President Muhammadu Buhari has made a strong case for speedy dispensation of justice.
To this end, the president proposed that criminal cases from the lower court to the Supreme Court should be concluded within 12 months, and also advocated for a 15-month period for civil cases.
He made the proposals Wednesday at the 60th Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), with the theme, ‘Stepping Forward.’
Represented virtually by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the NBA’s first virtual AGC, the president said the country’s justice administration was “terribly slow”, and therefore needed urgent re-jig.
While recalling the travails during his failed presidential ambitions, Buhari said it took too long for the courts to decide and eventually dismiss the election petitions he filed to challenge his losses in the 2003, 2007, and 2011 presidential elections.
The president said: “I was before the court for two and half years from 2003 to 2005 and it took me two and a half years to fight for a four-year presidential mandate.”
“In 2007, I was again in court for 20 months, almost two years, as petitioner, and later as appellant in the case of Buhari Vs INEC and in 2011 again as petitioner in the case of CPC Vs INEC, and at the end I lost all three cases; then, I wondered why we had to take so long.
“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.
“In 2019, I was no longer a petitioner; I had now become a respondent in the case of Atiku Vs 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. You had now introduced time limits for election petitions. Everything must be done within a six to eight-month period.
“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 will be stepping forward.”
Speaking further, the president said “the speed of our legal institutions and processes must match with the global base.”
The president also spoke on other issues around the nation’s justice system namely: multiple and conflicting court orders, judicial technicality rather than “clear common sense” and opaque process of appointing Judges.
On technicality, he said: “Justice must make sense to lawyers and non-lawyers alike, as a matter of fact, more to non-lawyers because we are in the majority. Triumph of technicalities opens a door for all sorts of speculations about the true motives of the court and can only detract slowly but surely from the authority of our courts.”
“My fourth issue is on the appointment of Judges. I believe that you must continuously improve on the selection processes for the appointment of the men and women who will serve as judges. We must cast our nets wider in search of Judges especially at the appellate level. We must put in place primarily merit-based selection processes including mandatory tests and interviews for all applicants for judgeship.
“While our Constitution urges federal character for ballots in appointments generally, this is not an excuse for mediocrity.”
CJN
Also speaking, the Chief Justice of Nigeria Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad challenged lawyers to strive at improving the legal system so they could be the nation’s leading lights.
Justice Muhammad said the virtual conference underscored the fact that the Bar was setting the pace in many areas of national life.
“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,” he said.
AGF tasks lawyers on ICT
Also in a remark, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, lauded the NBA on its 60th AGC and urged its leadership to keep in tune with the evolving ICT.
Represented virtually by Solicitor General of the Federation Adedayo Akpata, SAN, he said at the onset of the pandemic, the office of the AGF took it upon itself to adopt the use of ICT.
He said ICT saw the introduction of virtual court proceedings which helped to keep the courts open and also set the pace for a post- COVID-19 justice system.
“My office will continue to drive the much needed legal reforms in promoting the rule of law, and publishing full financial autonomy for the state legislator and state judiciary and re-invigorating the office of the A-G as the Chief Law officer,” he said
Malami said the foregoing would continue to serve as a catalyst to the things being recovered by his office, which includes about 201 million dollars loot, which he said had been ploughed into some critical infrastructure.
He said measures were also on to put in place mechanisms for the prevention of corruption.
Malami further underscored the need for the NBA to rise above circumstances and “step forward” to positively enhance the law-making process.
He said President Buhari had significantly “improved Nigeria’s legal system through the issuance of Executive Orders for better implementation of our laws.”
Usoro speaks
Earlier, the outgoing NBA president, Mr Paul Usoro, SAN, said: “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.”
Usoro spoke against the backdrop of calls by some lawyers, including the Jigawa, Dutse, Bauchi and a section of Kaduna lawyers to boycott the conference over the withdrawal of invitation to Kaduna state Governor Nasir el-Rufai as speaker at the conference.
