‘Why high profile cases are delayed’

Heads of courts and other stakeholders met in Abuja to examine
factors responsible for delay of high profile corruption cases and
the way out, reports Eric Ikhilae.

Judges, including the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court,
Justice Adamu Kafarati,and his counterpart at the High Court of the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Isahq Bello, have blamed
incompetent prosecution, among others, for delay in the trial of
high profile individuals.

They identified poor investigation, incompetent drafting of
charges, including filing of charges with multiple charges, without
evidence to prove such charges; display of lackadaisical attitude
on the part of prosecuting lawyers, among others, as causes of
delay.

They urged judges to be firm in the control and management of
court proceedings, and exhibit enhanced commitment to the course of
justice.

The Chairman, Corruption and Financial Cases Trial Monitoring
Committee (COTRIMCO), Justice Suleiman Galadima, regretted that
corruption “has made a mess of our judicial process.”

A Professor of Law and President, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies
(CSLS), Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), called for the provisions of
better working tools and conducive environment for judges to
operate, as a measure against delay in trials.

They spoke in Abuja on November 15, this year, at a “one-day
interactive workshop for heads of courts and other stakeholders.”
The well-attended event, with the theme: “Specialised court’s and
the challenge of speedy dispensation of justice in high profile
criminal cases (HPCCs),” was put together by CSLS and COTRIMCO.

Also at the event were Justices Tijani Abubakar and Joseph
Oyewole (of the Court of Appeal); Justices Olasumbo Goodluck and
Adebukola Banjoko (of the High Court of the FCT), Justice Ijeoma
Ojukwu of the Federal High Court; General Secretary of the Nigerian
Bar Association (NBA), Jonathan Taidi; a member of COTRIMCO, Garba
Tetengi (SAN); African Director of the Macarthur Foundation, Kole
Shettima and Abimbola Kayode of the Abuja branch of the NBA.

Galadima (a retired Justice of the Supreme Court) said stressed
the reason for the gathering. He said the event was in furtherance
of COTRIMCO’s objectives of “deepening understanding of the
challenges facing the administration of criminal justice and
providing a platform for the stateholders to deliberate on how to
overcome the challenges.”

Galadima added: “We all feel concerned that the pace of justice
delivery is not moving fast enough to meet the constitutional
standard of ‘trial within a reasonable time’.

“This is particularly so in regard to the trial of High-Profile
Corruption and Financial Crime Cases (HPCCs).

“The prevalent practice under which political offIce holders and
other high-profile defendants, who were charged to court several
years ago are still undergoing trial due mainly to all manner of
reasons makes a mockery of our judicial process.

“Corruption, no doubt, has made a mess of our judicial process,
and it is in the enlightened interest of the judiciary and entire
legal profession, to restore confidence in the process.

“We must reverse the prevailing perception that the judicial
process is corrupt, ineffective, inefficient and susceptible to
manipulation by the high-profile defendants and politically-exposed
persons,” Justice Galadima said.

Kafarati, who was represented by Justice John Tsoho (also of the
Federal High Court), suggested the engagement of competent
prosecutors and investigators to address the problem of delay.

He cited the case of a former Nigerian Governor, who was jailed
in a foreign country within a short time, while the prosecution in
Nigeria was unable to commence trial, two years after some of the
Governor’s alleged accomplices were charged before his court.

Kafarati said the delay in the trial process is indeed,
embarrassing to this country in view of the harm corruption has
done to the society.

He also blamed defendants, who, as a way of causing delay,
unduly exploit the generous provision in Section 36 of the
Constitution, that provides for the right to fair hearing.

He said: “Sincerely, as trial judge, it is difficult to ignore
that provision when the defence call it to aid, because the
Constitution, as we all know, is the grundnorm.

“Something has to be done about amending that provision, which
talks about the right to fair hearing. It should be tinkered with
to allow for sufficient latitude, so that people don’t have blanket
reliance on it to truncate criminal trials.”

Bello, who was bitter about the congestion of courts dockets,
years after the introduction of the Administration of Criminal
Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, blamed investigating and prosecuting
agencies, who file charges and bring defendants to court, without
sufficient evidence to prosecute.

He noted that judges handling HPCCs and heads of courts are
often subjected to undue pressure for both within and outside the
judicial system, with the intention of ensuring soft landing for
the high profile defendant.

Bello admonished court heads to always exercise their powers to
re-assign cases, from a judge to another, upon complaints from
outside the court, with circumspect to avert causing further delay
and dampening the morale of the judges.

He said: “As heads of courts, we must exercise restraints in the
movement of cases. We must be circumspective, to make sure that
there is no derailment of the prosecution process.”

The FCT CJ, who noted that some prosecuting agencies merely
charge people to court with the intention of extorting them,
suggested a procedure where the prosecution is required to obtain
leave (permission of the court) before filing charges.

He said this measure will serve as a sieving process to address
the practice where prosecuting agencies file frivolous charges,
which they intend not to prosecute because they lack the necessary
evidence to support such charges.

Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke, who was
represented by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo (also of the High Court of
Lagos State) assured of the state’s commitment to COTRIMCO’s
objectives and efforts at eliminating delay in the trial of
HPCCs.

Banjoko, who was hailed for her brilliant handling of most HPCCs
brought before her court, spoke about her experience, in relation
to the antics of defence lawyers and identified drawbacks in the
approach of prosecution lawyers. She suggested how to strengthen
the system and ensured its efficiency.

Banjoko hailed the many beautiful provisions of the ACJA and
suggested modification to some provisions, including restricting
interlocutory appeal to the Court of Appeal, rejecting appeal on
issues already decided by the Supreme Court and limiting the number
of times the prosecution could amend proof of evidence.

In his contribution, Akinseye-George said: “In our humble view,
to achieve the objectives of speedy trial, better working tools
must be provided for the judges.

“The salaries and allowances of judges which have largely
remained static for several years despite inflationary trends and
declining value of the Naira must be urgently reviewed upwards.

“Effective E-recording of court proceedings should now be made
mandatory. It is unacceptable that in this digital age we continue
to operate an analogue judiciary as judges continue to suffer the
tedium of writing proceedings in long hand,” he said.

Akinseye-George also spoke about a software developed by a
Nigerian IT expert, which was showcases at the workshop, that
provides an affordable solution to the long-standing problem of
electronic recording of our courts.

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