The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Justice

  • Expectant woman seeks justice over husband’s murder

    A widow whose husband was allegedly murdered last month by a spy police officer attached toAgip Oil Company has cried out for justice.

    The late Nwachukwu, a welder, was the Public Relation Officer of Ogbegene Community Development Committee (CDC) in Ogba/Egbema Local Government of Rivers State where company is located.

    Mrs. Evidence Nwachukwu who is expectant told The Nation that her late husband was shot by an officer attached to the oil giant. The alleged killer was simply identified as Mallam. He was shot while on his way back from a site at the community where he was supervising a water project.

    The widow and mother of three, who has taken the matter to human rights advocates, said the police have done their best in the matter to ensure that she and her children are not abandoned by the Agip Company, adding that they should do more for the sake of justice.

    She said: “I am a poor widow, my husband was shot dead by one police officer attached to Agip Company, the man was simply identified as Malam, when the incident took place last month, we made all efforts through the assistance of the Police for the company to come to our aid but they refused.”

    Nwachukwu who battled to control her tears also addded: “The oil company has abandoned me and my children that is why we took the matter to human right organization for justice to be done, they have made me a widow overnight and I am calling on Nigerians and Police Authority to assist me and my children to address this injustice.”

    The chairman of Ogbegene Community Development committee (CDC), Mr. Ishmael Odili promised that the community where the deceased served as the PRO will ensure that justice is done on the matter.

    “When the deseased was shot, I was the first person they called and he died after the police rushed him to Deye Hospital, Omoku. He was coming back from the site one morning when a police officer stopped him and shot him to death. He commited no crime that is why the company is afraid to come up, but I know we will get justice over the matter.”

    When contacted Rivers State Police Public Relation Officer PPRO, Mrs. Angela Agabe confirmed the report. “The police are still investigating the matter, as I am talking to you now a lawyer just left my office in respect of that. But I want the press to always differentiate between the spy police and the Nigerian police because the suspect is a spy police”

  • ACN lawyer: it’s an unfortunate dimension in justice

    The ACN counsel, Charles Titiloye, yesterday said: “The Court of Appeal’s judgment has added another unfortunate dimension to the electoral justice in Nigeria.

    “While the Court of Appeal agreed that the issue of voter register can never be a pre-election matter and it has jurisdiction to entertain same, it imposed another criterion of substantiality of the allegation of the injection of fresh names.

    “It is very unimaginable that a petitioner will be required to prove substantiality of a void and compromised Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) document, which the Court of Appeal agreed, fell short of the requirement of the Electoral Act in its preparation by INEC.

    “If a document is void as a product of non-compliance with Electoral Act in its preparation, no valid election can stand on it.

    “ACN will approach the Supreme Court to sanitise the electoral process and ensure justice for Ondo State indigenes.

    “Election in 2015 is a foregone conclusion if INEC’s manipulation of the Ondo State voter register was found to be true by the courts but allowed to stand for whatever reason. We must not erode people’s confidence for justice in the judiciary.”

  • Senate confirms Justice Kekere-Ekun as Justice of Supreme Court

    The Senate on Wednesday confirmed the nomination of Justice Kudirat M.O. Kekere-Ekun, as a Justice of the Supreme Court.
    This followed the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters on the screening of the Justice Kekere-Ekun.
    Before she was unanimously confirmed, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin (Oyo South) described Kekere-Ekun as hard working and articulate, saying her erudite
    judgments have always been a source of joy to Nigerians.
    The lawmaker noted that as a lawyer, he had appeared before Justice Kekere-Ekun who started as a private legal practitioner.
    Lanlehin noted that in the course of appearing before the screening committee, Justice Kekere-Ekun was asked how the judiciary could be
    improved through the use of ICT, which she answered effectively being herself an ICT compliant.
    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) lawmaker said that there was no doubt that the appointment of Kekere-Ekun as a Justice of the Supreme Court
    would be a huge plus to the apex court and the country.
    Senator Ita Enang, (Akwa Ibom North East) in his contribution noted that Justice Kekere-Ekun attained her position on individual merit.
    Enang said that the National Judicial Council should strive to increase the number of Justices of the Supreme Court to ensure equity to all
    sections of the country.
    He insisted that no part of the country should be made to feel that it is not represented.
    Senator Heineken Lokpobiri also raised the issue of equity in appointment of Justices of the Supreme Court.
    Lokpobiri said that in the past some zones of the country always dominated appointment in the Supreme Court.
    The Bayelsa born lawmaker said that people of integrity who would not mind convicting their own children should always be appointed Justices of the
    Supreme Court while merit should always be the yard stick for appointment.

  • Slain policeman’s sibling seeks justice

    One month after about 90 policemen were gruesomely murdered by the Ombatse Cult in Nasarawa State, relations of one of the victims have remained traumatised. Now, they are worried that justice has been delayed over the matter.

    Christian Ibekwe was among the victims, who were cut down in their prime. His 22-year-old brother, Nicholas, a journalist, sobbed while narrating the trauma of the deceased kinsmen, including his 65-year-old mother, Mrs. Christiana Ibekwe.

    Nicholas told The Nation that the absence of justice over the case “has tormented me and every member of our bereaved family like a sore toe in an ill-fitting shoe.”

    Christian, an Inspector attached to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Nasarawa, was 45 when he was killed, leaving behind, his young wife, two kids and his aged mother.

    Nicholas said: “I’ve only succeeded in switching from one level of depression to another like a danfo driver switching lanes in Lagos rush-hour traffic. Even when I manage to sleep, it’s often in snatches – I’m violently roused to reality by frightful nightmares as I sweat as if I took a dive in the devil’s pool. Leaving the house is terribly becoming unexciting these days. I’m badly beaten and bruised all over by dejection.

    “One might argue that these are signs of intense grieving. True. I haven’t known grief this deep. The pain I felt at the passing of my old man was nothing compared to this. However, I’m traumatised more by my helplessness at bringing the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice. It disturbs me greatly that 10 years from now, I might have to tell my two nephews that the savages that killed their father were never arrested or prosecuted.”

    He spoke further: “Worse, the government and police authorities have made only a feeble, or honestly, no attempt whatsoever to make them pay. They haven’t even bothered to tell the truth of how these men were led to their death. It breaks my heart that the founder of this cult group still talks freely to the media and brags about how “his gods sent fire from above to kill the policemen.”

    “I want to express how brazen we have become at the brutal waste of human lives and the impunity around it. Further, I hope by sharing the trauma my family endured this past month, we can begin to, at least, imagine the suffering of thousands of families that lost loved ones in the convulsing madness that has darkened the soul of the country. I also intend that this will serve as a wake-up call for those of us in our little bubbles outside the north that evil is roaming just down the street.”

    Nicholas added: “Many of the murdered policemen would still be alive today if the police authorities had done basic checks before hurriedly deploying them to death. They were not properly briefed.

    “There was basically no planning whatsoever. Their convoy was easily ambushed and the men butchered in the most cold-blooded manner. Many of the bodies recovered were sprayed with bullets, butchered with cutlasses and deliberately burnt beyond recognition. The Assistant Commissioner that led the team was discovered in an abandoned well, bloated, with one of his legs missing.”

    Though he said the shock of his brother’s killing was gradually subsiding, he reiterated his call on police authorities to ensure justice.

  • Police and justice for Citizen Ibrahim

    SIR: Not long ago in Benin City, a team of policemen swooped on a mechanic workshop located near a shopping complex belonging to the state government and arrested a young man of about 30 years said to be a mechanic. His offence was not disclosed as his alleged accuser, another mechanic, had merely telephoned officers at the station to arrest, detain and release only when he was satisfied that the alleged offence had been sufficiently atoned for. The accuser never wrote a statement at the police station. The ‘’suspect” was released 24 hours after arrest as directed by the accuser without being asked to make a statement. He was happy to be alive to tell the story of his unlawful arrest and detention. He had enough reason to.

    The incident referred to above is but one of the many such incidents of mindless police impunity, brutality and mistreatment of fellow citizens recorded daily across the country.

    The latest incident is the killing and secret burial of a 22-year old said to be a final year student of the University of Benin, Ibrahim Momodu. He was allegedly shot dead on May 27, while on his way home riding on a commercial motor cycle at about 9pm. The Divisional Police Officer, DPO Carol Afegbai, and her men are alleged to have carried out the killing and burying the body without the knowledge of the family. The police have claimed that Ibrahim was stopped for search by the police in the process of which he allegedly drew a gun as a result of which he was shot. The Okada man, the police claim, escaped leaving the unregistered motor bike behind. Items said to have been recovered from a bag alleged to belong to Ibrahim include some live cartridges and two mobile phones.

    Expectedly, the extra judicial murder of has generated an outrage. On Monday, June 3, students of the University of Benin and family members of Ibrahim staged a protest in Benin City to draw attention to the gruesome murder and demand justice. The protest was also carried to the Government House. In the evening of the same day, the police came out with its story but did not offer any explanation as to why the corpse of Ibrahim was hurriedly buried without notice to anyone.

    Official reaction has also come from the authorities of the University of Benin. The University, through its Public Relations Officer, Harrison Osarieren has denied that the deceased was one of its students. Whatever the truth of the studentship status of Ibrahim may be, the fact of his extra judicial murder is not in dispute. Every Nigerian citizen is under the constitution guaranteed his/her right to life which cannot be denied except in exercise or execution of an order of court.

    The police high command has also placed the DPO on suspension ostensibly to ensure proper investigation of the murder. This is a welcome step on the part of the police authorities as it is indicative of its preparedness to ensure that justice is not only done but seen to have been manifestly done.

    Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has promised to set up a panel of enquiry to investigate the killing. This is a welcome development. Many extra judicial killings have occurred in the past which were swept under the carpet. The panel should provide citizens opportunity to confront the police with concrete evidence which will help unravel the motive behind the killing of citizen Ibrahim.

    • Nasamu Jacobson

    Benin City.

  • Woman seeks justice over son’s killing

    An employee of the Edo State Centre for Community Development, Mrs. Osas Okungbowa Momodu, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar to investigate the alleged killing of her only son by some policemen.

    Her son, Ibrahim Momodu, a 500-level student in the department of Science Laboratory Technology of the University of Benin, was reportedly shot dead by the police last Wednesday night along Textile Mill Road, Benin City.

    In the petition, mother of the victim urged the police boss to urgently look into the killing and bring those responsible to justice.

    She said her son was shot dead by policemen attached to Ogida Police Station on trumped-up allegation of armed robbery.”

    The petition read: “It might suffice you to know that when I went to the station after I called my son’s GSM number on that fateful day, the police gave a conflicting version of how he was killed”.

    “The police referred to my son as a commercial bus driver while my son could not even drive a car. The motorcycle which my son boarded was impounded, while the whereabouts of the motorcyclist remain unknown.”

    “It is my candid prayer that you launch an unbiased investigation into the killing of Ibrahim Momodu and bring the culprits to justice,” she said.

    In a chat with The Nation, Mrs. Momodu said she was told by sympathisers at the scene that the police ran away after killing her son, only to return the following morning to collect his corpse for burial.

    She said a policeman told her at the State Police Headquarters that her son was killed during a shoot-out and that the motorcyclist escaped with bullet wounds.

    Meanwhile, students and members of civil societies in the state have mobilised to protest the killing in major streets of Benin City today.

    Executive Director of African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, Rev David Ugolor, who condemned the killing, said a formal petition would be written for a panel of inquiry to be set up to investigate where the victim allegedly robbed and for the police to release the pathology report.

    State Police spokesman, DSP Moses Eguaveon, a Deputy Suprentendet (DSP), could not be reached for comments at press time.

  • One year after Dana crash victims seek justice

    One year after Dana crash victims seek justice

    A year after the Dana Air crash that killed 163 passengers, it is no longer business as usual at the Iju Ishaga site reports Sunday Oguntola

     

    It’s been over 30 years since Alhaja Ramota Akinwusi moved to House 11, Popoola Street, Iju-Ishaga Lagos. But the last one year has been the most traumatic and frenetic for the widow. “This place is not the same again at all,” she muttered last Friday.

    She was merely stating the obvious. The changes are there for all to see. Alhaja Ojasope, as she is popularly called, and other residents have been battling with how much has changed in the community. Many of their former neighbours and acquaintances are nowhere to be found again. At least four of them died when Dana Air Flight 992 crashed in the vicinity on June 3, 2012.

    It was a crash that was to change their destiny and that of the community forever!

    Mass relocation and arrivals

    Other survivors lost their apartments and accommodations, forcing them to relocate. Those whose lives and property were spared have lost the courage to live in the neighbourhood again. “Many of them have moved away. They say they see things and live under torment. The sight and sound of airplanes kill them every day psychologically,” a resident who identified himself as Ibrahim stated.

    Akinwusi, a leader in the community, said she had lost count of families that have moved away. “They keep going and going. I have known some of them for over 20 years. Some were tenants and some house owners. We have shared intimate moments together but no more, thanks to the Dana crash,” she added.

    Their departures left voids and memories difficult to replace. “Many of my friends and pals have left. It is so scary that it was the crash that made them leave,” Ibrahim lamented. These families were closely knitted, sharing close affinities forever severed in a harsh, unpleasant manner.

    But as they leave, there are naturally new arrivals. The high demand for accommodation in a populous city like Lagos would mean people will most certainly take over. In almost all the streets in the community, investigations showed there has been unprecedented arrival of new families. Blessing Uwa is one of them.

    Her new apartment on Olaniyi Street was badly affected when the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 plane crashed. Those who could not live with the torments left, making it possible for her to move in with her husband. “I came here about three months ago,” she began. “Though I knew about what happened but I was not bothered because I did not live here to see the carnages.”

    These arrivals have shot up rent values in the neighbourhood. A 3-bedroom apartment that used to go for N250, 000 per annum now costs N350,000 – 400,000. Yinka Bello, an estate agent in the community, said this is expected as house owners move to maximise profits.

    “Those whose buildings were affected had to rebuild through loans and borrowing. They have to recoup. Those whose houses were unaffected have to benefit from the current market value since their old tenants moved. That is why the rents have gone up drastically,” he explained.

    High costs of renovations and rebuilding

    For most house owners, the last one year has been frenetic. Many of them have had to rebuild devastated buildings at massive costs. The toilets, bathrooms and a room in the apartment of Alhaja Ojasope were badly destroyed after the crash. All of them are wearing a new look but at great costs.

    She revealed she had been left with no option than to obtain a high interest-paying loan to rebuild the structures. “I am only a poor widow. Where can I get money? What trade do I have? I only had to borrow and I am still heavily indebted for the reconstruction,” she hinted.

    One of her two shops has also been demolished to accommodate a new road construction in the community. “Since I moved here, things have never been this bad,” she complained. Mrs. Grace Adekunle is the owner of House 7 Popoola Street. The widow had been through the valley of the shadow of death since the incident.

    The trauma of leaving the house where her late husband was buried compounded her health challenges. Her blood pressure had been on the rise since. “I have not been myself at all. Apart from the loss of my trading business and the damage to our house, I was hospitalised and left to suffer,” she recounted. At a point, she moved to the rehabilitation home in Ipaja for victims where she said she only benefitted from the feeding.

    “They (Dana officials) took us to hospital for tests but failed to pay for our treatments. I stopped going after nothing was forthcoming. I had to live with a landlord in a room apartment after being a house owner for years,” she recalled.

    When she finally came back, she was faced with the challenge of rebuilding without funds. “I had to just borrow. I am still in debts with my children, otherwise we won’t be here again at all.”

    Many other house owners on Okusanya, Olaniyi and Popoola streets stated that they have become indebted due to the reconstruction they had to do.

    Where is the compensation?

    But they are still a bit luckier. They, at least, have houses and structures to rebuild. For Pastor Daniel Omowumi, it is a tale of nowhere to go. The highly successful entrepreneur is down to ground zero, no thanks to the crash. His business empire and residence crashed with the plane less than six months after he moved to the community.

    From an employer of labour, he has become an ordinary struggler, surviving on the largesse of acquaintances and relations. When our correspondent met him last Friday, he cut a pitiable sight. Recounting his ordeals in the last one year, Omowumi said: “My brother, it has been tough. It is not easy at all. It is only by the grace of God that I have been surviving. You know those who work and receive salaries are still struggling, let alone someone like me who has been out of business for almost a year now.

    “Dana has almost ruined my life. The airline destroyed my business.” Despite his losses, he said he has not been paid any compensation (see full interview). What used to be his thriving furniture and printing press businesses have been turned to a cenotaph ahead of the first anniversary of the ill-fated flight.

    A blessing in disguise?

    There is blessing in adversity for some. In so many ways, however, the crash has been a blessing in disguise for the community. The Lagos State government has focused developmental projects in the neighbourhood ahead of the anniversary. Two months ago, H.F.P Engineering Nigeria Limited moved to the area to embark on massive road constructions. The inner roads on Kufeji, Idowu Williams, Okusanya and Olaniyi streets leading to the cenotaph were being completed last Friday when our correspondent visited.

    Many staff of the firm were seen frantically working on the projects. Not less than four caterpillars were on site. The roads were being constructed with culvert drains to fight flooding, which has been troubling the neighbourhood for ages. There are also street lights ready for commissioning ahead of the visit of Governor Raji Fashola tomorrow.

    The secretary of Akande Community Development Association (CDA), Mr. Akin Aina, noted the “rapid, unprecedented infrastructural developments” were most welcomed. According to him, “There have been some rapid and unexpected infrastructural developments here. That is very connected with the crash. We are really grateful to Governor Fashola for this because we are now receiving infrastructural attention in this area.”

    He admitted the projects would not have been possible without the unfortunate incident. The fences of several houses have been demolished to accommodate the new roads. This, Aina stated, has left the community insecure. “In the last one week, we have recorded four armed robberies because the houses are left without fences. We want the government to help us on this. We also have the issue of flooding that has devastated many houses.”

    Cries for justice

    Omowumi, Adewusi, Adekunle and other residents are livid Dana Air has not been forthcoming with compensation. “I have not received a dime from them,” Adewusi stated. According to Adekunle, she only got an umbrella worth N200 from the airline after the incident.

    “When we were in the rehabilitation home, they gave me an umbrella that I found out costs only N200. Apart from that, I have not received anything else.” The debts she incurred to rebuild her house, she said, keep mounting, forcing her blood pressure to keep shooting up. “It is true we are alive but we are dead already. How can we survive without any form of compensation?”

    Omowumi accused the airline of playing hanky panky with his claims after submission of all relevant documents. “They have ruined my business but they cannot ruin my life,” he boasted.

    When our correspondent visited the Allen Avenue, Ikeja office of Dana Air, he was told the spokesman, Mr. Tony Oshidame, was not around. No official of the airline was willing to comment, saying only Oshidame was competent to talk. Calls to his mobile phone were not successful.

    For Omowumi and others who ever lived on Iju Ishaga, the crash was one too many. Their lives and community will never remain the same. It is only a year after but life has taken a different turn.

     

  • ‘Social justice, a panacea for security’

    ‘Social justice, a panacea for security’

    Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Okey Wali (SAN) has said the society can only be secure if there is justice.

    Speaking at the NBA Gombe Branch Law Week programme, he said insecurity is stalling Nigeria’s development.

    Wali was represented by NBA Second Vice-President Mr Stephen Abar.

    He said: “The topic chosen by the Gombe Branch of the NBA for this year’s Law Week could not be more apt given the prevailing state of insecurity being experienced in most parts of Nigeria and particularly in the North – Eastern parts of the country.

    “The state of affairs has constituted a serious impediment to development and is even threatening to undermining the territorial integrity of the Nation.

    “The leadership of the NBA has demonstrated deep concern about this seemingly intractable situation which is not only undermining the sanctity of human life, but has also portrayed the security agencies as incapable of reining in the challenges posed by belligerent elements who are hell-bent on unleashing mayhem on innocent members of society and visiting untold hardship by engaging in systematic destruction of both private and public properties.

    “It was borne out of this deep concern for the deteriorating security situation in the country that the NBA, under her current leadership convoked a National Peace and Security Summit as a priority programme in January, 2013.

    “It is apposite to state that social justice cannot find expression in a system where the rule of law does not prevail. It is therefore trite that the two concepts are inseparable.

    “This explains why the NBA has remained consistent at the vanguard of advocacy for all strata of governance in the country to evolve and pursue policies and programmes that will entrench social justice. This is one of the surest ways to dousing discontent that inevitably results to insecurity.”

     

  • Council pushes pro bono to aid indigents’ access to justice

    Council pushes pro bono to aid indigents’ access to justice

    CONGESTION has always been a major flow of the prison system. It is worsened by the seeming helplessness of those concerned. This is because past efforts at prison de-congestion have not yielded positive results.

    Today, all the nation’s prisons, built ages ago, are not only devoid of basic facilities, they are over-crowded. Nigerian prison now pass as human destructive facilities as against being reformatory.

    One of the first prisons in the country – the Warri prison – was built in 1805; Azare 1816; Degema 1855 while the newest, Zing was built in 2011.

    Worse still, majority of inmates in these prisons are people, whose guilt has not been established. Some have spent years as awaiting trial inmates for offences that ordinarily, would have attracted months’ sentence.

    By a report of the nation’s prisons audit carried out in 2012 by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some stakeholders, over 80 per cent of inmates in the nation’s about 234 prisons, are awaiting trial inmates.

    This, no doubt, reflects a failure on the part of the various components of the country’s criminal justice system.

    Aside that police’s investigations are largely crudely conducted, devoid of scientific analysis; but mostly dependent on forced confession, the pace of trial at the nation’s court is mostly, at snail speed. It becomes worse when an accused person is without legal representation.

    It is in this light that the move by the Legal Aid Council (LAC) to encourage a standardised, well-coordinated and documented pro bono (free legal) services in the country, is heart warming.

    LAC Chairman, Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), explained that his council, working with the new Legal Aid Act 2011, has introduced some radical reforms and designed a new framework to guide its activities till 2015.

    Speaking in Abuja, Ayorinde said: “We are now ready with a working paper to guide the council. It is entitled: Justice for all: The Attorney General’s outlook for the Nigerian Legal Aid Council. It has as its blueprint; ‘partnership, accessibility and sustainability.’ It is meant to guide the council from 2012 to 2015.”

    He said having realised that pro bono, is at the very heart of legal aid, his council has initiated plans to bring on board, the private Bar (private lawyers), to encourage them take up a number of pro bono cases, which LAC recommends. “Lawyers in the country already engage in pro bono services. But this time, we want to regulate the provision of pro bono services. We are setting up a system, in the form of collaboration between the private Bar and the LAC.

    “We have had consultations with the various Bars, individual lawyers and some Senior Advocates of Nigeria. They are all very excited about this prospect and are looking forward to working with us.

    “What we want to do is to properly regulate the provision of this service rather than leaving it to the discretion of the lawyers. The 2011 Act gives LAC the authority to empanel pro bono works for lawyers.

    “Its powers to regulate pro bono is contained in sections 14 and 15 of the Act. We shall be giving out case, we shall regulate and monitor.

    “We have put a system in place, in the form of peer review mechanism. We will not only give out cases, but also monitor the way they are handled.

    “We believe this will help decongest the over populated prisons,” Ayoride said.

    He said his council was planning a conference for September 19 in Lagos as part of its effort to further enlighten the public and other stakeholders about its plans to standardise pro bono practice in the country.

    Ayorinde said the conference, with the theme: “Access to justice: Advancing the frontiers of pro bono,” will serve as a platform for the involvement of all stakeholders in the access to justice and justice delivery systems “to meet with us.” Another member of LAC management board, Adebayo Adelodun (SAN) said his council’s core responsibility is ensuring access to justice by the less privileged, for which pro bono serves as a veritable vehicle.

    “Yes, some lawyers provide free services in some cases. But it is the intention of the council to achieve optimum level in the rendering of free legal services in the country. Today, many senior lawyers are not involved in pro bono. They are the ones, who should be,” Adelodun said. Adelodun, the Chairman, of the Conference Planning Committee, explained that this year’s is designed to build on the gains of the council’s maiden conference held in November last year in Abuja.

    He said the Lagos conference is aimed at sustaining the awareness and interest of the public in the activities of the LAC in its efforts directed at bringing justice closer to the masses of this country. LAC’s Director General, Mrs Joy Bob-Manuel said, more than ever before, the 2011 Act has placed more responsibility on the council to act for thr masses. “It is not enough for lawyers to say they do pro bono. There should be recod. That is why we are empowered under the Act, to empanel and monitor cases where free legal services are rendered. Access to justice is at the heart of the doctrine of rule of law. Poverty should not deprive citizens access to justice, to court and to legal representation,” Mrs Bob-Manuel said

     

  • Delayed justice

    Delayed justice

    • Court reinstates sacked CBN worker 21 years after. Good but could have been better

    Our judicial system surely deserves fundamental restructuring, if we seriously desire to make progress as a nation. While that important arm of government suffers many challenges, we note that undue drag in accessing justice has become one of the most critical challenges for a litigant.

    The experience of Mr. Tunde Akinlusi, whose employment was wrongfully terminated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), but reinstated by the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, after 21 years is a fresh reminder of this grievous challenge. Interestingly, both the High Court and the Court of Appeal agree that the termination of his employment was wrongful, yet it took Mr. Akinlusi 21 years to get through the Court of Appeal.

    The length of time it takes to traverse our courts is rather too long, and there is urgent need for redress. Now, should the matter further proceed to the Supreme Court, there is the possibility that Mr. Akinlusi may spend another decade fighting a mere interpretation of a written contract. That is rather beguiling in a modern world underpinned by contractual obligations. If a fairly straightforward interpretation of a contract could take that long, it is better imagined the fate that befalls intricate criminal and corruption trials, which have continued to render our nation nearly comatose. This perhaps is why most of the trials of the corrupt public officials have remained at preliminary stages, some nearly a decade after.

    Interestingly, at a recent public hearing on the Administration of Criminal Justice Bill 2013 organised by the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mukhtar and the Chief Judge, Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, spoke on the delay in the administration of Justice. The CJN listed the challenges of our justice system to include corruption, too many cases in court, inadequacy of judicial personnel, lack of modern management technology and the absence of case management techniques. In his own contribution, Justice Auta hinged the greatest challenge on corruption among the police, lawyers, prison officials and the judges, who he argued all aid the delay in the delivery of justice.

    As the experience of Mr. Akinlusi shows, civil cases also suffer debilitating delays; so there is urgent need to restructure our entire justice system. As we have severally argued on this page, the National Judicial Council must work hard to rid the judiciary of corruption, to gift the country jurists who will dispense justice without fear or favour. Again, there is the urgent need to modernise the courts, and provide modern equipment to aid speedy dispensation of justice. One other way to stem the delay which Lagos State High Courts pioneered in the country is the resort to alternative dispute resolution mechanism, to help reduce the number of cases in court.

    It is also important that the procedure for the appointment of judicial officials be made more transparent and competitive, so that only those fully prepared will ascend the bench. One other option which the constitution review process should consider is to allow the states to have their own hierarchy of courts, with powers to determine conclusively clearly delineated cases.

    The current system that allows all manner of cases to proceed to the Supreme Court should also be reviewed, as the appellate courts are clustered with interlocutory applications; which invariably suffocate the substantive cases. In the instant case of Mr. Akinlusi, the CBN may also, in the public interest, forgo its right for a further appeal to the Supreme Court, to save costs and allow their staff to enjoy the fruits of his labour while alive.