THE UNFAIR CURSE OF JUSTICE As Nigeria’s case shows vividly, once institutionalized corruption is effectively powered by impunity, it eats away at the system with reckless abandon; and the first culprits are usually the entire law enforcement agencies of government, the judiciary and the police. And because legal codes pertaining to prosecution of white collar crimes, especially in high places, are very weak, it is easy for perpetrators of illegalities to wriggle out when caught. We have a situation here where justice is for the highest bidder; only the rich and powerful can afford prosecution even in petty civil or criminal cases. So, God help you if you are a plaintiff in a suit involving the powerful. The scale of justice is tilted in favour of the government and politically powerful. We see how the fabled federal might is easily deployed by government functionaries against political opponents over ideological differences. It is common to see how police operatives haunt down and harasses political opponents of the federal government, in a democratic setting where we are supposed to have a level playing field. The road to justice in Nigeria leads to one destination: the abode of the powerful as the recent case of retired President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami shows. At a book launch recently, a former Chief Justice, Mohammed Uwais publicly lamented that the way Justice Salami was bundled out of the bench was unfair. That is just one of the several cases of miscarriage of Justice in this country. Space constraints would not permit me to list some old cases, but what seems obvious is that because of the frequency of corruption cases involving influential government officials, the media easily loses track of these things and so, the fickle-minded public soon forget most of these crimes, being thoroughly overwhelmed by more pressing issues of survival. In two weeks, the present hue and cry over the armoured cars purchased by the NCAA would die down, and the report of the committee may join the heap of previous probe reports in some cabinet in the Presidency where they’d be dumped to gather dust. One of the clever ways we pervert the course of Justice in Nigeria is through endless adjournments, high cost of litigation and abuse of court processes, something our law officers have turned into high art, along with missing case files or the recanting of voluntarily given evidences by witnesses, even when such testimonies were never given under duress, in the first place. This can happen because no one is ever put behind bars for perjury. In civilized democracies, when you lie under oath you face the wrath of the law. Former American President, Bill Clinton, despite posting a 5-star performance as that country’s CEO, was almost sacked by US lawmakers in the celebrated Monica Lewinsky scandal because they felt he lied under oath. Here, civil servants routinely lie about their age to elongate their tenures in service. That is why we have an official age and the real age. So, very often, we see our retired Generals or top public officers who just retired at 65 or thereabout, looking like advanced octogenarians. Suddenly, they drop dead “after a brief illness”. No wonder, our athletes, especially age-grade footballers have something to emulate! FIFA’s introduction of bone marrow test to determine the true ages of age-group footballers was reportedly prompted by Nigeria’s often reported cases of age cheats. The culture of public lying with impunity is doing us more harm than good. By the time our U-17 boys’ graduate to the senior team, they’re already burnt-out because the rigours of competing at such high level take a toll and their real ages are exposed. This is not intended to diminish the impotence of the hard-won victory of our FIFA U-17 world champions. It is just that justice must be done even if the heavens will fall, as British legal icon; Lord Denning was famously quoted to have said. Perhaps, for fear that the heavens may fall when the untouchables run foul of the law in Nigeria, they are given a soft landing in the name of plea bargaining. The justice system is unabashedly skewed in favour of the rich. Why can’t we have a plea bargain for armed robbers who steal a few thousands, when pen robbers in high places are given such leeway? The course of justice is not served when it has two faces- one for the rich and another for the poor, even when the rich felon inflicts heavier damage to society than his poor partner-in-crime. This unfair dispensation of justice is the root cause of the growing instability in our society. The matter is simple. As the venal rich is given a slap on the wrist and is recycled back to power, the renal youth leaves prison if he is not executed, only to become a kidnapper, or worse, terrorist. With no way to get justice, he takes to the trenches, where there are “job”opportunities, because sponsors of the MENDs and Boko Harams of this world are always looking for fighters to recruit. We must start addressing the pervading injustice that has spurned the cry of marginalization which the nation must redress to bring equality, justice and fairness to our jurisprudence.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 22:00:26 +0000
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