The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Justice

  • Uniport Four: ACN calls for justice

    Uniport Four: ACN calls for justice

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has strongly condemned the lynching of four students of the University of Port Harcourt by an obviously deranged mob, saying such a barbaric act ‘’debases our humanity and strips us all of our dignity’’.

    In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said all those involved in the horrendous and callous act should be fished out and brought to justice to serve as a deterrence.

    It said that in a society governed by law, it is imperative that those who are deemed to have committed any offence whatsoever be allowed to have their day in court rather than be subjected to mob justice.

    ‘’This is what informs the saying that it is better that 10 guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer,’’ the party said.

    It described as encouraging the statement credited to the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, that the police will investigate the killing and that such act is unacceptable in any democratic society where the sanctity of human life remains key.

    The party said all Nigerians should be concerned that the situation in the country has deteriorated to such a level that human beings could be so cruelly treated, so mercilessly beaten, so senselessly hacked and so callously doused in petrol and set ablaze, a treatment that should not even be meted out to animals.

    ‘’The implication of the incredible act of wickedness meted out to these young men is that many of our people are becoming numb to actions that should ordinarily jolt human sensibilities. This is what happens in an environment of uncontrolled violence as we have across our country now, where mass killings are becoming the norm.

    ‘’This is why the Federal Government, supported by all state governments and indeed all Nigerians, must wake up to its responsibility and strive to end the pervasive insecurity in our land,’’ the party said.

  • Family of slain monarch seeks justice

    The family of the Ajalaye 1 of Ofefe land in Odigbo Kingdom, Ondo State, His Royal Majesty Oloja Ajihan, has urged the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar to intervene and monitor the investigation of the brutal killing of their patriarch last December at his residence.

    Addressing reporters in Akure, counsel to the Ajihan family, L.K. Dare and Co. Legal Practitioners said it has become a matter of urgency for the IGP to personally monitor the proceeding of the case because the police officers handling the matter at Akure were not doing justice to it.

    Dare said: “Our brief is to call the IGP to personally intervene in this matter and to call the general public and well meaning Nigerians to prevail on the IGP to show interest before the situation escalates.”

    The solicitor explained that petitions were written to the IGP over the murder of Ajihan by some gunmen who also allegedly stole his N200,000. The petition was approved and sent to SAR Lagos for investigation following which three arrests were made.

    He said further: “Lagos SAR swung into action immediately and have arrested three suspects two of whom actually shot Oloja Ajihan dead on December 1, 2011. The principal suspect was invited by the SAR Lagos, but rather than honour police invitation in January 2012, he went to X-squad in Akure.”

    Dare stated that the X-squad has no business with the investigation, “It is our information that X-squad can only deal with members of police force where cases of bribery, abuse of office or fraud are involved and can only report to provost for discipline.”

    He maintained that some of those who were arrested in the course of the investigation have now become friends of the police, making all information in their petition available to them and equally telling them what to avoid.

    The body of the late Oba which is still lying in the mortuary would only be properly interred when full investigation and justice have been done in the matter as it was currently in the court.

    He added: “The body of the murdered Ajihan is still in mortuary and that our two petitions are now being frustrated, truncated and scuttled by CP X-squad, and some officers of the police force.”

    Earlier, A High Court ordered the Ondo State Police Command to continue with the investigation into the death of slain Oba. Justice Isaiah Adegbenro granted an order of mandamus compelling the IGP, the Police Service Commission and Commissioner of Police to continue with the murder case of Ajihan.

     

     

    The Judge had berated the police for discontinuing the investigation as alleged by the family. “Application for an order of mandamus to compel the respondent to continue police investigation into this case from where the original investigation stopped is granted as prayed.”

     

  • Re: We advocate substantial justice

    I humbly refer to an article authored by J.S Okutekpa (SAN) and Captioned as above. The said article was published on page 30 of The Nation newspaper of Tuesday, January 3, 2012.
    In the said article, the learned Senior Advocate condemned a situation where election petitions linger in various tribunals beyond the 180 days stipulated by section 285 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). He specifically made reference to appeals that were allowed and ordered to be heard de novo on their merits before another panel. The learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria decried this situation and described it as Judicial Legislation and a violation of the principle of separation of powers… “He further submitted that “Those courts or tribunals still hearing petitions outside the 180 days set out in section 285 of the constitution are … committing constitutional sacrilege and insubordination in the extreme”.
    Although the learned SAN did not mention any particular case, it is apparent that he was referring to the recent Supreme Court decisions in Akpanudodehe Vs Akpabio and others as well as Professor Stephen Ugbah and others VS Suswam and others (unreported).In the cases cited above, the election petition tribunals sitting in Uyo and Makurdi dismissed petitions filed by the appellants on purely technical grounds. The court of Appeal upheld the patently obnoxious decisions of the various tribunals.
    On further appeal to the Supreme Court, it was held (and quite rightly in my humble opinion) that the cases should be tried de novo on their merits.
    In taking this laudable decision the Supreme Court (Per Musdapher CJN) emphasized that every court has a sacred duty to do substantial justice in all cases brought before it and that no court should allow technicality to defeat the cause of justice.
    Consequent upon the foregoing decision of the Supreme Court, the cases were sent back for trial de novo before new panels.
    It is apparently against the back ground of the foregoing that the learned SAN complained that the cases have lingered beyond the mandatory 180 days stipulated by section 285 of the 1999 constitution.
    In arriving at this conclusion however, the learned SAN failed to consider the legal implications of a trial de novo.
    I submit with the greatest humility that the legal implication of a trial de novo is that no trial ever took place. No reference or mention will therefore be made of any thing that happened in the previous trial.
    There is a plethora of authorities to support this proposition. In Bakule Vs Tanerewa (NIG) Ltd (1995) 2 NWLR Part 380 page 728 at 732 Ratio 6, the Court of Appeal held inter alia “The effect of starting a case afresh (de novo) before another judge is to sweep clean all previous proceedings in the case”. See to the same effect Fabunmi Vs Oyewusi (1990) 6 NWLR Part 159 page 728 at 731 Ratio 5.
    Thus the legal implication of the trial de novo ordered by the Supreme Court in the case of Professor Stephen Ugbah Vs Gabriel Suswam and others (Supra) as well as Akpan Udoedehe Vs Akpabio and others (Supra) is that the 180 days stipulated by section 285 of the constitution will start counting from the day the trials were started afresh. This is because proceedings in the previous trials had been swept clean and in law, the cases are presumed to have been freshly filed.
    May I conclude this piece by applauding the decision of the Supreme Court to descend ruthlessly on technicalities. Technicalities are evil as they constitute a clog in the wheel of justice. If justice must not only be done but be seen to have been done then substantial justice must be eternally upheld.
    Maraizu is a lawyer and Managing Partner of Abuja-based Iheanyi Maraizu & Co