‘Evidence against Boko Haram suspects mostly confessional statements’

It appears lots of criminal cases are going out to private prosecutors, what about lawyers in the ministry?We haven’t been farming out criminal cases except sensitive, political cases like the Farouk Lawan case. Otherwise what has been happening is that we have been training our in-house prosecutors. Particularly with regards to terrorism cases, the British […]

It appears lots of criminal cases are going out to private prosecutors, what about lawyers in the ministry?
We haven’t been farming out criminal cases except sensitive, political cases like the Farouk Lawan case. Otherwise what has been happening is that we have been training our in-house prosecutors. Particularly with regards to terrorism cases, the British High Commission has trained about eight prosecutors who have received specialised training for rapid response to terrorism prosecution. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has also trained 22 lawyers with specialised training on terrorism. So we have in-house prosecutors that can handle all criminal cases.
There appears to be a difference between charge sheets drafted by the DPP and the fiat given to private prosecutors by the Attorney General?
As for the charge sheets, even if we farm out some cases, the charge sheets will be signed by the DPP of the Federation. It is after that we give it to an external solicitor. We were doing that because of lack of manpower. Right now we have about 64 lawyers in the department; and they are all crack prosecutors. So we don’t farm out criminal cases again. We have successfully prosecuted seven Boko Haram cases.
What do you think is responsible for the delays in the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria?
There are many reasons for the delay in the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria. But the good thing is that government is addressing these both at the level of the judiciary and the executive. For instance, in the Federal Ministry of Justice we have the Administration of Justice Bill that has gone for third reading in the Senate. When that law is passed, it will help in phasing out the two laws of Penal Code for the North and Criminal Code for the South, so it will be the same law for the whole country. And that law will eliminate delays in criminal justice.
Besides, the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court has put in place a new practice direction which is to eliminate delays and encourage speedy dispensation of justice. Under the practice direction, before you come to the court you must have all your facts, all your exhibits and all the witnesses must be available. And you must file a certificate of completion of investigation. So that the moment the case is assigned to a judge, within a space of three months, the case could be concluded. This is unlike what we used to have in the past. This law is operative in Lagos right now. But it is just now that the federal government is trying to do that through the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court.
Now, one of the measures we have done here is that the Attorney General Mohammed Adoke, since he came has started a series of reforms and one of them is the ‘Guidelines for Prosecutors and Code of Conduct for Public Prosecution.’ Under that guideline, we will not charge any case to court unless there is reasonable prospect of conviction. If there is insufficient evidence, we won’t go to court. That is actually the problem we are having with some of these Boko Haram cases now. The files are mostly confessional statements; no independent, corroborative evidence and that caused delays in going to court. But some have reached an advanced stage. By next week we will charge them to court. What causes delays is that we were waiting for investigators from Maiduguri, Damaturu and Yola. Because they were operating under pseudo-names, we had to write to the Chief of Defence Staff and he has furnished us with their names, so they would be coming to furnish us with certificate of completion of investigation.
So the problem of delays exists between the judiciary and the executive but it’s being addressed. Of course the lawmakers should pay attention to those bills that will aid the administration of justice.
There are calls for the separation of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and that of the Minister of Justice. What is your stand?
That debate has been on for a long time. And the argument is that the Minister of Justice is a politician who is answerable to the President. And others feel that the Attorney General should be a professional, who probably would rise from the ranks. In fact, in Russia, the office of the Prosecutor General is different from that of the Minister of Justice. I think in South Africa too.
Here, under the 1962 Constitution all the powers in Section 174 of the constitution were being exercised by the DPP. And this was something we inherited from the colonial masters, the British. But in the 1979 Constitution made by the military, the powers were transferred to the Attorney General to institute criminal proceedings, discontinue criminal proceedings at any stage before judgement, and to take over criminal proceedings from any other agency. So those powers vested in the DPP have been reversed. And it will require another constitutional amendment for this to happen.
Issue of congestion persists in Nigerian prisons yet there are arguments that Nigeria is under-incarcerated with a population of 170 million and only 55,935 persons imprisoned whereas South Africa with a population of 53 million people has a whopping 157,394 prison inmates. Why?

I think it is because the detention facilities are not enough. May be if there are more prison houses we won’t be talking about congestion. For instance, in a prison that was built to accommodate 200 inmates, you now have about 500, that is congestion. But if you have more prisons, like if the constitution allows states to build prisons, prisons are in the exclusive legislative list, but if it is concurrent, it will help reduce congestion. When someone has committed an offence, he can be remanded. If it is a bailable offence, he/she can be granted administrative or court bail. If it is not bailable he has to remain in custody. So I don’t think there are so many people in custody except that the prison facilities are not enough.
There are accusations that the legal aid programme of the AGF has been abused?
It has been determined that some of the inmates are in prisons because they don’t have access to legal representation. That is why the AGF introduced the legal aid as part of efforts to decongest the prisons. But the AGF is prosecuting and cannot be the one defending. So that is why it was decided that the Legal Aid Council should handle the scheme. I am not aware of any abuses. The AGF grants fiat to specific lawyers not to law chambers.
Sir, with your vast experience in law, what do you think is responsible for the dwindling quality of legal education in Nigeria?
A lot of people think the quality of legal education is falling; it is not. I think it is the students who are not able to meet up with the standard. That is why you have cases of exam failure. The standard has always been like that. It could be our students are becoming lazy or maybe they don’t have the facilities to cope.