Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mariam Mukhtar on Monday in Abuja, took a swipe at security agencies in the country for their unprofessional operations.
She decried instances where suspects are taken to court without little or no evidence to prosecute them.
Justice Mukhtar described the situation as one of the reasons for undue delays in the criminal justice administration system in the country.
Speaking at a special session of the Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 2013/2014 Legal Year, as well as the inauguration of 17 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Mukhtar lamented the “unwholesome practice of some security agents involved in criminal justice administration system,” particularly the arraignment of suspects without first gathering evidence for prosecution.
“It is common knowledge that our security agencies usually rush to the courts with suspects, before looking for evidence to prosecute them.
“The persistent use of the ‘Holden Charge’ by these agencies to detain awaiting trial suspects, is a major contributor to the high number of cases pending in our courts,” she said.
Continuing, she noted that the procedure is a far cry from what obtains in other democracies, “where discrete surveillance is placed on crime suspects who are painstakingly stalked by security agents, until such a time when enough evidence would have been obtained for their arrest, arraignment and prosecution.”
“But in Nigeria, suspects are promptly arrested and often times arraigned in court, even when no evidence for prosecution has been gathered.
“The backlash from such failure of proper investigation by our security agencies is the resultant hike in the number of cases pending in the courts.”
The CJN warned that “an extreme consequence of these glaring lapses may lie in the loss of confidence in our domestic justice administration system which rubbishes our often brandished favourable investment climate and translate to a huge disincentive to potential foreign investors in Nigeria.”
She restated her call for an overhaul of the country’s criminal laws, which she described as “archaic and culturally irrelevant.”
The CJN further expressed concerns at the slow pace of administration of justice in the country.
“To exhaust complete remedy in a case, that is from trial court to Supreme Court, could take up to 20 years with the original litigants dead and substituted and in some cases the substitutes also dead and substituted,” she said.
Justice Mukhtar also spoke on the challenges militating against her resolve to restore the fading glory of the country’s judiciary.
She stressed that, for her to achieve the objective, “certain indices have to be guaranteed; for instance government must at all times ensure total compliance with the rule of law as well as adherence to the principle of separation of powers.”
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