Godwin Tsa Abuja, Lukman Olabiyi and Romanus Okoye
President Muhammadu Buhari (retd) has lamented the slow pace of criminal Justice administration in the country and has proposed a 12-month time frame for the hearing and conclusion of such cases.
The president, who spoke through Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the 60th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) described the justice administration in the nations courts as “terribly slow pace.”
Speaking at the virtual annual conference with the theme “Stepping Forward” the president said following his loss in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential polls, it took so long for the tribunal to hear the matter and pass their verdict.
“At the end, I lost all three cases. I wondered then, why it needed to take so long to arrive at a verdict and if I had won the case, someone who did not legitimately win the election would have been in office all that time,” Buhari said.
“In 2019, I was no longer a petitioner. I had now become a respondent in the case of Atiku and Buhari and the whole process took barely six months; just over six months. What was the difference? The law had changed since my own in 2003, 2007 and 2011.”
Buhari said since time limits have been put in place for electoral cases, criminal and civil matters should also be time-bound.
“My question then is why can’t we have a time limit for criminal cases? Why can’t we have a rule that will say a criminal trial all the way to the supreme court must not exceed 12 months? And why can’t we do the same for civil cases? Even if we say that civil cases must not go beyond between 12 and 15 months. I think that for me is stepping forward,” he said.
He also criticised the spate of conflicting court orders by judges, saying at least eight conflicting court orders were made by different judges within six weeks during the recent leadership crisis that rocked the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He decried what he described as seeming bias over technical issues, saying outcomes of cases must make sense to ordinary people, lawyers and non-lawyers alike, adding that triumph of technicalities opened a door of suspicion.
On appointment of judges, the president said: “We should get the best from different sections of the country. On security, we require full cooperation of all. People ask what is Buhari doing regarding criminal matters? But most offenses are State offenses. Police investigates, but States prosecute.
“So we need a partnership of FG and States and between executive, legislature and judiciary to drive judicial reforms. Let us pledge that in the coming years we will work together as one to build a Nigeria that would be the 4th largest population by the next 60 years.”
In his speech, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Muhammad tasked lawyers on the need to improve the legal system so that they can be leading lights of the nation.
He said the virtual conference underscores the fact that the Bar is setting the pace in many areas of national life.
Justice Muhammad said “For holding this virtual conference in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic exemplifies the doggedness of the Bar under the able leadership of Paul Usoro SAN.”
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said President Buhari has “improved” Nigeria’s legal system through the issuance of Executive Orders for better implementation of our laws.
Speaking through the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Dayo Apata (SAN), Malami said his ministry has so far aided the recovery of $301 million looted funds which he said has been “ploughed into the economy.
The immediate past NBA President, Mr Paul Usoro (SAN) in his address commended members for remaining united and professional.
“Those who are bent on dividing the Bar” would not relent. But we must always remember that we are one united Nigerian Bar Association. We must continue to ensure that we remain a united bar association; we must not be divided along ethnic, religious and other lines. It must always be ‘One is for all, and all is for all,” he stressed.
The conference was trailed by controversy over the de-invitation of the Kaduna State governor, Mallam El-rufai following petitions against him by some aggrieved lawyers over his human rights record and his management of the Southern Kaduna killings.
Following this, some lawyers including the Dutse (Jigawa) and Bauchi Branches of the NBA had threatened to boycott unless Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai was re-invited as a speaker at the AGC.
Similarly, some group of lawyers had also demanded the disinvitation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Rivers State Governor Nyesome Wike.
Inspite of the controversy, the immediate past NBA president disclosed that about 24,000 delegates were expected to participate in the conference.
Meanwhile, the NBA President-elect Olumide Akpata, in a statement, described the AGC as the “largest virtual conference in Africa”.
Chairman of the Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP), Prof. Konyinsola Ajayi (SAN) said that the conference is a landmark event in the annals of the association, especially being the “first virtual conference ever to be organised by the NBA.”