AWKA—GOVERNOR Willie Obiano of Anambra State, yesterday, expressed worry over the delay in the prosecution of kidnap and other criminal cases in the state, urging judges and magistrates to devote six days for handling criminal cases and one day for civil cases to reduce drastically the number of pending criminal cases in the various courts. This came as the chief judge of the state, Justice Peter Umeadi, observed that criminal justice delivery in Nigeria had presented a thorny and seemingly intractable problem to the judiciary, while the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Usman Gwary, blamed the delay on the judiciary. Speaking during the sensitisation workshop on the “Practice Directions of the High Court 2013 for Fast - tracking of Criminal Cases in Anambra State Judiciary” in Awka, the governor observed that the major challenge faced by his administration in fighting crime is the delay in the dispensation of cases. According to him, it is regrettable that no single case of kidnapping has been fully disposed of in the state in the past three and half years. He regretted that most of the kidnap suspects were going about freely and posing a major threat to those they suspected made it possible for them to be arrested in the first place. He said there was a funny situation in which suspected criminals were the ones clamouring that they be charged to court, even when their cases were still being investigated, adding that it showed that there was something wrong somewhere. Obiano urged judicial officers to live above board while dispensing justice so as to create a good image for both the state and the judiciary. He said: “We don’t want somebody who is supposed to be in jail to be walking about or those who are supposed to be free to be in jail. I believe that in ensuring quick and proper dispensation of justice, the police have a major role to play as the delay in completing the investigation will undermine quick dispensation of justice.” In his address, the chief judge, Justice Umeadi, noted that the stakeholders who played key roles in the dispensation of justice namely, the judiciary, the police, the prisons, the Ministry of Justice, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and the public at large have continued to blame each other over the delay in quick delivery of justice. He said: “The problems begin from the time the defendants are arraigned at the Magistrate Courts. Usually, the Magistrate Courts before whom these accused persons are brought do not have jurisdiction to try the offences for which they are charged. “The learned Magistrate would bind over the witnesses and orders the police prosecutor to transfer the original case file to the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, to enable the DPP file information for the matter to be placed before a Judge who has jurisdiction to deal with the matter. “Invariably, the learned Magistrate remands the defendant to prison custody to continue to swell the ranks of those awaiting trial who unfortunately account for the teeming numbers that congest our prisons which outstrip those who have been convicted and serving in prisons. “In our new Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Anambra State 2010, other than an offence punishable with death, the Magistrate could grant bail even in situations where they do not have jurisdiction to try the substantive matter. “The end point is that from experience of the past, the police find it difficult to transmit the original of the case files to the DPP to enable information to be written, thereby stultifying the process of dispensation of the matter on hand.” Also speaking, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Usman Gwary, said the problem the police had in quick dispensation of justice was that proper advice does not come as and when due, adding that it sometimes led to delay in the prosecution of cases. He also said that it was surprising that Judges in the Eastern part of the country were in the habit of granting bail to suspected criminals, including kidnappers and murderers on the excuse that bail was at the discretion of the Judge. He added that many Judges pay more attention to civil cases than criminal cases, adding that it was one of the reasons for the delay in the dispensation of criminal cases.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 06:36:09 +0000
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