Law and Order: Uwais, others lament high-level of lawlessness in Nigeria

Last week, eminent Nigerians and legal luminaries, including the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, converged on Abuja to celebrate the 35th year anniversary of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS). The occasion offered stakeholders in the judiciary the rare opportunity to converse on some topical national issues. The topic of the conversation was: Fellows’ Conversation on Law & Oder. AMEH EJEKWONYILO reports

The weeklong anniversary train of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies which began with an inaugural lecture in Lagos quickly moved over to the nation’s capital, Abuja for continuation of other activities that had been lined for the epoch-making event. The event of last Wednesday was unique because it provided a rare privilege to fellows of the institute to brainstorm on the teething legal concept of law and order in the context of the Nigerian society in recent times.
Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN), Director General of NIALS’ opening remarks definitely set the tone for the day’s discourse. He said: “The issue of law and order is very critical to the nation at this point in time, hence the selection of the topic for this conversation”.

Justice Uwais said: “Nigeria has seen an explosive increase in crime rate since the return of democracy in 1999. Prisons are crammed and police powers and resources are overstretched.” Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Hon. Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais was the first to open the floodgates of criticisms over non-adherence to the concept of law and order in the context of Nigeria. He drew a sharp comparison between now and the recent past and said Nigeria had witnessed an upsurge in lawlessness since the return of democracy in 1999.

He further said: “In Nigeria, security agencies seem to be overwhelmed by the series of crimes perpetrated daily by terrorists, armed robbers and kidnappers.”
Justice Uwais who was the chairman of the interactive session advised stakeholders in the Nigerian polity to enact new laws that would take care of the emerging trend in crime wave.
A discussant and former Director General of NIALS, Prof. Ignatius Ayua (SAN), attributed the prevailing security situation in the country to bad leadership.
According to Prof. Ayua, “Poverty is giving rise to all forms of security crises. Deprived people complain violently and that is what we are experiencing. It is a fall out of bad governance. Insurgency is a creation of the Nigerian state. Over the years successive governments had failed to address the basic challenges of life, and the effect is the ferocious nature of crimes that are being witnessed all over the country.”

He advised that threat to National security has to be addressed through Good governance. “The standards of living of the majority should be raised”.
While Prof. Ayo Ajomo, erstwhile NIALS DG observed that the trouble with the country is not the absence of laws but the flagrant abuse of the law.
“In Nigeria, there are so many people who are above the law. People disobey the law with impunity. Nigerians are the most criminally-minded people in Africa”.
Prof. Ajomo also took a swipe at the Nigerian judiciary for what he termed “the ineptitude of judges. “The judiciary should be the bastion of democracy in any society. But when you look at some of the judges and their judgments, you wonder if they ever studied law”.

He condemned the issue of plea bargaining in the country’s prosecution of corruption cases. “The issue of plea bargaining is inimical to the effective prosecution of corrupt individuals in the country’. Prof. Ajomo noted that there are adequate laws to effectively tackle crimes in Nigeria as against the backdrop of calls for news to fight new dimensions of lawlessness. “There is nothing wrong with our laws; it is the obedience to these laws that is a challenge. People disobey the law with impunity”.
For NIALS’ Criminal Law Prof. Cypril Okonkwo (SAN), the new Public Order Act is an infringement on the fundamental human rights of Nigerians. According to him, the act is ambiguous. “The law says there should be no appeal upon refusal to grant police permit for a peaceful assembly. Even in Ghana such a law existed but it has been abrogated. We have a long way to go in maintaining law and order in Nigeria.”

He wondered why law enforcement agencies are the ones who breach the law most.
Another NIALS’ fellow, Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN), tilted the discourse to the controversial issue of state police. He queried why a state governor is designated as the Chief Security Officer of a state; protecting lives and property but lacked the necessary security apparatus to fight crime in his domain.
“There is no reason why Nigeria should not have state police. A state governor is designated as the Chief Security Officer of his state but he does not have the powers to deploy security personnel to fight crime in his state.”

As a way out of the current security logjam in the country, Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN), called for the setting up of state police.
Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), anchored law and order on crime investigation and prosecution. “We need to look at investigation and prosecution. For instance, the courts were able to do only 27% of criminal cases brought before them in 2013. Some of the major causes of the delay in prosecuting the cases are traced to the absence of witnesses in court, improper investigation and lack of funds.
According to Chief Awomolo, these constitute to the breakdown of law and order in the society. He observed that practice direction in criminal prosecution has yielded positive results in the criminal prosecution of 2013.
Hon. Justice Mary Odili represented the CJN, Mariam Aloma Mukhtar at the occasion.