A number of accused persons have died without the cases of alleged corruption brought against them concluded while those whose cases are still pending in court have been elected into the National Assembly (NASS) or serving as cabinet members in the current administration.
A breakdown of former governors facing corruption charges showed that the North Central Zone has four, North West (4), North East (3), South East (5), South South (4) and South West (3).
The Director of Justice and Human Rights Reforms Initiatives (JHRRI), David Babajide, blamed lawyers for significantly contributing to delays in prosecuting criminal cases in courts.
Babajide accused some of the country’s senior lawyers of facilitating corruption by undermining the prosecution of corrupt individuals through “orders of interlocutory or perpetual injunctions” that favour those embezzling public funds.
He said that in developed societies, lawyers are obligated to uphold the law above all individuals regardless of their status noting however that in Nigeria, many lawyers have placed wealthy and powerful individuals above the law.
Babagide said, “Several senior lawyers have been manipulating the criminal justice system to the detriment of society. They do this by using their expertise to assist clients in ways that violate legal standards.
“This behaviour contravenes paragraph 15 (2) of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, which specifies that: In representing a client, a lawyer must adhere strictly to the law, regardless of any contrary instruction from the client. If the client insists on breaking the law, the lawyer must withdraw their services.”
The director, therefore, called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to investigate and discipline ‘ethically-challenged lawyers’ found to be involved in manipulating the judiciary.
On his part, a professor of law, Ernest Ojukwu (SAN), said obstacles in the implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act has affected timely dispensation of justice.
He identified excessive adjournments, poor investigations, gaps in prosecution, lack of technology and inadequate infrastructure, as well as resource constraints, and inadequate training of judicial officers as some of the constraints.
Ojukwu said to end protracted trials, there must be rigorous adherence to the provisions of ACJA on trial timelines and a limit on the number of adjournments.
“Courts must introduce or strengthen pre-trial case management conferences to identify issues early, streamline the scope of the trial and set clear timelines.
“We must implement electronic filing systems and digital case records to reduce paperwork. We must ensure law enforcement officials receive ongoing training in investigative techniques, case organisation and evidence management and encourage police and prosecutors to collaborate from the onset, ensuring thorough investigations and well-prepared cases before reaching the courts.
“Recruiting and regularly training more judicial officers and adequately staffing courts can help address chronic backlogs. Judges can be more assertive in holding parties accountable for delays that lack valid justification.”
In his comment on the issue, human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), also said several factors contribute to the delay in criminal justice administration.
These, he said, include lack of funding of the judiciary “whereby we still have the same number of courts, to handle the upsurge in crimes and criminalities.”
Adegboruwa said, “For instance, there are situations where the court is ready to proceed with a case, with lawyers prepared and waiting, but no vehicle is available to transport the suspect from prison custody to the courtroom.
“Additionally, there are times when the suspect is present, but there is no power supply in the courtroom, leading to the adjournment of the case for that reason alone.
“In other cases, the investigating police officer is unavailable due to other official duties or outright transfer away from the trial court’s jurisdiction.
“However, the most prevalent of these factors is the lack of judicial personnel to handle the deluge of cases being heaped upon the courts daily. ACJA cannot cure all these issues.
“The search for effective criminal justice administration should, therefore, be holistic so that we do not achieve success in one area, and then failure in other areas still holds us down.
“Criminal cases should generally be given priority attention, given that the life and liberty of the defendants are involved and the cost to society of the criminal act and its prosecution.”