Abstract
Plea bargain has been globally accepted as a useful criminal prosecutorial tool in accelerating the prosecution of minor criminal cases. However, it has been observed that the introduction of a plea bargain into the Nigerian criminal justice system tends to aid the ruling class in looting from the public treasury and escaping justice. Given these legal anomalies, the study used online survey questionnaires sent to four hundred and five respondents (randomly selected) residing in Nigeria in ascertaining the Nigerian citizens view on the legal effect of using a plea bargain in resolving high profile financial crime cases. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyse the respondents’ responses. The study, therefore, found that though plea bargain is a useful criminal prosecutorial tool in resolving minor criminal cases, it is unsuitable in resolving high profile criminal financial cases as it tends to involve a hide and seek game which makes a mockery of the Nigeria Legal System. It is, therefore, concluded and recommended that the concept of a plea bargain in Nigeria legal system should not be used in resolving high-profile criminal financial cases, as it tends to give leverage to those looting public funds.
Highlights
The right to trial by the court is considered a central part of the justice system in most countries.1 in the 19th century, there was an overwhelming influx of cases in some familiar and civil law countries, which led to channelling the mounting caseload into non-trial plea bargaining procedures
Irrespective of the fact that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act has been enacted, yet the incidence of using a plea bargain to exonerate politicians involved in high profile financial cases is still the order of criminal prosecution in Nigeria
Given the above data presentation, it is evident that the respondents' response, as represented in figure 1 and table 1, 86.3% (346) of the respondents representing an absolute majority of the respondents, agreed that plea bargain is a useful prosecutorial tool in resolving criminal litigation. This finding is in line with George Fisher's finding that the concept of plea bargain had been generally accepted as an excellent prosecutorial tool, given the fact that the level of resolution of criminal cases in the United States of America has risen from 84% of Federal cases in 1984 to
Summary
The right to trial by the court is considered a central part of the justice system in most countries. in the 19th century, there was an overwhelming influx of cases in some familiar and civil law countries, which led to channelling the mounting caseload into non-trial plea bargaining procedures. It suffices to state that the concept of the plea bargain was introduced into the Nigerian legal system by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prosecute and conclude high profile financial corruption cases. Irrespective of the fact that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act has been enacted, yet the incidence of using a plea bargain to exonerate politicians involved in high profile financial cases is still the order of criminal prosecution in Nigeria. The concept of a plea bargain in Nigeria only came across either in an article written by their foreign counterpart or most often in novels or films.26 This is no longer the case as the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) stated that the basis of a plea bargain in Nigeria could be found in section 180 of the criminal procedures Act and section 14(2) of the EFCC Act.. Odojor “Impact and Relevance of Modern Technological Legal Educational Facilities amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Law Students of Edo University Iyamho”, (2020) 5(4), KIU Journal of Humanities, 7-19
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