An Abuja-based legal practitioner and national security expert, Dr. Ody Ajike has advised the judiciary not to allow itself to be used in stonewalling the ongoing war against graft and other financial offences led by the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa.
In a statement released to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, the anti-graft lawyer said that since laws cannot be retroactive, it’s application should also not be retroactive.
Noting that the contemptuous reason given by the Abuja High Court for the committing of Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa was committed in 2018 whereas he was appointed chairman of the commission in 2020.
Therefore, it amounts to a miscarriage of justice on the part of the judiciary to allow an innocent man to bear the brunts of the law. I say this because justice is distorted when the victim pays for the conducts of the accused.
He noted that the committal to prison of the Executive Chairman of EFCC is nothing but an attempt to put him to ridicule and disrepute; a man who has committed his time towards reorganizing the commission by making it more effective and efficient.
Bawa has since his appointment in 2020 made the commission more professional in the war against economic crimes and endemic corrupt practices in our society.
As a law abiding citizen, he was never served with any contempt processes even when the said order made for the release of the said asset was made before he was appointed the executive chairman of the commission.
Barrister Ody further noted that our courts should be national security courts that will always strive to preserve our core values as a people as well as the credibility of our national institutions.
Within these few years since his appointment, Bawa has transformed the commission and recovered trillions of Naira from corrupt officials and criminal syndicates for our collective benefit as a people.
The Court should have been mindful of his giant strides in state making and accorded him a reasonable benefit that he inherited a dysfunctional commission which he has worked tirelessly to get back on track.
