Sections of the constitution, the penal and criminal codes, cited on Monday in a controversial ruling that freed a former official convicted of stealing N23 billion of the Police Pension Fund is up for review by the House of Representatives.
The uproar which greeted the ruling on John Yusuf's verdict has reached the House, and now they want to review it. The penal and criminal codes are amongst some of Nigeria’s oldest laws with many of its punishments often seen as ridiculously mild on serious crimes.
An Abuja High Court Judge, Abubakar Talba, handed Mr. Yusuf a two year jail sentence with an option of N750,000 fine as punishment for his theft of N23 billion naira from the Police Pension Fund.
The ruling has sparked calls for reviews and sanctions against the judge; and the prosecution, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, accused of honing the frivolous plea bargain with Mr. Yusuf.
Mr. Yusuf regained his freedom soon after the ruling after paying the paltry sum.
Even though the morality of the ruling has been seriously called into question, the Judge was indeed backed by portions of the law which gave him the judicial leeway to exercise his discretion in handing out the sentence.
It remains to be seen if the Lawmakers have the legislative backbone to amend some of these laws which can send a man to jail for 2 years for stealing a handset. . .
. . . And send another one straight to his house a free man, for making away with 23 billion naira!
We wait. . and watch.
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