Governors Reject Death Penalty For Looters; APC Hails NLC

Lai Mohammed

Many governors, who spoke reporters, on during the week, out rightly rejected the suggestion that looters of the nation’s resources be sentenced to death. Organized labour- the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress-at the beginning of the week said looters should be given the death sentence in order to serve as deterrence to others. Labour said it was only by killing looters that the anti-corruption crusade being championed by President Muhammadu Buhari could succeed.

But most governors, who reacted to the labour suggestion on Thursday, said the death sentence would be too harsh.

The Punch report continues:

Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun said he would rather canvass that looters be sentenced to life imprisonment, rather than the death sentence prescribed by the organized labour.

Amosun said this while addressing the state workers who had marched to the Oke Mosan state secretariat in Abeokuta to give their backing to Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade.

The state chapters of the NLC and TUC organized the rally.

The governor said, “Everybody knows President Muhammadu Buhari is transparent and meant well for the nation and would never want to hear anything about corruption.

“Even under 100 days in office, electricity is improving. People know that if you try it you are gone. I always say this, whether you are a governor, permanent secretary or labour leader, you cannot be corrupt under a leader that is not corrupt, because you will be punished.

“Unfortunately as a governor, I cannot be saying that capital punishment should be meted out to corrupt public officials. Because I cannot say that, that is why I will say that anybody that is found wanting, whether you are governor or any other public officer should be jailed for life.”

He however said that not only politicians should shun corruption but every Nigerian.

“It is not only politicians that should shun corruption, workers too should not be corrupt,” he said.

His counterpart in Plateau State, Simon Lalong, also said he would rather prefer life imprisonment to death penalty.

Lalong’s Director of Press Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Nanle, told our correspondent that “in all his discussions, Lalong has never mentioned death sentence. He has always preferred life imprisonment to taking human life because to him life is sacred.”

Also both governors of Ekiti and Rivers states, Ayodele Fayose and Nyesom Wike respectively, out rightly rejected death penalty for looters.

Fayose, who reacted through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, said jail sentence was better and capable of reforming thieves.

“In countries where death penalty was introduced, it has not stopped looting. In advanced countries like US, jail sentence is the penalty. What we need is proper moral education to change orientation of the people. Jail sentence is better; it can reform,” he told one of our correspondents in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

Wike said that Nigeria had enough laws to deter people from fleecing the nation.

The governor, who spoke through his special adviser on media, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, said that the labour unions merely made the recommendation because of the impunity with which public office holders loot the nation’s treasury.

He said, “Nigerians have a role to play by deriding looters and not to praise them for their fiscal irresponsibility. There should be a strong punitive measure to discourage looting because of its domino effects. When a treasury is looted, there won’t be money for the provision of necessities such as hospitals, roads, etc.

“Maybe because it happened in Ghana and the economy improved, the labour organisations want it in Nigeria. But that was a military regime and Jerry Rawlings was a military man. However, the extant laws on looting need serious and urgent review, even if the death penalty is discouraged.”

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State said he was comfortable with whatever the people want in relation to punishment for looters.

Mimiko, who spoke through his information commissioner, Kayode Akinmade, said if it was the wish of the people of the country that looters should be killed by law, “so be it’’ but that the process of law must be followed in carrying out such executions.

He said, “We are not under a military rule; this is democracy and we have constitution that we follow. If it is put in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, irrespective of whether you are a governor or not, so be it. If that is what Nigerians want, it is okay.

“Everybody is against corruption, but there is a process of making law. Thank God we have a National Assembly and the state assemblies who are representative of the people. If such bill could be sent to the national and state assemblies and be passed into law, it must become a law.

“If the process is followed and it is the wish of Nigerians that looters be killed, why not? Let it become a law. It is a fact that Nigerians are not happy with this corruption tag, which has slowed down our economic development but if we have a law that will bring about capital punishment for the looters, it is okay.”

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State on Thursday declined comment on whether looters should be sentenced to death or not.

Aregbesola’s media aide, Semiu Okanlawon, when contacted, said he did not know the mind of his principal on the matter and promised to contact the governor and get back to our correspondent but Okanlawon had yet to keep the promise as of the time of this report.

Subsequent calls to his mobile telephone line also did not connect.

The Special Adviser (Media and Public Affairs) to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Mr. Kassim Afegbua, told one of our correspondents on the telephone that his principal needed to personally examine the issue of whether to accept death penalty for looters or not because “it requires a process.”

“It has to go through a bill. It has to be an act of parliament and a lot of things would go into it,” he said.

Enugu State governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Mr. Louis Amoke, said he would also need to consult his principal, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, to get his position on the matter.

“I will have to get in touch with him to know his position on the matter, it is very sensitive and I will not talk without finding out from him,” Amoke told our correspondent.

As of the time of this report, Amoke said he had yet to have a contact with the governor.

The Governor of Nasarawa State, Umaru Al-Makura, however, said he supported that capital punishment be meted out to corrupt public office holders.

“I really agree with the NLC over call for capital punishment for any public office holder who is found guilty of looting public funds,” the governor said in an interview with one of our correspondents.

APC, Sans Hail NLC Over Anti-Corruption Campaign

Meanwhile The Nation reports that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other eminent Nigerians have hailed Nigerian workers and the Civil Society for standing up firmly against corruption, describing the workers’ open demonstration of support for the Federal Government’s battle against corruption as a major boost to the anti-graft fight.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Nigerian workers’ unambiguous stand against corruption is also a clear repudiation of all those who have attempted to politicise the battle either by insinuating selectivity or saying the government should face governance instead of dwelling on the fight against corruption.

It said: ‘’Thursday’s nationwide demonstrations by Nigerian workers and the civil society in support of the anti-corruption battle is the clearest indication yet that corruption is now seen for what it is—a vice to be condemned and punished rather than something to be venerated and celebrated.

“The growing intolerance for corruption among Nigerians is also a clear example of what a nation can achieve under a committed, sincere, purposeful and focused leadership.’’

APC said the delivery of good governance is seriously hampered by corruption, hence the cankerworm, which it said has eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian society, is the main reason why millions of unemployed youths cannot get jobs, hospitals lack necessary equipment and drugs, infrastructural deficit is worsening and social services are almost non-existent.

The party added: ‘’A huge chunk of the billions of naira budgeted annually for all sectors of the economy end up in private pockets. Little wonder that the economy has been in the doldrums over the years despite the trillions of naira earned by the country from crude oil sales alone.

‘’It is therefore baffling that some people, for whatever reasons, have decided to engage in sophistry in their attempt to distract the government from combating graft.

“Thursday’s nationwide anti-graft rally by Nigerian workers and the civil society has shown that Nigerians are not buying such fallacy.’’

It recalled the promise made by President Muhammadu Buhari in his inaugural speech on 29 May 2015, that his Administration would tackle head on the serious challenges facing the country, including insecurity and pervasive corruption, and appealed to all Nigerians to continue to give their unalloyed support to the administration in its determination to surmount the challenges.

Also speaking, Chief Ladi Williams (SAN) hailed the action of the workers. He said the NLC has the right to make the demands for death sentence for all corrupt public officials, but regretted that “our statute does not have provision for capital punishment.

“The demand is therefore inconsistent with our constitution. Until the law is amended, I don’t think a judge has the power to pass death sentence on anybody.

“The demand is what I call the Chinese option. In spite of this, I agree that something drastic needs to be done about the state of corruption in the country.

“Some people have been known to reach out to adjudicators to compromise them. On several occasions, the accused are either freed or given a slap in the hand.

“It is a murderous cruelty for any of these people to get away with even a dollar from what they have stolen.”

He added: “They are also right in kicking against the use of perpetual injunction by corrupt officials to restrain anti-corruption agencies from prosecuting them. But I will say that due process must be followed.

“I am also of the opinion that perpetual injunction should not be allowed in our fight against corruption. I find it difficult for anybody to prevent investigation of corrupt officials and something has to be done about it.

“If we don’t do anything about corruption, we would remain in poverty perpetually.”

The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on war Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, described the protest as a step in the right direction, but frowned at the call for death penalty.

“The demand for death penalty for corrupt officials is a bit extreme. I have always been guided by the fact that once a life is taken, it can’t be restored,” he said, adding: “I totally support the campaign against the use of restraining injunction by corrupt people to prevent being prosecuted. Any judge who issues that should be regarded as guilty of gross misconduct and his job put on the line.

“I am however against going to their houses to bring them out because it would amount to physical violence. It should be left in the hands of the Nigeria Judicial Council (NJC).

“Such a judge should be queried and dismissed from office for promoting corruption. “

In a separate interview, Enechi Onyia (SAN), said the protest was in order because it is geared towards curbing corruption in the country.

“The Federal Government should take all of that and decide what is good for the country. It is the fundamental right of any Nigerian to go to court for whatever he wants. It is the court that can decide whether to grant the request or not,” he said.

Also commending the NLC, Barrister Fred Agbaje, a human rights activist, asserted that the “right to fair hearing should not make the court to blindly accede to the request of one man against the interest of the country.

“I support the NLC on their protest against the use of perpetual injunction by corrupt officials to avoid prosecution. Judges should weigh the interest of the larger society and the need to curb corruption as enshrined in section 15 of the constitution.

“I also support the demand for capital punishment for corrupt officials, irrespective of what some governors are saying. I am not an apostle of death penalty, but if that is what will stop or reduce corruption, so be it.”