17102019 - FG cuts travels, estacodes for ministers, other officials

50—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019
08152060944
Independence of judiciary programmed
to fail ——Adegboruwa, SAN
By Henry Ojelu
Mr
Ebun-Olu
Adegboruwa is one
of the lawyers recently
conferred with the rank of
Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
In this interview, he shares
his view on why the fight for
the independence of the
judiciary would be tough.
He also spoke on other
sundry issues.
Excerpt:
World Day Against
Death Penalty was
marked last week.
Considering the fact that
governors are reluctant
to sign death warrant,
shouldn’t there be some
form of respite for death
row inmates in the
country?
Well, I have become
sympathetic to the plight of
condemned prisoners
especially those awaiting
sentence- to be hanged or to
be shot according to how the
judge directed. I have met
with a death row inmate who
was later pardoned. He
narrated to me the trauma of
awaiting death every day.
For him every day is death.
Once it is 2:00am, he will
wake up because the worst
thing that can happen to you
is for them to wake you up
and take you to hang. What
those people go through can
never be imagined and this
was what led Dr Olisa
Agbakoba, SAN to go to
court. His contention was
that keeping people awaiting
execution is a form of
torture. Of course the court
didn’t agree with him up to
this point, what they said is
that they still have a right.
I totally accept the view of
many of our colleagues who
says that the people who are
been kept in prison awaiting
execution are under serious
torture. Their rights are been
validated every day, by the
state while they are awaiting
execution. And I think
something should be done to
ensure that, correctional
strategies are employed to
see that if they truly change,
if the society can still benefit
from them before they are
executed.
FG recently changed
the name of our prisons
to Correctional Services
Centres. Is this the
solution to the problems
with our prisons?
I don’t think transiting
from Nigeria Prison Service
to Correctional Service
Centre is sufficient to
ameliorate the problems we
have within the prison
system. The challenge we
have in the prison is the
infrastructure. These are
*Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN
prisons that were built by the
colonial masters. The mind
set then was to subjugate and
punish the locals who are
clamouring
for
independence. Those prisons
were built for the purpose of
punishing. The second issue
is congestion. Most of those
prisons have exceeded their
maximum capacity three
times. What is required in the
prison is not all about
documentary reforms. We
should talk about the real
infrastructure. How do you
ensure that people who leave
that place don’t go back to
crime?
The greatest reform that
you can achieve in a prison is
through judiciary because the
problem of Nigeria prison is
awaiting trial cases. They
constitute 80% of the
population of the prisons. The
people who have been
convicted surprisingly are
less than 30%. Some have
been going to court for more
than 9 to 10 years such that
even if they had been
convicted the period which
they will spend will be lesser
than that which they have
spent awaiting trial.
So many factors combine
together to make it
impossible to achieve any
reform in the prison system.
So if really you want to reform
the prisons, you should start
with the court, to ensure that
courts are decongested. This
way, those cases can be heard
and then those who are free
can be discharged. Those who
want to be convicted can be
convicted, when you finish
with the court then move to
the prison proper to rebuild
it
Ẏou can’t have correctional
prison facilities in the middle
of town. At the time they built
Ikoyi prisons, to the British,
Ikoyi was a bush at that time.
That location cannot achieve
any expansion today because
there are commercials
buildings everywhere. There
T h e
greatest
reform that
you can
achieve in a
prison is
through
judiciary
because the
problem of
Nigeria
prison is
awaiting
trial cases
is nothing you can
do. You can’t
d e m o l i s h
people’s houses.
Government
should look for
other areas where
there is land and
build proper
correctional
facilities with
recreation
facilities and
opportunities for
learning. There
should be schools
there and small
s c a l e
empowerment
system. You
can’t retain this
old structure and
expect to
continue to
reform peoples
mind. It can’t
work. So I believe
that when you
really want to
reform the prison
system, it goes
beyond name
change.
Since his
assumption of
office, the
Chief Justice of
Nigeria has
b e e n
clamouring
for
independence of the
judiciary. Is there any
other way that the
judiciary can forcefully
regain its independence?
I doubt it for many reasons.
Talking can help but not in the
way that we are currently
doing it. The judiciary
deserves to be put in a state
of emergency. Judges are
actually weeping. Judges are
unofficial members of the Bar
Association so it is the
responsibility of lawyers to
take up the fight for the
independence and autonomy
of the Judiciary. The judge is
a civil servant, and civil
servants are only to be seen
not heard.
I have never seen any civil
society where judge take up
the struggle for
independence, autonomy or
issues of welfare. It is always
the lawyers that pursue that
course. Unfortunately, the
Nigerian Bar Association is
factionalized. The problems
in the general polity have also
found itself into the Bar. Take
for instance, the Justice
Onnogen’s incident. The NBA
met and took decision to
embark on a strike. The strike
was not successful in states
that were sympathetic to the
then CJN, but states
especially in the North that
were sympathetic to the
president did not comply with
strike. The problem will
probably continue since the
politicians have also found
themselves into the Bar. But
what must we do? I think that
is becoming clearer. Senior
lawyers must find a way to
engage with those who are in
power. Take this regime for
instance; there are very many
senior lawyers in the cabinet.
They can actually work with
the bar to achieve a society
where the judiciary is
independent. Unfortunately,
independence of the judiciary
cannot be achieved because
there is a deliberate policy of
the executive not to allow the
judiciary to function. It is
deliberate so it is not a matter
of this Buhari’s
administration.
The reason is very simple.
In any society, the executive
is responsible for formulating
and executing policies; the
judiciary to interpret and the
legislature to formulate and
make laws. But the executive
come in contact with the
people all the time. It is their
actions that people feel all the
time. So invariably, 80% of
the cases that find themselves
up to the court are
challenging the actions of the
executive.
So in that regard, the
executive takes it as a point
of duty to starve the judiciary
of fund such that those who
are challenging the executive
impunity are been sent a
message to say it does not pay
you to go to court. They are
invariably saying, ‘You
cannot reverse what I have
done. I control the court. If I
cannot get through to them
by giving direct instruction,
I will frustrate them by
showing that your case is not
heard on time. There will be
no electricity; I will not
appoint enough judges. That
actually is the underlining
factor why the executive is
not interested to allow the
judiciary to have true
independence.
So where lies the
solution to all this?
It is rare for me to commend
the president but I believe we
should support his policies
that all monies meant for state
judiciaries should no longer
go through the governors. So
what am saying is that, if we
team up with the president
and ensure that, that law
becomes effective and the
judges have hold on their
money, we have freed them
from that dominion of the
executive and that is the first
responsibility of the bar to
ensure that the judges gets
their money.
The second solution is this;
we must open a register and
interact with the judges. The
bar must rise up and speak
with one voice for any judge
who is a victim of any form of
executive intimidation. As
we are trying to force the
executive to respect the
judiciary, lawyers should
respect the judiciary by
refusing to partake in any
corrupt.
C
M
Y
K