In Nigeria, justice is for the highest bidder – Justice Archibong

Does money play a big role in litigations?  It does. Take, for instance, you have a matter in the court. Your opponent has money to hire one, two or three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) and you do not have such capacity to even hire any prominent lawyer, you may not have justice at the […]

Does money play a big role in litigations?
 It does. Take, for instance, you have a matter in the court. Your opponent has money to hire one, two or three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) and you do not have such capacity to even hire any prominent lawyer, you may not have justice at the end of the day.  Apart from that, to get the services of a lawyer, one has to pay through his nose. It means that justice in the court system is not for the poor.

So, are you, as a judge, admitting that the court is no longer the last hope of the common man?
We have always been saying that the court should be the last hope of the common man. But today how many common men can afford the services of the court to get that justice? That is why we need to emphasise on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism.  We are telling the government that the court system is weak. Therefore, we should look for any other systems that would reassure confidence in the people. So that importantly, the common man, at the end of the day, would be the beneficiary of that system. The present court system is suspect. The government, as much as I know, is trying its best to reform the court.

 Are you implying that the court system has failed?
Yes. The court system has failed. We have also failed God. We have failed humanity because we have allowed justice to be for the highest bidders. We have not allowed the people to have confidence in our judiciary. Lawyers talk or argue cases according to how their clients pay them. If what you give them is not much, they would not talk. Sometimes they can even disappoint on a day the judge wants to take critical decision by staying away from the court. So, who suffers in this case? It is the litigants.

How important is ADR?
There is the need to make litigants part of court sessions.  Most often, litigants go to courts and do not directly contribute or answer questions because their lawyers argue the matter on their behalves. Right from the beginning to the end of the court session, the litigants would not understand the debate. But today, there is reformation in the court system where we now have pre-trial sessions or conference. This means that before the actual commencement of the trial, the judge is expected to come down and meet with the litigants, and both parties and their witnesses will then sit down to chat with the judge mutually. The judge will have the opportunity to discuss with both parties, telling them the advantages and disadvantages of the litigation and how costly and time consuming the matter can be. He can even stress the importance of seeking other alternatives, instead of proceeding with the long and windy trial sessions. It would be expected that the judge can even use the opportunity of the conference with the parties to preach peace and forgiveness, and need to amicably settle the matter in the spirit of love. If at the end of all these, the parties still insist on proceeding with the matter, the judge will then return to his seat and allow the law to take its normal course.

What is the impact of ADR on litigants or the populace?
In most of my cases, the parties usually abandon their matters and decide to go for ADR mechanism. Having such pre-trial sessions has tremendously saved many litigants from stress and huge legal expenditures. At the end of the judges’ meeting with the litigants, they have often seen reason why they need to live in peace and not in pieces. Many would feel very happy and relieved that such matters were resolved in such simple and amicable manner. This is the system I am advocating for adoption.

  What is your view about plea bargain?
My strong view is that it is not for the common man. It is for the rich. After the rich have stolen millions of Naira, they now come up to the judge and say we will give you part of what we stole so that you set us free. In so doing, is there justice in that? Somebody steals 10 million Naira, and he comes up to say I give you N500, 000. What happens to the rest of the money? Isn’t it public money? My type of plea bargain is one that the thief would be made to hand over all that he stole and ask for forgiveness. Any plea bargain should involve the court, not one where the culprit will meet the lawyer in a secret place. Such should no longer be tolerated because it cannot bring about justice.