THE CONCEPT OF PLEA BARGAINING

I remember in January 2005 when the former inspector general of police, Mr. Tafa Balogun was alleged  and found guilty of misappropriation of public funds, he was arraigned in a federal high court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) he was convicted on a term of six(6)months imprisonment.

The general public criticized and condemned the judicial system because they felt the term of imprisonment was not enough considering the level of crime committed, this was also the case when the former Bayelsa state governor chief Diepreye Alamieyiegha and his  Edo state counterpart Mr. Lucky Igbinedion and former Chief Executive of Oceanic bank Mrs. Ceciia Ibru were convicted and sentenced on a term of imprisonment which is seen to be minimal compared to the crimes committed by hem.

The concept that was adopted is referred to as plea bargaining, this is an agreement in criminal case between the prosecutor and the defendant whereby the defendant agrees to plead guilty to a particular charge in return for some concession from the prosecutor. This concept is mostly adopted in order for both parties to avoid lengthy criminal trial and allow the criminal defendant to avoid the risk of conviction at trial on a more serious charge.

This concept is enshrined in section 14(2) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act of 2004,this concept is alien to our judicial system before it was introduced by the EFCC and does not form part of our constitution, this is why there are lapses and injustice to some because there’s no provision for it in our own constitution, there are plethora of cases where ordinary people have been subjected to full wrath of law for minor offences while public funds looters were charged and given the option of plea bargaining simply because they were arraigned by the EFCC.

Plea Bargaining is well known in countries like India, United States of America and other common law jurisdiction such as United Kingdom and Wales and it has helped the criminal justice system of various countries.

There are diverse opinions about this concept, a lot of legal luminary referred to it as unconstitutional practice in Nigeria which was smuggled into our criminal justice system because it was not provided for in the constitution but merely an EFCC concept.

Some stakeholders see it as a welcomed development but Nigeria is not mature enough for it because of the high level of corruption in our system and that this will only be a soft landing for looters of public funds.

Professor Itse Sagay said it will be a welcomed development if looters are stripped of what was stolen.

In my own opinion it is criminal to arraign treasury looters for several years without conviction or acquittal, the concept of plea bargaining should be included in our constitution, it won’t just be constitutional but will also be available to other minor offenders since conviction of an offender is to serve as deterrent to future offenders but before this is done, the judicial, executive and legislative arms of government should be reformed so  that they all can act independently without fear or favor.

What is your take on the concept of Plea bargaining as this blog visitor let’s hear your opinion.

Thank you.

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi.blogspot.com