In the interest of justice, by BALLASON Gloria Mabeiam

My friends often joke about how lawyers make simple things complicated.
Pick any legal document as a non-lawyer and you will struggle to pick yourself in between the lines.
A land document would begin with something as complicated as “This Deed of Assignment is made this day between the Assignor and the Assignee… “along with other high sounding phrases when the simple act sought to be carried out is someone selling the land and another buying from the seller in the presence of their witnesses after money is exchanged.
Skip the verbosity and sit in the seat of spectators in court; you will find the proceedings interesting especially if you are not the one sweating under the black robe and the jerry-curl wig.
The first row is usually reserved for senior advocates and when they are absent, the most senior would occupy the seat of honour.
The fireworks begin to crack when expressions like “with due respect” begin to fly.
It is a language of dissent that is often followed by a cold below the belt punch.
One of the expressions that is so common in the court room is “In the interest of Justice”.
The clause comes to life anytime the applicant appeals for a wider appeal to what is universally just and generally understood to be the proper thing.
In the past week, there have been a number of interesting situationssome not so funny and others downright ridiculous.
There are other situations that could make one resent the flagrant abuse on humanity and make a call for response in the interest of justice.
For example, Ekiti elections.
So we had 30,000 security personnel to cover the length, breadth and backyard of Ekiti but couldn’t deploy half of that number to prevent the killings of over 40 people in Sokoto state? What kind of a voodoo arrangement is this? It is for the spate of killings that Nigerians have taken to wearing black across the country- Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Southern Kaduna, Abuja..
and yet, Sokoto which is one of the states with the least report of violence, joined the fray with over 40 citizens slain in cold blood.
Pundits have tried to make sense of what happened in Sokoto.
Some theory match the sad phenomenon to Governor Tambuwal’s recent condemnation of the killings across the country while others see the tragedy as a geographical spread of what is happening in neighbouring Zamfara state to the seat of the caliphate.
Let us, for the sake of argument, say that geography is the r e a s o n for the spiral of violence into Sokoto state, the death could still be avoidable if areas which were not violence prone are cordoned.
It would have made more human sense for the 30,000 security agents sent to Ekiti to be redeployed to violence prone and violence endangered states.
The message that went out clearly at the weekend is that politics is more important to the government than human life.
So it does not matter that section 14 of the 1999 Constitution has emphasized that security and the welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.- except of course, citizens rise to that level of consciousness that they demand accountability rather than sit on their hands.
You would think that travesty is shocking enough wait until you hear this.
On Wednesday 11th July, the trial of Sheikh Elzakzaky went on at the Kaduna High court presided by Justice Gideon Kurada.
Two weeks before the adjourned date, residents of the Kaduna metropolis were advised to stay clear major arteries of the city.
Keep in mind that Kaduna is the third largest state in Nigeria; equally keep in focus that the economy is biting hard on the larger population.
Anyways, Kaduna centre was literally shut down because one man was on trial.
And the police deployed? Boy! security was tight.
The police covered the field like an invading army against their assailant.
I have never quite paid attention to the second stanza of the Nigerian Anthem like I did while writing this piece.
“Oh God, of creation, direct our noble cause.
Aha! that bit of directing noble cause bear dwelling on for a bit.
Does our country have a noble cause for its existence? If it does, what is the main reason why we exist as a nation? For crude oil? for politics? For land?…what really is our most prized possession as a country? Quite often, it’s not hard to see.
Thailand answered the question with its demonstration of the rescue of the 12 boys trapped in the cave.
The country stood still.
Every effort was deployed to rescue those boys.
There were no blames traded across party lines.
No comparison of what political dispensation had more casualty than the other.
No effort to find out what tribe was what Thai boy in order to decide what level of care to be apportioned to whom.
Those boys were saved by a country which demonstrated that human life was its most noble cause and most prized possession.
I don’t know about you but I know that when the Thai national anthem is sung, those boys will remember the value the country placed on them in their most vulnerable moment and they would in faith and pride pay allegiance to a country that will risk everything to save one Thai.
It is time to think deeply about what interest justice has in Nigeria.
The anthem prays on for our leaders to be guided right and for the youths to be helped in the knowledge of truth.
What compass is available to guide these leaders for whom we pray for every time we sing the second stanza of the national anthem? Do they want to be guided right? What is the place of conscience in this guidance? Beyond platitudes and admonition, the citizens of Nigeria must do beyond mourning to seeking for accountability.
The bloodshed going on is simply unacceptable.
The Nigerian Mourns protesters who have been lying vigil at the door of Aso rock can tell firsthand that the government is not ready to listen to alternative or higher reasoning.
The country is gradually losing the ire against violence or the shock and revulsion against impunity.
Sadly, it seems like there is a systematic but vocal crusade to show that justice does not matter save the rule of the strong.
Femi Adeshina said as much when he said it was better to live on the land than beneath it.
In a more civilized society, that statement would not only earn him a sack but a demand for legal explanation.
Yet the man shrugged his shoulder off air as though oblivious of the desecration to human life that his reaction portrays.
It is in the Interest of justice that accountability becomes a major fulcrum of our national life.
Justice should prevent crime, address impunity provide redress.