Okunrounmu said this while fielding questions from journalists, at the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation office, at Gbagada, Lagos, disclosing that he had spoken several times and delivered lectures indicting the judiciary of corruption. Besides, he said the late Justice Kayode Esho and other jurists had, in the past, also written reports indicting the same judiciary of corruption. The Afenifere leader, who threw his weight behind war against corruption, was reacting to the report that the president had, while speaking during one of his outside engagements, lamented that the Nigerian Judiciary was his headache in his war against corruption. “Buhari is just beginning to see the reality now, I have been saying that for a long time ago, I have been saying that for more than 10 years that the judiciary is one of the most corrupt sections of the polity. The judiciary is corrupt, it is not only the executive and the legislature and the politicians. The judiciary is very corrupt, I have delivered papers upon papers which I have indicted the judiciary. “Justice Kayode Esho once headed a panel on the judiciary where he wrote a report indicting so many members of the judiciary, there have been other reports headed by notable judges that have indicted the judiciary and all of us know what has happened.” “The role of the judiciary now is that they made sure you steal a lot of money. If you steal a lot of money and the judiciary can get a share, you will go free or, at the very worse, get a very mild sentence. “It is only if you steal a small amount that you go to jail, but if you can steal a lot so that you give the SANs, SANs would get their own, judges would get theirs, you satisfy them, you are sure that nothing is going to happen to you. That is Nigeria’s criminal justice,” Okunrounmu said. Speaking further, Okunrounmu condemned the idea of plea-bargain, which allowed those who must have been found to have stolen money to return it and be left off the hook, saying the idea was wrongly copied from the United States. According to him, as practised in the US, plea-bargain did not say the criminal should not be jailed, it only makes him serve a reduced sentence, adding that,“when you talk of plea bargaining in the US, it does not stop you from getting proper, adequate punishments. You can plea bargain, they would reduce your sentence from 22years to 15years, you will still go to jail.” While lamenting the absence of criminal justice in the country, Okunrounmu urged President Buhari to go for the jugular by purging the judiciary of corrupt elements, saying that he needed not to continue to fold his arms and watch the problem fester. “There is no criminal justice, but Buhari can take care of this. Buhari doesn’t need to fold his arms and say judiciary is my problem. Let him start by purging the judiciary, it can be purged,” he assured.]]>