Stripping EFCC of Prosecutorial Powers

Senior Lawyers has expressed different views over last week’s calls by the President of Nigeria Bar Association( NBA) Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, be stripped of prosecutorial powers.

The NBA president in a Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, reiterated his earlier call that the anti-graft agency should lose its powers of prosecution. Prof. Joseph Abugu, opined that EFCC should retain prosecutorial powers over only serious economic crimes “My first concern is the object of stripping the EFCC of prosecutorial powers. Will that result in more prosecutions or expedite delivery of justice? I think not. ‘’Prosecutorial agencies, including the Police, ICPC, Ministry of Justice, and the EFCC, need more skilled prosecutors, well remunerated advocates, a court system populated by knowledgeable judges and more facilitative procedural rules to hasten delivery of judgments,” he said.

Immediate past Solicitor General of Lagos State, Mr. Lawal Pedro SAN, said that the EFCC,s prosecutorial powers should not be removed until the government was ready to establish and fund an independent Prosecution Office for Economic and Financial Crimes, POEFC, which shall not be subject to the chairman of EFCC in deciding whether or not to prosecute any suspect after reviewing the EFCC’s investigation case file. He said: “This has become necessary in view of the provision of the ACJ Act/Law which prevents trial courts from entertaining application from defendants to quash a charge/information on ground of insufficiency of evidence until the prosecution has closed its case.”

The Lantern of the Photuris Firefly

THE lantern, or light organ, of a particular Photuris firefly is covered with jagged scales that dramatically enhance the brightness of the light that the insect produces. * Jagged scales Consider: Researchers have found that tiny scales on the lantern surface of some fireflies form a corrugated pattern, somewhat like overlapping shingles or tiles. The scales tilt up at one end by just 3 micrometers —less than one twentieth the thickness of a human hair. Yet this tiny tilt lets the lantern shine almost 50 percent more brightly than it would if the scales formed an even surface!

An Overview of Indonesia

Land Straddling the equator between Australia and continental Asia, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago. Most of its more than 17,500 islands feature rugged mountains and dense tropical forests. With more than 100 active volcanoes, it is also the most active volcanic region on earth.

PORTRAITS FROM THE PASTIgnaz Semmelweis

IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS may not be a household name, yet his work has benefited most modern families. Born in Buda (now Budapest), Hungary, he received his medical degree at the University of Vienna in 1844. On taking up his post as assistant to a professor at the First Maternity Clinic of Vienna’s General Hospital in 1846, Semmelweis faced an appalling reality —more than 13 percent of the women giving birth there died from a disease called childbed fever. Various theories as to the cause of this disease had been proposed, yet no one had solved the mystery. All attempts to reduce the mortality rate proved futile. Troubled by the spectacle of numerous mothers suffering a slow, agonizing death, Semmelweis determined to find the cause of the disease and prevent it.

Rielyn Co

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