As the new generation of Nigerians sink in the fact that the judiciary in Nigeria is certainly not a place to get justice, a new threat is about to be born.
This threat is the threat of alternative Justice system. Simply put, it’s Justice outside the ambit of the law.
While a lot of young people have openly declared that they will henceforth take their cases to various deities to get Justice, not many will be eager to make it open that they would soon resort to men of the underworld to get Justice.
We might soon see a sharp rise in Mafianism where citizens will take their cases to men in criminal organisations to help them get Justice.
These men of underworld would in their own right, play judge, jury and executioner as we have seen take roots in various places like Italy, Mexico, Brazil etc.
If these developed economies couldn’t readily cure their country of this Mafianism, imagine what would happen if it takes root in Nigeria that is fighting two full blown terrorists organisations with factions, in addition to Bandits, Unknown Gunmen, Militants, AK47 wielding Kidnappers, etc.
Already, there have been pockets of people resorting to alternative Justice in the form of bringing in cult groups to settle cases violently as against involving the police. Jungle Justice has also been rampant in the past.
The problem right now is that those people who are leading crusades against Jungle Justice and Cultism are now the one are fed up with the Nigerian Justice System.
It has gotten to the extent that the highly coveted and Honoured Legal Profession is now held in disdain and contempt and Law students are law graduates are made fun of.
People have lost faith in the Judiciary System, and when people lose faith in a system, they seek for alternative. That alternative would destroy what is left of this country and throw us into anarchy.
Therefore, before Nigerians resort to Alternative Justice, I wish to appeal to the Supreme Court to listen to their learned colleagues who have joined our ancestors and jettison technicalities and look for substance instead.
In a Judgement delivered in 1986, Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa JSC made the following remarks; “the picture of law and its technical rules triumphant and justice prostrate may no doubt have its admirers.
But the spirit of justice does not reside in forms and formalities, nor in technicalities, nor is the triumph of the administration of justice to be found in successfully picking one’s way between pitfalls of technicality. Law and all its technical rules ought to be but a handmade of justice and legal inflexibility (which may be becoming of law) may, if strictly followed, only serve to render justice grotesque or even lead to outright injustice, the court will not endure that mere form or fiction of law, introduced for the sake of justice, should work a wrong, contrary to the real truth and substance of the case before it”.
In a related development, Late Justice Mohammed Bello JSC (Later CJN) made the following remarks; “the court has for some time now laid down as a guiding principle that it is more interested in substance, than in mere form. Justice can only be done if the substance of the matter is examined. Reliance on technicalities leads to injustice.”
If these Justices of high esteem could stand to overlook technicalities for substance despite being under military rule at that time, then there’s no reason for the Supreme Court of Nigeria today, not to look beyond Technicalities and decide the case equitably.
I am not by means telling the Justices of the Supreme Court what to do, however, I paid rapt attention to the Judgement of the Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal and deciphered one very important thing.
The PEPC refused to accept the testimonies of all the meaningful witnesses presented by the petitioners on the grounds of technicalities and accepted only the testimonies of the witnesses that had no substance.
The same thing was done to evidences provided. All the useful evidences were struck out on account of technicalities and all the useless evidences were accepted.
Where the cases of the petitioners had meaning, the PEPC would employ technicalities to neutralize it.
Where the respondents were fully culpable, the PEPC would cite more than 10 different cases to exonerate them.
As if the PEPC was specifically working hard to ensure that the result of the election as announced by INEC was not tempered with, instead of looking for the substance of the matter and delivering Justice.
This is why I implore on the supreme court to adopt a different approach, for if Nigerians finally resort to Alternative Justice, then there would be full-blown Anarchy and neither me nor the Supreme Court Justices would be spared.
©️ Ugwuagbo Emmanuel Chizoba
Enugu based Journalist and Writer.