"Corrupt Public Office Holders Should Be Given Death Sentence" - Yusuf Ali (SAN)

Public office holders that are found guilty of corruption in Nigeria should be given Chinese treatment, that is, death sentence, to serve as deterrent to others.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Yusuf Ali, said this in Ilorin during the presentation of laptops to 50 junior lawyers at the Ilorin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Ali said, until Nigerians stopped treating the issue of corruption with kids’ gloves, the vice would continue to bastardise the nation’s economy.

The event was the Yusuf Ola-Olu Ali’s N5million laptops revolving scheme for junior members of the bar in the branch, whereby each of the beneficiaries will pay “without interest.”

Speaking on the alleged recent scam on pensions involving some public office holders in Nigeria, he said corruption was too serious an issue to be handled with levity.

“We should no longer send them to jail. The practice among some of those found guilty is that, after serving their various jail terms, they often come back to enjoy the ill-gotten wealth. But we should henceforth make them not to return to enjoy the loot again. They should be killed,” he said.

The member of the silk urged relevant judiciary bodies in the country to sustain their reformations of the justice section of the judiciary, especially the aspect which would expedite actions on cases before the courts.

The lawyer, who criticised proposition to establish more special courts in the country, said that the development would lead to duplication of duties and would be too expensive a system to run.

He, however, canvassed for more of front-loading system, where written addresses are adopted under the oath leaving the litigants or petitioners and respondents alike to call witnesses in order to establish their cases. “You can see now that our election petitions are faster due to this system”, he said.

Also speaking, Chief Judge of the state, Raliat Elelu Habeeb, said members of the Judiciary in the state should put behind them the past events and forge ahead in the administration of justice.

While praising Ali for the initiative to give to the less privileged, the CJ said people should always pray to be on the good side of history.