Imbalance in Criminal Justice System

The conviction and sentencing of former NIMASA boss, Calistus Obi, to seven years imprisonment for N225million fraud with an option of 42million fine may have again exposed the imbalance in Nigeria’s criminal justice system, Davidson Iriekpen writes

The imbalance in Nigeria’s administration of criminal justice system again came to the fore recently when a Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced a former acting Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Calistus Obi, to seven years imprisonment for N225million fraud and given an option of a meagre fine of 42million. The court found Obi guilty of conspiring with one Dismal Alu Adoon using two firms, Grand Pact Limited and Global Sea Investment, to convert N225 million belonging to NIMASA to personal use.

The case started when Obi, a former Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Service at NIMASA, took over in acting capacity after the former Director General, Dr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, was sacked and charged with five separate charges of fraud and theft. The former acting director general who was appointed ostensibly to sanitise and cleanse, got into a position of authority and began to line his pockets in cahoots with others.

This led the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arraign him and one Dismal Alu alongside two firms, Grand Pact Limited and Global Sea Investment on an eight-count charge bordering on converting the sum of N225million belonging to agency to their own.

In the course of the proceedings, the EFCC called eight witnesses and tendered 32 exhibits. At the close of its case on November 11, 2016, the defendants filed a no-case submission, insisting there was no prima facie case against them. But in a ruling on February 21, 2017, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun dismissed the no-case submission and ordered them to enter their defence.

The judge, delivering her judgment at the end of the proceedings, held that the prosecution proved the charges against the defendants beyond reasonable doubt and consequently convicted the defendants.

During the sentencing, the EFCC urged the court to impose the maximum punishment prescribed by the law on the convicts. Its lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, told the judge that Section 15(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, which Obi and Alu were convicted of violating, prescribed a maximum prison term of 14 years for an offender. Oyedepo said Obi and Alu’s case had presented the

judiciary with “an opportunity to send a clear signal to public servants and those entrusted with public offices not to breach the trust reposed in them.”

He said in addition to the 14-year imprisonment, the convicts should be made to refund to the federal government the public funds they converted to their own. As for the two firms, the prosecutor said the court should, in line with Section 15(4)(a)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, order the withdrawal of their licences, while they should also be fined 100 per cent of the money they aided the other convicts in converting. He specifically asked the court to order the forfeiture of Ladiva Hotels and Event Limited which it said was acquired with proceeds of crime.

Instead of imposing a heavier sanction on the convicts which could have served the purposed deterrence, many were surprised to see that what Justice Olatoregun handed down was not only tantamount to a slap on the wrist but a shame and an outright disservice to Nigeria’s administration of criminal justice system.

She not only sentenced Obi and Alu to seven years imprisonment each but gave them an option to pay a meager sum of N42million. She also declined to order the forfeiture of assets seized from the convicts as prayed by the EFCC.

Observers have said the Obi’s case shows how imbalanced Nigeria’s administration of criminal justice system is. They believe that when it comes to sentencing the poor or downtrodden who steal phones, food items, clothes, internet fraud, and others, the courts are always more decisive, but when it comes sentencing the rich politicians, businessmen and top public officers, it is always a slap on the wrist.

They further wondered why in the Obi’s case, the judgment was an opportunity for the judiciary to send a strong message to public thieves that the country has had enough of their malfeasance.

To them, more ridiculous perhaps, was the reason given for the fine - prison congestion. They therefore wondered when congestion in prisons has become a sufficient reason to let the high and mighty off the hook whereas cognisance is hardly ever given to this obvious incapacity when the poor and downtrodden are involved.

“It seems that Nigerians on the lower rungs do not qualify for such consideration on the basis of prison congestion. As it turned out, the unpatriotic public officials whose insidious activities contributed in one way or the other to the general incapacity and degeneration of facilities within the system are the ones benefiting from such sordid state of affairs,” said one analyst who spoke THISDAY account of anonymity.

For instance, on April 19, 2019, a 20-yearold Emmanuel Obinna, who was a guest at Villas Hotel Akowonjo Street, Egbeda, Lagos, sentenced to one-year imprisonment for stealing a cell phone, and a wristwatch and N13,000 cash from other guests at the hotel.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Godwin Oriabure, had told the court that the defendant, had at about 7p.m. on February 19, stolen some items from other guests at Villas Hotel on Akowonjo St., Egbeda, Lagos. He said that the defendant, who claimed to be celebrating his birthday at the hotel, stole the items from guests that had lodged there. He said that the defendant stole an Itel phone valued at 58,000, a Bluetooth wristwatch valued at N43,000 and cash of N13,000 from Miss Halima Kabiru and Mr. Adebayo Olawale. The offences contravened Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).

Also, in Benin City recently, a 33-year-old man, Ibrahim Samuel, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for stealing six electrical fuse and five lengths of Copper wires belonging to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).

Furthermore, Justice Jide Falola of the Osun State High Court in Osogbo sentenced a 31-year-old man, Kelvin Igha Igbodalo to 45 years imprisonment for stealing a Sony Ericson mobile phone that is not worth N7,000. Igbodalo, who was arraigned on a six-count charge of conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, stealing, impersonation and advance free fraud, pleaded guilty to the charges.

Consequently, Justice Falola sentenced him to 10 years in prison for each of the first three charges and five years each for the last three counts, amounting to 45 years. But those who fleeced the country of multimillions and multibillions of naira was given the options to pay paltry sums as fine!

It has become a known fact that Nigeria’s criminal justice system favours only the rich and mighty, leaving the indigent to wallow. For instance, a report released by the EFCC recently said it secured 312 convictions but what it did not inform Nigerians are who this 312 convicts are. Investigation has revealed that almost all the convicts are indigent who embark on