Why Buhari’s anti-graft c’ttee is failing – Daudu

Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu (SAN), believes the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) is failing because it is filled mainly with academicians.  Daudu, who spoke to Daily Trust, yesterday, said he was certain that members of the committee have never been to the court to see how a criminal […]

Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu (SAN), believes the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) is failing because it is filled mainly with academicians. 

Daudu, who spoke to Daily Trust, yesterday, said he was certain that members of the committee have never been to the court to see how a criminal case was prosecuted and tried. 

“Nobody knows what it is that delays cases more than defence lawyers,” he said. 

On calls for him to step aside from membership of the Justice Ayo Salami-led Corruption and Financial Crimes Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO) set up by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, because of his handling of high profile cases which could result in ‘conflict of interest’, Daudu said the call stemmed from lack of knowledge of the criminal justice system. 

He identified poor case management, lack of pre-trial as practiced in the UK and the long adjournments in Nigerian courts as some of the problems of the criminal justice system. 

However, a member of PACAC said the committee is only advisory and not prosecutorial. He listed the police, EFCC as some of the agencies that  can prosecute.