Determined to set an example in his anti-corruption crusade, President Obasanjo instructed that Julius Makanjuola and four other senior officials, who allegedly embezzled over 400 million naira, be apprehended and charged in court.

Fresh in office way back in November 1999 and determined to set an example in his anti-corruption crusade with a view to sending the correct signals to all concerned, President Obasanjo swiftly instructed that Dr. Julius Makanjuola, at that time a serving federal permanent secretary in the Ministry of Defence together with four other senior officials who were alleged to have embezzled over 400 million naira, be apprehended and charged in court. There was a resounding public approval of the bold move not simply because the suspects were promptly arraigned and charged: President Obasanjo earned additional accolades because Dr. Makanjuola, the principal suspect, was believed to be his cousin. He was viewed as an anti-corruption Czar who will not spare even a close relation in the fight.

The trial, which had since dragged on before Justice Sidi Bage of the High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, became ripe for a judicial verdict on July 22, 2002. However, matters took a dramatic turn that day when, to the utter surprise of the crowded courtroom and the judge but especially the co-accused of Makanjuola, the Attorney General of the Federation, acting through his Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mrs Omiyi, moved a nolle prosequi motion to terminate all further proceedings against the accused persons paving way for their eventual release.

Arguing the motion before the court, the DPP had explained that “. . . the Attorney General has the constitutional right to terminate any proceedings at any stage without giving any reasons for his action.” Later, on the same day, the Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Hon. Musa Elayo, gave what seemed to be one of the reasons in a press interview on NTA network news. He complained and suggested that government’s anti-corruption campaign was being frustrated by poor investigation. By some coincidence, perhaps acting in tandem, President Obasanjo, in an address to a conference which was billed to examine the anti-corruption crusade on the same day, was lamenting his administration’s failures, difficulties and shortcomings in the campaign.

The Daily Trust is disturbed to watch the unfolding saga of the trial of Makanjuola. We are entitled to wonder aloud: what is really going on? If the prosecution of a suspected corrupt official is being jeopardised by poor investigation (supposedly by the police and other public officials) would it be an appropriate answer to terminate such proceedings? Worse still, how about the ethical question, which the public is entitled to raise, where the beneficiary of such a botched investigation, who gets a bonus release under the exercise of judicial procedure of nolle prosequi, happens to be the cousin of Mr. President?

We are well aware that the nolle prosequi is a device reserved for use to terminate proceedings at any stage where vital national interest or the public good is involved. Curiously we can see no such interests as being at issue in this case. On the contrary, the public is entitled to speculate that favouritism of the clannish type may well be the prime motive here.

The other serious reservations which the Daily Trust has with the sudden turn of events is: why enter nolle prosequi on the very day that the judge was billed to either convict or acquit the suspects based upon evidence adduced by the prosecution? In this we see an abuse of the judicial process of the crass type. We sense an attempt to undermine the hallowed doctrines of judicial independence and the rule of law. We note a brazen act on the part of the Attorney General of the federation which is calculated to frustrate a judicial verdict which, it was probably feared, may be adverse to all the suspects or a particular suspect.

However, we take consolation in the fact that the judge, although ordinarily he should have deferred to the DPP and terminated the case there and then, has reserved ruling for 30 October 2002 on the issues raised by Abdullahi Ibrahim (SAN) and Mr Izinyon (SAN), counsel to the parties, who had raised objections to what they viewed as an ambush tactic and a misuse or abuse of the nolle prosequi and wished the matter to be referred to the Court of Appeal.

We wait to see whether President Obasanjo will reclaim the moral high ground in his fight against corruption with a meticulous and vigorous investigation and prosecution of this and all other cases or allow the Makanjuola saga to haunt his crusade. News reports seem to indicate that President Obasanjo has taken some remedial measures to deal with this embarrassing development in the case.

Perhaps the Attorney General of the federation too should view the time between now and next adjourned date of the case as a golden opportunity to reconsider his idea of terminating the case rather prematurely. Should he come to a different decision, the path of honour, the demands of professional ethics and the respect for the judicial process, all of which are qualities he must symbolise, demand that he should withdraw the nolle prosequi. Otherwise he risks posterity judging him by the dubious distinction of entering a nolle prosequi to render a personal favour, as opposed to serving the public good or protecting vital national interest.

Or, if the latter wholesome objectives were what motivated him to act in the first place, to find a way of telling the court in confidence and assuaging public scepticism and reservations by other means. Failure to follow this honourable path may make him a candidate who is fit to join the ignoble ranks of the likes of the legendry “bush meat” Attorney General, popularly described as such because he entered a nolle prosequi in return for a basket of succulent venison, or the other Attorney General who entered a nolle prosequi to save the neck of a client he had earlier represented in the same matter in his capacity as a private legal practitioner.

Daily Trust (Abuja), July 29, 2002