Death penalty: We will not collect money –Godwin Obla

What is your reaction to the death sentence passed on some soldiers recently? I have not seen the promulgated finding and sentence. You know, the Chief of Army staff (COAS) under the Armed Forces Acts needs to confirm that sentence, either by upholding it, or by setting it aside. And when he confirms, he needs […]

What is your reaction to the death sentence passed on some soldiers recently?
I have not seen the promulgated finding and sentence. You know, the Chief of Army staff (COAS) under the Armed Forces Acts needs to confirm that sentence, either by upholding it, or by setting it aside. And when he confirms, he needs to promulgate it, and make it available to the convicts who are now appellants, and the ways he should make them available are specified in the acts. My clients have not received the promulgated sentence yet, which means that the chief of army staff has not exercised his powers under the Armed Forces Acts. So, we have filed an appeal and have done a letter to the COAS, they have requested for a copy of the promulgated sentence, his approval or disapproval, confirmation or refusal to confirm, so that I will know what further steps to take.
Don’t forget that it’s also a military court martial. So we have not yet had the records of the proceedings of that court martial. That will determine if there will be need for additional or further grounds of appeal to be filed. I have requested for that document too from the COAS. But for now, we have filed our appeal, and of course, nobody needs to be told that the doctrine of lis pendis applies to everything in our jurisdiction. So once we have appealed against a decision, the Armed Forces of Nigeria will be expected to respect the sanctity of the court, and not take any further additional steps in respect of this matter until this appeal is held.   
How do we bring the general court marshals to abide by the letters and spirit of the constitution?
Well, I don’t want to speak at large. I just want to restrict myself to this particular case. I think the army has fantastic lawyers, a lot of very good lawyers in the army. But whether they are put to use, as expected of them is another issue. Every court martial is different. Some court martials will do things properly, depending on the headship and the composition. If they are properly constituted, I think they will do things properly. Not forgetting that the essence of a court martial is different from what obtains in a regular court, I don’t begrudge the fact that they will not and I do not expect them to do things as a regular court will do things. But like you said, there is a spirit of the law that they must follow. The army is not an exception to the law. It is part of the process of our jurisprudence. So hopefully, when we deal with this matter at the appellate level, the lessons to be learnt will impact on the activities of other court martials too.
Have you met the clients you are representing in this appeal?
No. The processes I filed clearly indicate that I have not met them and part of the letters to the COAS clearly indicates that I require access to them. The counsel that represented them at the general court martial retained my services. I am leading him now. He has made several efforts both in Abuja and in Lagos to see them but without success. But I am hopeful that we will have access to them very soon.
Do you think the cause of justice has been served?
Not at all. If you see the grounds of appeal, you’ll see that for two of the appellants, very strange things happened. For one of them, there was evidence that this thing happened on the 14th, he was on admission in the hospital from the 13th till the 17th or 18th. So he couldn’t have participated in something that requires your physical presence. The second one was in an operation as at the time they said these activities took place. At least, there is evidence that he was in an operation. Nobody bothered to investigate these alibis. In law, if someone says I was somewhere, you must investigate and eliminate that possibility. They were too much in a hurry to convict, and that is what led to the perverse decision that we have.
Have you met the families of your clients?
No, I am always traveling. To be frank, I think they have tried severally to meet me, but I have spoken to them on the phone. I always tell them they really don’t need to bother to spend money to actually see me. Any matter that involves death penalty, people know I do it for free.
Are you saying this is pro bono?
Every death penalty matter that this office does, we don’t collect any money. I don’t care if the man is the richest man on earth, we will not collect one naira.
Why is that?
Well, that’s the philosophy of our firm. That’s the only way we give back to the profession. To every death penalty matter we do here we don’t collect money and in fact we pay the filing fee for these boys about N17,500, and it was the firm that paid. We won’t collect anything from the family. If it requires that we go and see them in Lagos and interview them, the firm will still pay.
How do you react to the issue in Ekiti State, where courts are shut down by the executive?
Well I think that issue has been settled. But don’t forget that the court is an independent arm of government. There are three arms of government, all of them are independent. They are only interdependent on each other.