Fighting corruption with plea bargain

The January 28 sentencing of the Assistant Director in the Police Pension Office, Mr.  John Yakubu Yusuf, to two years imprisonment or N750, 000 fine, has again brought to the fore the propriety or otherwise of the mechanism of plea bargain in Nigeria’s criminal justice system.  Many commentators were alarmed at the inconsequential punishment meted out to the culprit. Not even the fact that the assistant director is forfeiting 32 houses in the Federal Capital Territory and Gombe State as well as N325m cash is considered enough atonement for his sins. Left to many Nigerians, the man should ‘rot in jail’ or be made to face capital punishment. Read more