The Chief Commissioner, PCC, Mr Chille Igbawua, said the Act establishing the commission empowered it to investigate all public institutions, including the judiciary. Describing PCC as an anti-corruption agency that deals with administrative corruption and bureaucratic inefficiencies, Igbawua said the judiciary was not immune from being probed by the commission. Igbawua spoke with journalists last week at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos office of the PCC. He said efforts were being made to create awareness as to the existence and functions of the PCC so that oppressed citizens could take better advantage of it. He said, “We often say that the court is the last hope of the common man but I’m saying that PCC is the last hope of the common man who has nothing to prosecute through adjudication and even the last hope of the common man whose case is not properly handled by the court. “Who else is there that can question the court and say look, you have procedure errors, go back and try this case. If the commission has the power, then the court will no longer just be the last hope, there will be some hope after the court in case the court fails in the first place.” He described the PCC jurisdiction to review court judgments as special, saying the commission could always order a judge to rehear a case, where it found out that there was a procedural error. Igbawua said, “We have very special jurisdiction in the area of the court. We have the mandate to look into the decisions of courts even when they have been concluded. The matter may be final on the law but we may discover that it is not final on the facts and we discover that there are procedural irregularities, we can investigate and bring to proper justice what ought to be done. “That means, for instance, if there is an issue where there is a time limit within which you are supposed to file a case and you filed it within time but there was an administrative connivance within the system to ensure that they do not give you the date that you should have been heard so that they will tell you are out of time and you are losing your case because they said you filed out of time. We have the mandate to investigate such cases and where we discovered that that is the case, we will compel the court to look back at the matter and give a second opportunity to the litigant. So, these are the areas of special jurisdictions.” He warned that the PCC would no longer treat lightly disrespect of its summonses, stressing that it would not hesitate to invoke its prosecutorial powers against recalcitrant respondents. “I’ve heard people say that the Act doesn’t contain sanctions but it does. The mere fact that the Act says that you cannot impede the work of the commission is a general sanction for everybody. Because if you don’t reply our letter, you are impeding our work and that is sufficient offence and the sanction is stated,” Igbawua said.]]>

"Exciting news! TheNigeriaLawyer is now on WhatsApp Channels 🚀 Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest legal insights!" Click here! ....................................................................................................................... Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material and other digital content on this website, in whole or in part, without express and written permission from TheNigeriaLawyer, is strictly prohibited _________________________________________________________________ [Register Now] ILA Nigeria Branch Marks 10 Years With Infrastructure Financing As Theme For 7th Annual Conference The International Law Association - Nigeria Branch 7th annual conference on public-private partnerships for sustainable infrastructure financing, April 4-5 in Abuja. Details: https://ilanigeria.org.ng/conference _________________________________________________________________

NIALS' Compendia Series: Your One-Stop Solution For Navigating Nigerian Laws (2004-2023)

Email: info@nials.edu.ng, tugomak@yahoo.co.uk, Contact: For Inquiry and information, kindly contact, NIALS Director of Marketing: +2348074128732, +2348100363602.