posited that without the two institutions being reformed, corruption would continue to wreck havoc in the country.
“I have said it that Nigeria lives, eats and dreams corruption. There should be no pretension about that. The only way we can truly fight corruption is to make the judiciary truly independent and reform the police. Any day Nigeria gets a fearless and equipped police force, corruption would be on its way out of this country. If we can sustain strong judicial reforms that will sanitize the system, sweep away all corrupt judicial officers and improve the method of recruiting judicial officers, we would have taken a giant step,” he said.
Chinekezi added that men of the two agencies must be people of high moral and intellectual standards who would not compromise their offices no matter the situation.
“This is because the quality of people you bring in to work as judicial and police officers determines the type of things that happens there. If you put a crook on a high court bench and expects him to dispense justice on a case of corruption, it amounts to smoking a pipe because it can’t work. He will only take advantage of the situation to enrich himself. He will ensure that justice goes to the highest bidder.
“We can only fight corruption through reforming the judiciary and the police. A judge is like the man who does God’s work, it is not something you drop at the hand of a mere adventurer looking for wealth. Again, we must professionalize the police force, improve their welfare and weed out misfits,” he stated.
The activist further lamented the inability of the anti corruption agencies to combat corruption and posited that they must be freed from government control.
“The EFCC and ICPC were emergency creations because of the failure of the police and the judicial system. The EFCC is made up of policemen and the reasons they find it difficult to perform to our expectations are because of their background. Is the case of the former Delta state governor, Chief James Ibori not a clear case of the failure of the police and the judiciary? Ibori was docked on more than 100 count charges, but he was given a clean bill of health by two or more federal high courts in Nigeria.
“It was the same Ibori who was convicted on less than 10 count charges by the British court. So, have you seen that corruption thrives in Nigeria because of the weakness of our police and judicial system? The ICPC is the same, the chairman is chosen from the executive and retired jurists, but when they charge people, it collapses in the same court because of the inherent weakness in the judicial system. The only things that can save this country are a professional police force and a truly independent judiciary,” he concluded.
