President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on Nigerian judicial officers to stop allowing legal technicalities and procedural loopholes to shield corruption suspects, cautioning that courts must not enable politically exposed persons (PEPs) and organized crime syndicates to delay or frustrate trials.
President Tinubu delivered the keynote address on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at the National Judicial Institute (NJI) Complex in Abuja. The event marked the official opening of the 8th Annual EFCC-NJI Capacity Building Workshop for Judges and Justices, centered on the theme: “Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Financial Crimes in a Digital Age.”
​President Tinubu was officially represented at the venue by Vice President Kashim Shettima, who delivered the address on his behalf.
​”We must no longer permit legal pyrotechnics and procedural pedantry to shelter criminality,” Vice President Shettima declared on behalf of the President. “Our courts must embody the spirit, and not just the arid letter, of the law. Probe prosecution strategies, dismantle outdated precedents, and seal procedural gaps that politically exposed persons and organized crime actors exploit to delay or frustrate trial.”
​President Tinubu described the crusade against financial crimes as a battle for national survival, emphasizing that anti-corruption efforts cannot succeed without an independent, progressive, and reform-minded judiciary. He urged judicial officers to adapt to modern realities as sophisticated financial crimes expand into cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and complex digital asset schemes.
President Tinubu called for a systemic review of outdated legal precedents and procedural rules to eliminate tactics used by high-profile defendants to evade justice.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, underscored the judiciary’s commitment to continuous training and modern case management practices to process digital evidence effectively and ensure swift adjudication.
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, called for deeper collaboration across the justice sector, noting that technological advances frequently outpace current legal prosecution.
The presidency highlighted recent anti-cybercrime enforcement milestones, including the forfeiture of over $5.6 million linked to the CBEX scam, substantial cryptocurrency recoveries, and the prosecution and deportation of 192 foreign nationals involved in cyberterrorism and digital fraud.
​The two-day workshop brings together justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal judges, Federal High Court judges, and state judicial officers to harmonize strategies against economic and financial crimes across Nigeria.
