Issues
Decongesting Prisons Through Efficient Justice Delivery
It is a truism that justice fosters good relationship among men, especially on issues that relate to economy, politics and social matters.
The absence or abuse of it invariably breeds anarchy and disorder; hence every society strives to enhance its administration.
In Nigeria, incidents of delayed trial and prison congestion have elicited comments from citizens, who view the development as negating effective justice delivery.
Often, criminal cases are poorly investigated, resulting in suspects being locked up for long periods while awaiting trial. Incessant adjournment in the courts is also another source of concern.
Analysts and stakeholders within the judicial system adduce diverse and varied reasons for the problem, just as a multiplicity of solutions has been proffered.
They say that the bar, bench and the security services, share blame in the problem, though in varying degrees.
Mr. Justice Agwu Kalu, a judge in Abia State says that remand of suspects for long periods without court orders is worrisome, stressing that extant laws are very clear on such issues.
“The constitution does not allow unlawful detention of suspects. Where detention is imperative because of peculiar circumstances, the security services must apply for permission, through ex-parte motion in the court.
Recent data from the Nigeria Prison Service indicates that about 60 per cent of in-mates in the nation’s prisons are awaiting trial and this is unsettling to many citizens, especially relations of suspects.
Kalu, as other Nigerians, advises that the Police and the office of Public Prosecution should be more responsive to this problem.
“The way some of these suspects languish in the jails gives the impression that they are already judged as guilty even before trial is concluded and this is unfortunate. All suspects must be seen as innocent until convicted by the court,” says Jimoh Adebayo, a human rights activist.
According to Adebayo, delayed trial leads to prison congestion, which is a commonplace in most of our prisons today.
However, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in Abia, Mr Ugochukwu Nwachukwu, blames trial delays on the fact that over 75 per cent of criminal cases in the courts are not properly investigated by the Police.
He believes that the little period allowed by the constitution for suspects to be remanded in Police custody limits the capacity of the police to do thorough job.
Nwachukwu says that unnecessary adjournments and wrong attitude by some witnesses are also to blame for the problem.
“Some give their names to the police for proof of evidence, but will refuse to come to the court to give such evidences,” he laments.
Kalu thinks that DPPs should sit up and ensure that senior counsels are assigned murder cases, so as to avoid incidents of “unseriousness” on the part of some junior lawyers.
Nwachukwu agrees, admitting that many state counsels are not truly committed to their work, stressing that “we assign cases to the lawyers willing to work”.
He also chides the courts for poor administrative processes, pointing out that “administrative bottlenecks do exist as hearing notices are not properly given some times”.
“It is the duty of the judiciary to transmit hearing notices to us, but ironically they do not get to us most times. We filed about 55 notices to the court between January and July this year, but only about 10 have been replied,” he says.
A senior security officer who pleads anonymity says that delays in the transmission of case files from their end is not deliberate, adding that there is serious constraint of time needed for investigations.
“When the period allowed by the constitution to detain a suspect is that short, there is the inevitability of shoddy work,” he stresses.
“Murder cases can take up to six months to investigate, while autopsy is a serious business for which doctors charge so much and not many families can afford to pay the bills.”
“Certain cases are treated with dispatch, but another problem is the lack of votes to run our offices. More often, I spend my personal money. Our investigation department does not have typewriters, photocopiers and other office equipment,” the security official points out.
M rs C. Ononye, State Comptroller of the Abia Comma nd of the NPS says that her officers do contend with a multiplicity of logistic problems, which are not helping efficiency.
“We have only seven vehicles to convey inmates to the 94 courts in the state. Three of the vehicles convey inmates to 38 courts in Aba area alone,” she laments.
She discloses that prisons in the state have exceeded their capacities by about 50 per cent, aside from the lean staff available.
Ononye pleads with the state government to come to the command’s assistance, especially when most of the inmates are citizens of Abia.
On his part, Mr Charlse Ajagba, Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Isiala Ngwa South Branch, says that judges, magistrates and court officials jointly make the administration of justice difficult.
“The courts do not sit early enough as most judges come to the courts from 10 am. Any complaints by us can be held against you when they have the opportunity to humiliate you,” he says.
Another lawyer, Hilary Chuwuemeka, observes that the criminal justice administration in Abia for instance, needs improvement, while the judges must work harder than they are presently doing.
Abia’s Chief Judge, Mr Justice Sunday Imo, emphasises the need for the government to assist the prison service with more vehicles, so as to enhance their efficiency.
“There is the need to make the administration of justice efficient because, if inmates are not properly treated, they will hold it against the society. When they come out from prison, they will be worse than they came and can even seek revenge against the society.
“The time has come for us to put our feet on the ground because some people charged with the administration of justice are not willing to work; they are destroying criminal cases because of their incompetence,” he says.
Imo stresses that the practice of remanding in prison custody, suspects who are still under investigation should be stopped, while any eventual remand in police custody must be backed by a court order.
According to him, “magistrates and all officers charged with the administration of justice should restrain themselves from all the things that they do not have the right to do”.
Nwachukwu, on his part wants criminal cases to be treated with dispatch, just as is done to civil cases, while also suggesting that different days should be set aside by judges to hear criminal cases.
He says that lumping the hearing of civil and criminal cases together is not helpful as it is always at the expense of criminal cases.
Observers point out that all persons involved in judicial administration must be up and doing since it is always the unfortunate suspects that bear the brunt of their lapses.
Emmanuel Acha
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
