The Bauchi Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has held its Law Week, reports Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU.
More states are domesticating the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) of 2015, and Bauchi is not left out.
The law is before the Bauchi House of Assembly. Governor Mohammed Abubakar said he returned the bill to the lawmakers for their further input.
Speakers at the yearly law week of the Bauchi Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) brainstormed on how to make the law work.
Speaking at the opening, Abubakar described the ACJA as a revolutional legislation.
He was represented by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Mr. Haruna D. Mohammed.
The governor said the ACJA provides the basic legal frameworks and answers to some of the knotty issues confronting criminal Justice administration in the country.
He said: “The Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Bauchi State will as much as possible address the local challenges facing us as a people.
“As a lawyer, I made some observations in the bill presented to me for assent and sent it back to the state legislature, which I believe will do a great job and return same to me for assent.
“By the time we finally adopt the law, our people will see the difference; it will go a long way in decongesting our courts.”
‘Why ACJA was enacted’
In his presentation, Justice A. R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court said said the ACJA was applicable to the trial of all offences created by an Act of the National Assembly.
Besides, he said the 17 states, which have passed the ACJL, relied heavily on the ACJA.
“The ACJA was signed into law by
President Goodluck Jonathan in May 2015. Before then, the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) and the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) were the laws that dominated the Nigerian’s criminal justice framework.
“These laws were inherited from the erstwhile British colonial administration.
“At Independence in 1960, the CPA continued to apply in the Southern states of Nigeria whilst the CPC held sway in the Northern states.
“Several factors compelled the change from the old criminal procedure laws (CPA and CPC) to the new one (ACJA).
“These include delay in the dispensation of justice, congested dockets of the courts, abuse of arrest powers by the police, excessive use of imprisonment due to lack of alternatives, congestion of prisons and high population of Awaiting Trial Persons (ATPs), lack of Witness protection, and above all, highly technical and outdated procedures.
“But the most notorious feature of the old criminal procedure system was that it was highly susceptible to abuse and manipulation through the use of interlocutory appeals and stay of proceedings.”
According to Justice Mohammed, these seriously undermined the ability of the courts to conclude trials which involved high profile defendants.
These defendants, he said, were able to delay their trials for several years through the filing of various interlocutory applications and appeals which delayed the substantive criminal proceedings.
“In Joshua Dariye v. FRN,3 the Supreme Court condemned the eight years delay of the trial of the defendant through the means of interlocutory appeals.
“The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 attempts to address the above-mentioned challenges of the criminal justice system,” he said.
ACJA’s features
On the features of the ACJA, Justice Mohammed said: “The ACJ Act reforms and merges the most essential provisions of the two principal legislations, the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) and the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) into one principal Federal Act which is intended to apply uniformly in all federal courts across the entire federation.
“While building upon the existing framework of criminal justice administration in the country, it fills some of the gaps observed in the old criminal procedure laws over the course of several decades and introduces innovative provisions.”
On the purpose of the Act, he said: “The CPA and CPC did not specifically state the purposes which the laws were intended to serve.
“But the ACJA in section 1 (1) provides that ‘The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the system of administration of criminal justice in Nigeria promotes efficient management of criminal justice institutions, speedy dispensation of justice, protection of the society from crime and protection of the rights and interests of the suspect, the defendant, and the victim’.
“Thus the system of criminal justice administration will not merely punish the offender for the offence committed; the system will also consider the rights and interests of all the stakeholders of the criminal justice system: the society, the suspect, the defendant, the victim.”
ACJA’s purpose
Justice Mohammed believes the speedy dispensation of justice is ACJA’s purpose.
“Delay is endemic in the administration of justice in Nigeria.
“It is, therefore, common for the members of the public to openly express their concern over the problem of delay.
“The ACJA is aimed at addressing this concern amongst others.
“This objective of the Act with respect to the speedy dispensation of justice is in conformity with the provision of section 36 (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to the effect that, ‘whenever a person is charged with a criminal offence, he shall, unless the. charge is withdrawn, be entitled to a fair hearing in public within a reasonable time by a court, or tribunal.
“The Act in section 1 (2) imposes a duty on all criminal justice institutions to ensure compliance with the provisions of the law for the realisation of its above-mentioned purposes,” he said.
Enforceability
Justice Mohammed said the ACJA is enforceable by all federal and FCT courts for trial of offences created by Acts of the National Assembly, except Court Martial.
“In Saraki v FRN, the Supreme Court, per Onnoghen, JSC (as he then was) rightly upheld the applicability of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act to the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
“He rejected the contention that the Tribunal not being a court cannot take refuge under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015,” Justice Mohammed stated.
He took time to look at the provisions of the Act and how the amendments would ensure speedy dispensation of justice in the country.
CJ hails branch
Chief Judge of Bauchi State, Justice Rabi T. Umar described the theme of the Law Week, which bordered on tackling challenges of the Administration of criminal justice law, as timely.
This, she said, was because the law was in the process of being domesticated in the state.
She said the law would “pave way for speedy, smooth, judicious and technicalities free criminal justice administration”.
The CJ expressed optimism that the lawmakers would come up with a bill that will be “one of the best, if not the best in the country in line with international best practices”.
“I have observed with keen interest positive improvement of the NBA Bauchi Branch by the successive leadership in general and the present executive committee in particular.
“A befitting NBA secretariat was set up with functional office equipment which I commissioned on December 22, 2017 as part of the 2017 Legal Year Ceremony.
“The unity, brotherhood and camaraderie existing among the members of the Bar is highly commendable.
“Harmonious working relationship existing between the Bar and the Bench is heartwarming as both are important stakeholders in Administration of Justice.”
Boosting workers’ morale
Justice Umar highlighted some of her achievements in office.
“The Judiciary under my watch always strives hard to maintain highest level of professionalism, work ethics, decorum and discipline.
“Welfare and career progression of judicial staff are given utmost priority by prompt promotion and approval for further studies of deserved staff.
“Issues of discipline are promptly attended to, investigated and where necessary the recalcitrant staff are sanctioned.
“Professionalism is accorded its rightful place as no fewer than 14 Shariah Judges who are lawyers were elevated to Upper Shariah Court,” Justice Umar said.
The branch chairman Mr. Mohammed Maidoki appreciated the State Governor for his contributions to the success of the law week.
He thanked the Chief Judge for personally attending the programme, and vowed that the Bar would continue to work harmoniously with the Bench.