El-Rufai: Nigeria’s court system is awful siding with crooks

Nasir Elrufai, Governor of Kaduna State, has condemned the Nigerian judiciary as a “pathetic institution” that favors thieves over innocents.

Mr Elrufai stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.

He stated that the Kaduna State administration has been unable to punish persons who stole state cash because courts are making it harder to convict people.

“Kaduna State has a substantially lower perception of corruption than other states. We’ve taken precautions. We have used public servants as examples. We fired individuals who were proven to be misusing public monies.

“We are prosecuting them, but we have not convicted anyone because the legal system is simply pathetic—it is too slow and, in my opinion, frequently on the side of the crooks rather than the government or the innocents,” he stated.

He went on to say that establishing the National Industrial Court was one of Nigeria’s biggest blunders. He cited cases in which the court released those accused of corruption.

“Creating the NIC, which sees its mission as siding with employees rather than the employer, was one of the government’s major blunders. “It is not always the employer who is at fault,” he explained.

Mr Elrufai also stated that the future government must eliminate subsidies or the country will go bankrupt, like Sri Lanka has.