28 August 2008
editorial
Lagos — It is rightly acknowledged today, that the nation's judiciary, since the 2003 general elections, has been a bit more assertive, and less inclined to manifest interests of the high and mighty in society.
The popular opinion has been that the judiciary is more pro-active in their interpretation of matters before the courts in manners that incorporate the intrinsic spirit, and not just the letters of the law.
Good examples of this assertion are the recent election tribunal rulings which, not only sought to restore stolen or improperly acquired mandates to their rightful owners, but also ensuring that the rights and privileges of those so electorally robbed, are restored to the new winners.
That is not all; the judiciary today has also expanded the frontiers of human and fundamental rights available to citizens as in the nullification of edicts and laws that tended to curb the rights of citizens to free speech and association, and also that of peaceful protests without the need for police permits.
There are a few other areas where the nation's judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, has had to come out on the side of the law and citizens of Nigeria, when it would have been easier to employ legal technicalities to put a limit to the freedoms due to citizens as spelt out by the law.
However, while the judiciary has undoubtedly made great strides in the application of justice according to the sacred cannons of rule of law, one critical area where it has been tardy, unconcerned, and even retrogressive, has been in area of equal application of the law to all citizens, regardless of social status or standings in society.
The perception that, though the judiciary has shown sparks of humanity, impartiality, and empathy in their adjudications of purely politically related cases, appears to take a beaten and held in reserve or even absent, when it comes to matters of purely criminal nature brought before their courts.
The cases of self-confessed or alleged treasury looters who have been brought before the nation's courts of law in recent times are example of this ideological gang-up against those without means to, as it were, buy, delay or pervert the course of justice in the land.
We say this because, in most of the recent high profile cases of theft of public funds brought against public officers like Governors, Ministers and others, the situation has been that, either these accused are granted bail under disproportionately lenient conditions after the mandatory 48 hours in police custody, or, if prosecuted at all, are allowed to enter into plea-bargains, an instrument that is even alien to our laws, and thus evade due punishment.
Former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, and Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha are good examples of this apparent travesty of justice. The same goes with sundry other accused former governors who have even had the privilege of not only getting bail after arraignment for high treason and felony, but also been granted leave by our law courts to travel abroad for medical treatments.
This is without regard that the billions of naira these former government officials are accused of stealing (and may have stolen too) are enough to fully equip several hospitals here in Nigeria.
Therefore, compared with the ordeal ordinary Nigerians go through at the hands of the judges and magistrates who sit in judgment over them, it is clear even to the least discriminating, that there appears to be a different set of rules and laws for different class of Nigerians: one set for the rich and powerful, and another, for the lowly and humble.
Many Nigerians are serving heavy jail terms for money-related offences, just as others have been denied bail and incarcerated for years for minor cases of burglary and the theft of a few thousand or hundred naira.
Consider the case of 25-year old Abraham Obare who was arraigned before an Abuja Magistrate Court for stealing a policeman's wallet containing a total of N120. He was told by the Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. Elizabeth Wonni, to post bail of N120, 000 and a surety who must be a civil servant not lower than Grade Level three, failing which he would remain in prison custody until the September 4 adjourned hearing.
Looking at these two set of rulings involving two apparently different classes of Nigerians, the conclusion is inescapable that this whole song and dance about rule of law, is not uniformly applied.
While not in anyway condoning criminality of any sorts and by any class of citizens, or even by those who use poverty as alibi for their deviancies, the point has to be made and very strongly too that society functions best when the same court which hears the case of the prince who robbed his kingdom of her gold, must, if the rule of law is to be credible, be the same court that tries a pauper for stealing a chicken.
The same legal measure for the rich must also be used for the not-so-rich. That way, we believe, every citizen will have faith in the state, and believe that the state is there for equality and equity and not the free-hold property and tool for the rich alone who can afford the high cost of justice.
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Bravo, daily Champion!!! You are the true champions of the real Nigerians (99.99% of our $140 Million people are poor). This is the first time a Nigerian news paper wrote any story about our teeming poor masses. There are rewards for true journalists like yours. Please keep educating Nigerians about their rights so they know that they are the boss in any democatic setting and they have the right to take their country back from the iron grip of a mere 5,000 very corrupt and uncaring "elite". Throw the bums out, I would say.