Sanwo-Olu Restates Continued Support for Judiciary, at Summit on Criminal Justice Sector

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has restated his administration’s continuous support for the Judiciary and indeed, all the criminal justice stakeholders in the State, to ensure that they are efficient, effective, and most importantly, independent, in order to make the Lagos State Criminal Justice Sector one to reckon with, globally.

Sanwo-Olu said the Judiciary is undoubtedly, the most important organ of Government, as it is the only organ of State, that can prevent the State from falling into anarchy and chaos, by ensuring that the laws of the State are complied with and upheld.

The Governor stated this last Tuesday, at the Stakeholder’s Summit on the Criminal Justice Sector, organised by Lagos State Judiciary, held at the Lagos City Hall.

The Summit, which was chaired by Justice Habeeb Abiru of the Court of Appeal, was organised as part of activities to mark the 2019/2020 new Legal Year, which commenced on Monday, September 23, 2019, with Church and Mosque services.

Represented by a Director in the Ministry of Justice, Said Quadri, the Governor noted that, the delivery of prompt and efficient justice remains a pivotal objective of his administration, and that he would continually support the Judiciary to achieve this goal.

He urged the Judiciary to ensure that, its primary purpose, which is to interpret the law, is held sacrosanct, and that this duty is not eroded under any circumstance.

Sanwo-Olu also urged Magistrates, to hold Section 264 of the ACJL in high esteem, by supervising the duration of suspects on remand, and also exercise their discretion as to the appropriateness of remanding suspects brought before them.

He advised that, the plea bargain and restorative justice process, must be taken seriously by all stakeholders, as data has proved it to be very productive and that the process can assist in decongesting the courts and prisons.

“The Lagos Judiciary has always been a pacesetter in the country’s administration of justice from time immemorial, through its immense contribution towards the development of law and justice. It is no longer news that, the High Court Civil Procedure Rules of Lagos State and the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, has become the template upon which other States developed their respective Civil Court Rules and Criminal Justice Laws.

“Worthy of note also, is the recently unveiled Criminal Practice Direction. Lagos State, in its bid to attain its mega city status, must rid itself of crime and its perpetrators.

“I will continually seek the collaboration of the Judiciary, as part of our Government’s commitment to create an enabling environment for investment and in resolving commercial disputes as quickly as possible, in order to continuously gain investors’ confidence and provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. On its part, the Lagos State Judiciary must continue to be the centre of excellence, for commercial dispute adjudication.

“Our Government is committed to delivering the dividends of democracy, and a justice system that is effective and efficient.

“The delivery of prompt and efficient justice and providing remedies for our citizens, remains a pivotal objective of this administration, and we will continually support the Judiciary to achieve this goal”, he stated.

Also speaking at the Summit, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Kemi Pinheiro, called for the abolition of the ‘trial within trial’ system, of determining the value of confessional statements in the Nigerian criminal justice system.

In a 40-page paper titled: “The Admissibility of Confessional Statements: Imperatives of Trial Within Trial” presented at the Summit, Pinheiro said the system has no basis in the Evidence Act, and is one of the major causes of delay in criminal trials.

“Trial within trial being foreign to our existing nonjury system law, and having contributed immensely to the delay in justice delivery in criminal matters ought not to be conducted anymore in our legal system”, he said.

Pinheiro suggested that, extraction of statements should be taken away from the Police, and given to Magistrates or other judicial officers, who must not only study the demeanour of a Defendant, but also ensure that the Defendant is completely free, while making the statement voluntarily, as is being done in India.

He argued that, this way, controversies surrounding confessional statements will

be completely eradicated.

According to the Senior Advocate, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 is fraught with so many inadequacies, that they are delaying justice delivery process, and suggested a Practice Direction that would remove ‘trial within trial’ from judicial processes.

He said confessional statements alone, cannot secure conviction, and that so much time is being wasted on admissibility of ‘one document in ‘trial within trial’.

“We don’t operate a jury system. Why then are we still conducting ‘trial within trial’, “he queried.

“Trial within trial, being foreign to our existing non-jury system law, and having contributed immensely to the delay in justice delivery in criminal matters, ought not to be conducted anymore in our legal system”, he said.

To buttress his position, he cited the case of a Judge who got carried away with arguments and submissions in a ‘trial within trial’, that he ended up giving judgement without hearing the substantive suit.

He said that, trial Judges should then be entitled to, from the totality of the evidence led by parties, deliver judgements, and in same, expunge the confessional statement from their records, where found to be involuntarily made and, or act on same, if found to be voluntarily made.

The senior Lawyer argued that, Section 29 (2) (a) – (b) of the Evidence Act, 2011 which governs admissibility of confessional statements and sets out the circumstances under which statements qualifying as confessions will be admitted: “Curiously, and interestingly, Section 29, as with any other section of the entire Evidence Act, makes no mention of the phrase ‘trial within trial’.

“I make bold to say that, the phrase does not exist in our statutory lexicon. Rather, it is a practice that has evolved over time, to test the voluntariness of a statement qualifying as a confession”, he said.

Pinheiro urged Chief Judges of States to issue Practice Directions that will introduce a better and time friendly procedure, for admitting confessional statements.

He further advocated the appointment of retired Judges and senior Lawyers, to adjudicate on issues relating to confessional statements, before the matters reach the trial court.

This according to him, will remove a great burden from Judges, and speed up trial time. However, he said this will require a constitutional amendment, before it could be carried out.

Also, speaking on “Achieving Justice for Victims of Crimes: The Imperatives of Restorative Justice”, Dr. Martins, a Director in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, explained that the system involves making restitution for victims of crimes, and communal sentencing for offenders.

Martins said the law made provision for the Police to do restorative justice, instead of court trial, if the victim of crime says he/she is no longer interested in prosecution, but stressed that, victims and offenders must agree to restitution which would be entered as consent judgement between them, by the court.

Earlier in his welcome address, Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Alogba, noted that, congestion of prisons has become a major problem to the Judiciary.

Justice Alogba admitted that, ‘trial within trial’ has been a major contributory factor to prison congestion, and that it was what informed the choice of the topic of this year’s Summit on Criminal Justice Sector.

He urged stakeholders to look at ‘trial within trial’, within the context of solving the problem of prison congestion and delayed trial.

Panelists at the Summit included, Mr. Chino Obiagwu, SAN and EFCC Prosecutor, Dr. Ben Ubi.