Victimology: the Administration of Justice as against the Victim; the way forward.

A convenient take off, would be an attempt to define the concept for discussion, in doing so, deliberate attempt has been made to avoid recourse to the several legal dictionaries, for purposes of clarity and to ensure that the issue does not become more abstract than it was before the lecture.

In view of the foregoing, one shall only be referring to the Oxford Advance Learner's Dictionary. That dictionary define casualty as:

"Person who is killed or injured in a war or in an accident- thing that is lost, Damaged or destroyed by or in accident"

We shall be implying the word in a sense bereft of killing. Otherwise, reference to the word simply refers to the killed, deceased or howsoever in that consequence, which may be outside the purview of our lecture.

The same Dictionary saw the word Victim as:

"�Person, group, association, society, or howsoever, or animal or thing that is injured, killed or destroyed as the result of carelessness, crime or misfortune- person tricked or fooled�"

For purposes of this lecture the understanding of the word "victim" is:

The person group, association, society injured financially, emotionally, socially, which injury results from legal carelessness, improperly thought out laws, improperly made laws, draconian laws and improper application of the laws.

Also it is proper to attempt a definition of administration of justice for purposes of this lecture, Administration Of Justice is:

Administration of justice is the totality of structures whether infrastructure or super structure upon which the law rest or is applicable. In other words, it comprises the laws of the land institutions, departments or howsoever any organ of government or regulation bearing whether directly or remotely with the process of application of the law to persons, groups, associations, society, or howsoever.

With those definitions, we shall proceed immediately to identify some of the laws dealing with administration of justice system/structure that could one way or the other impact on the rights of individuals making such individuals victims of law. Before proceeding, it may be pertinent to state here that our discussion is not about offenders of the law who face it and receive their due. We are talking about those who did not offend the law, but are made to face the harsh side of the law due to no fault of theirs.

Some of the statutes directly or remotely dealing with administration of justice are;
Under the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 are (Cap is for chapter):

Cap 10 - African Charters on Human and People Right Act
Cap 25 - Army Colour (Prohibition of Use) Act
" 38 - Borstal Institutions and Remand Centres Act
" 77 - Criminal Code Act (As Adopted By Legislation - By States Of The Federation)
" 78 - Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act
" 79 - Justice (Release from Custody) - (Special Provisions) Act
" 80 - Criminal Procedure Act (as Adopted By States Of The Federation)
" 81 - (Northern States) Act
"102 - Dishonored Cheque (Offences) Act
"112 - Evidence Act
"131 - Federal Environmental Protection Agency Act
"146 - Fire Arms Act
"152 - Foreign Judgment (Reciprocal Enforcement Act
"156 - Forfeiture Of Assets (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act
"168 - High Court Of The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (Civil Procedure Rule) Act (And Those of other State High Courts)
"171 - Immigration Act
"172 - Import (Prohibition) Act
"176 - Indian Hemp Act
"194 - Judgment of Tribunals (Enforcement E.T.C.) Act
"202 - Land Use Act
"203 - Land Use Act (Validation of Certain Laws, E.T.C.) Act
"204 - Law Officers Act
"205 - Legal Aid Act
"207 - Legal Practitioners Act
"218 - Marriage Act (Note Bigamy and the Matrimonial) Causes Act & Rules
"253 - National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
"257 - National Security Agencies Act
"345 - Penal Code (Northern States) Federal Provisions Act (As Adopted By Legislation By States Of Northern Nigeria; Also Note The Provisions Of The Shari a Laws Dealing With Justice Administration.
"359 - Police Act (as is being amended)
"360 - Pool Betting and Casino Gaming (Prohibition) Act
"362 - Post and Telecommunications Proceeding Act
"364 - Prevention of Crime Act
"365 - Price Control Act
"366 - Prison Act
"379 - Public Officers Protection Act
"380 - Public Offices (Protection against False Accusation) Repeal E.T.C Act
"381 - Public Offices (Special Provisions) Act
"382 - Public Order Act
"384 - Quarantine Act
"385 - Quarries Act
"389 - Recovery of Public Property (Special Military Tribunal) Act
"393 - Review Of Tribunals (Implementation of Decisions) Act
"398 - Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act
"407 - Sheriffs and Civil Process Act
"410 - Special Tribunal (Miscellaneous Offences) Act
"415 - State Security (Detention of Persons)
"424 - Supreme Court Act
"444 - Treason and Other Offences (Special Military Tribunal) Act
"447 - Tribunal Of Inquiry Act (Oputa & Corruption Panel Commission)
National Social Insurance Trust Fund Decree No 73 0f 1993 (As Amended)
Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) And Financial Malpractices in Banks Decree 1994 (as amended)
Federal High Court Act (And Those of The Several State Together With Their Civil Procedure Rules)
National Agency for Food Drug And Administration Control Decree
Standard Organization of Nigeria Decree
Insurance Decree
Banks and Other Financial Institutions Decree
Independent National Electoral Commission Decree
Court Of Appeal Act
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999
Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules

A number of Lagos State Laws directly or remotely dealing with the administration of justice. shall briefly identify; some of which are:

Cap 11 - Betting Duty Law
" 14 - Borstal Training Law
" 26 - Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Law
" 34 - Customary Court Law (And Those of other States )
" 52 - Forfeiture of Property Law
" 54 - Gaming (Licensing) Law
" 58 - Habeas Corpus Law
" 67 - Illiterate Protection Law (And those of other States)
" 119 - Liquor (Licensing) Law (And those of other States)
" 127 - Magistrate Court Law (And those of other States)
" 161 - Public Officers Protection Law
" - Rent Control & Recovery of Residential Premises Edit No 6 of 1997
" 170 - Riot Damages Law
" 183 - Street Trading and Illegal Markets (Prohibition) Law

It must be stated that the above are just a few of the statues bearing on the Administration of Justice in Nigeria. In effect there are several other statues directly or remotely related to our text of discussion; that is more so, in view of the adoption of the Islamic legal Code in some parts of the country.

In effect, the location of a citizen could or may increase or reduce the quantum of Legislations bearing on Administration of Justice; with likelihood of producing "Victims", vary from location to location, place to place, local government to local government, state to state even within Nigeria; wrong parking of vehicles may not be as serious an offence in places like Yenogea, Ado-Ekiti, Lokoja or Dutse as in a place Like Lagos, Kano, Enugu for which strict Laws are in place.

We may proceed to identify the primary actors in the Administration of Justice system/structure; to know the roles they play therein. The first actor is the Attorney General of the Federation, and those of the states of the Federation . (The Attorney General of the Federation, shall hereinafter be referred to AGF whilst, Attorney General of state shall be AG). The Supreme Court in Layiwola & Ors. V Queen, offered us some help in identifying this actor. In the case it said:

"It is without question the province of the law Officer of the Crown (in this case the Director of Public Prosecution) to decide, in the light of What the public interest requires in any particular case, who shall be charged, and with what offence. It is entirely a matter for this officer'squasi -judicial discretion and, in our view, in order to secure the proper Administration of Justice, he must be left to exercise this discretion according to his own judgment neither acting on any rule of thumb nor taking into account any other consideration than the public interest� "

Per Abboth. Ag. C.J.F. in Layiwola & Ors V. Queen (1959) 4 FSC 119.

Note that the Court talks about law officer who it identified as the D.P.P. in our today Structure a reading of section 150 (1), 174, 195 & 211 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, tells us that the law officer is the AGF.

The Principles identifiable from the Ruling of the Court above,

It is the office of the AGF or AG to decide what the public interest requires in any particular case; who should be charged and with what offence.
There is no power in a High Court to Order the AGF or DPP to charge a person with a particular offence.

The Court continued in that case:

"the learned trial judge here should not have ordered the arrest of the 1st defendant and ordered that he should be specifically charged with certain offences. If the learned trial judge felt strongly that the matter required investigation, he should have referred the papers to the Director of Public Prosecution for his consideration, but certainly he should not have directed that a prosecution should take place".

The Court in that matter also helped us to identify another agency involved in Criminal Justice Administration. According to it:

"��The police are to seek the advice of the Ministry of Justice in the formulation of charges and the case may be taken either summarily or by obtaining leave of another judge to file information without a preliminary inquiry".

The above brings to the fore, the role played by the police in the Administration of justice. Police prosecutors are visible in the lower Bench prosecuting cases that are considered "less sensitive", this they do in a summary manner/procedure.

It must however be added that the role played by the police or any other actor, is subject to the Powers vested in the AGF and AG. The Supreme Court in Onwuka Vs State (1970) 1 All NLR 159 emphasis the issue, when it held:

"Although the general power to regulate criminal proceedings is vested in the AG, the Director of Public Prosecution has power to institute criminal proceedings on behalf of the AG and there would be no need for the DPP to produce a written authorization that he has been permitted by the AG to do so."

Section 174 (2) & 211 (2) Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 confirms the decision of the Court that the D.P.P. could exercise the Power and even adds that law officers are so entitled. Further, a Federal Government Gazette extended the powers to legal practitioners engaged by Federal Government in its Ministries Departments, Agencies or Enterprises. The Gazette empowered legal practitioners whose services are engaged full time in Ministries other than in the Justice Ministries, Departments, Agencies and even Enterprises like; NAFDAC, NSITF, NDLEA, NIDB, People Bank, (presently being wound down) ETC to exercise the said Powers.

To restate the issue of exercise of the powers particularly by the police as stated above, they exercise their powers subject also to that of the AGF for this; see Sections 4 & 23 of the Police Act Cap. 359 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.

The powers of the AG are well stated in sections 174(1) and the other sections stated herein, of the Constitution, 1 will not bother you with details thereof. You may wish consider additional powers of the AGF in Sections 72 -75 and other sections therein of Criminal Procedure Act; and of The Criminal Procedure Code.

It must also be noted that the AGF also undertakes civil litigation for and on behalf of the Federation or, of their states, as the case may be. A case in point is Attorney General of the Federation Vs Attorney General of Abia State and those of other States, dealing with the issue of Littoral boundaries of states bounded by the Atlantic ocean for purposes of calculating the amount due to such States in lieu of mineral deposits or whether at all the littoral states are entitled to such income. (otherwise referred to as the Resource Control Case).

There is also the Right of every citizen to private prosecution. It must however be stated that this Right which stems from Rights conferred on citizen of Nigeria is subject to the power of the AGF. The Supreme Court held this much in the celebrated case of Fawehimi V AG of Lagos. In that case, the Applicant had sought to compel Respondent to oblige him leave to prosecute certain persons in a Private capacity, following the failure of the Respondent to prosecute the named persons.

As stated earlier, Victimology goes beyond Criminal Justice Administration to include civil litigation. It is proper to go into illustrations of the subject of discussion. The lady of Sokoto State who now has on her head a sentence of death by stoning upon weaning the issue of the "illicit/immoral relationship" clearly describes the issue. The adjudicating body did pass the sentence based on some law (be it Shari a or not, it is indeed a law).

The lady would die alone, or better put, and to make the point clear, would be killed alone, her partner in love, will not. Of course there may be those who may be quick to remind one of the fact that the man is missing in action. The question remains; should the law go ahead to punish her for the immoral offence of them both.

In any case, who is the real victim of the law here? Is it that lady who dies alone without her love mate? Is it the issue (or child) of the immoral act, (who I would like to refer to as "X")? who from infancy would be made to loose the opportunity of enjoying the benefits associated with having a mother or father. Further, is it the love birds, who the law now prevents the opportunity of joining their hands in matrimony? By so doing attempting to right the wrong of immorality; or is it "X" who could loose the benefits accruing from such correction and enjoy the privilege having both parents attention?

Another way to look at the issue is; what if the lady was a rape victim, which said offence produced the pregnancy (the very evidence now used against her) and for which she must die. Then again, will the government of the State in question offer any relief to "X" after her, (or if the partner is eventually discovered) their execution by stoning.

We may also consider the following hypothetical cases to illustrate how easy it is to fall victim of the law. Y a clearing and forwarding agent was just recently instructed by a client based in Afghanistan, to clear and deliver a consignment of 9 (nine) cars to an address in Gusau the Zamfara State capital. He employed his best skill, paid all government fees, took delivery of the vehicles and began the journey to Gasau, he was arrested for being in breached o Army Colour (Prohibition of Use) Act Cap 25 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990. The 9 cars were also detained with him. 6 of the consigned cars had been painted in colours similar to those of the Nigeria army.

Upon the insistence of his solicitors (of course with huge cost to him) he was charged before a Magistrate for offending section 1 of the said Act. The Magistrate sentenced him to six months imprisonment. In addition to which he was ordered to cough out the sum of N600, 000.00 (six hundred thousand Naira only) to government, before the vehicles would be released to him or anyone representing his interest.

Y instructions did not include repainting the vehicles. If it did, he probably would have requested for extra funds to satisfy those extra instruction. Also, we must bear in mind that he was merely performing a legitimate function to earn a living. Yet the law makes him a victim.

The law makes the society victims when as presently constituted, the procedure for appointment into the judiciary dose not guaranty justice. Appointment here refers to both the higher and lower Bench. The elevation of wrong persons into the Bench produces; corruption, inefficiency, unnecessary adjournment ignorant judge ETC. Also and as was common with military regimes, laymen were hastily drafted and appointed into panels to sit with judge in several tribunals. This today is a case in point. Today how many of such panel or tribunals are sitting? Why are they not sitting? How often do lay members of the panel present themselves to do their work?

A victim of armed robbery or of any other offence necessarily becomes a victim of the law or the structures of the law. Upon his lodging a report with police, he is requested, often times intimidated to name suspects, this the police argue is to give them leads or in roads into the matter. Because there are no funds to draw from, he must again be deprived of his resource that is not withstanding the fact of his initial loss. He must fund the police investigation and very heavily too. In the event of an arrest, he must engage the services of a legal practitioner to ensure that the very case he reported and for which he suffered so much, does not turn against him. By so doing, the System makes him to incur additional loss.

Where the matter goes to court, in addition to legal fees to watch his brief of his solicitor he must equip the prosecutor otherwise the chances are that the case may be turned against him or that he may not recover his property, if any were recovered. These take the form of tips to Registrars and in some cases, to the Court. It must also be noted that after this huge investment, justice might not even be done in the matter.

What about the victim(s) of a deceased casualty, who in addition to grappling with the loss must source for funds to secure the release of the corpse, before continuing with the processes stated above.

Then again the law creates victims of even judgment creditors. There are a number of them who may be referred to as ambush lawyers. These are lawyers who in their desire to be senior advocates so turn themselves. Some of the conditions of being a senior advocate in addition to having attained the requisite age at the Bar the applicant must have a specified number of appellate briefs. So these lawyers deliberately create appellate briefs. When briefed to handle a matter, they take no steps until judgment is entered against their client, then they create an appeal from the brief and seek to stall the judgment creditor from taking benefit of the judgment entered in his favour; thereby making him a victim of law i.e. one who has judgment entered in his favour but to whom it is of no benefit.

Because they fail in many occasion to prevent the judgment creditor from reaping the fruits of judgment, they than make their own clients who instructed them, paid them and released to them confidential information to fight their case, victims of law or shall we say they become SAN title system.

One will not be taking about Rules of Procedure in court deliberately designed to slow down cases in the court, the result is that by the time judgment is entered parties would have long died buried and forgotten about. Than again, in the higher Bench where processes filed are left to the pleasure of their lordship to issue hearing dates (notices as it is more appropriately referred) which period may take donkey years is a disservice to justice and creates victims. Also there is a high degree or probability that innocent persons might quite easily be victims of raids, occasionally carried out by law enforcement agents just to impress their superiors officers that they are functional, and because there is a high number of law enforcement agencies all striving to out do the other in the business of raids and arbitrary arrest of persons on the streets a number of victims are created on daily bases. There is also the operation of illegal but now popular private law enforcement bodies i.e. Oodua Peoples Congress O.P.C., Egbesu, Bakassi, Arewa Peoples Congress A.P.C. ETC. There are several other ethnic militia (i.e. those in Benue State that killed 19 Soldiers including a captain). All of which create victims.

It is my belief and in view of time limitation that the subject of today has been well discussed. It would however be wrong to conclude without making recommendations for improvement. Firstly, the need to over hall our entire legal system, particularly with a view to removing, if you like expunging all obnoxious laws in the system is long over due. This is against the background that the military, the group that before now constituted them self as government made laws to the disadvantage or better put to the detriment of the civil populace. As they say in their language it is either you are for us or you belong to the enemy camp. Laws should not be made with such notions in mind.

Similarly, a review of all Rules of Procedure in court is long over due. Steps must be taking to ensure that legal proceedings do not last more than necessary. One-way of doing this is by requesting Judge and Magistrates to send in particulars of case they concluded quarterly not for administrative review but as evidence that the judge actually busy themselves on their assignment. One must also appreciate the NGO that organized the seminar on the review of Fundamental Rights Procedure Rules. It suggested that the appropriate authorities should take time out to consider the work and if thought proper, pass it to law.

The need for more judicial appointments cannot be over emphasized. The efforts of the Lagos State government in that direction must therefore be appreciated. It must however be added, that not withstanding the appointments there is still room for more Judges in Lagos State, and further that every Commissioner, Chairman of council or department/agency had office and other accommodation spaces immediately following their appointment, one therefore wonders why it took the government so must time to begin to get their act together in the case of recently appointed judges. One would rather believe, particularly in view of the towering reputation of their Excellencies, that it is merely an oversight that will never repeat itself.

Also and in line with appointment of judicial offices, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) must necessarily be involved in the process. This is to prevent a situation where lawyers who have since veered off the profession to business like spare parts, banking, politics, ETC are by appointment, brought to adjudicate over sensitive issue. Then again, the NBA may be able to advice whether in the course of practice of the candidate he displayed such attitudes as (to use the lay language) "jankara" that is sharp practice, or he is the habit of converting client funds etc. Or the NBA could advice on their perception of the candidate's knowledge of the law, which is the tool he must work with.

Lagos State may also consider creating new division of the High Court for places like Surulere, Apapa, Abule-Egda ETC. that is addition to carrying out more visible renovations in the Magistrate Courts. There must of necessity be periodic refresher courses for judicial office holders. There must be a national security summit to harmonize and streamline security operatives in the system. The society must be made to know the mode of operation of these forces. Presently the government is taking steps to re-orientate the Police Force. we advice the same should be made to produce far reaching effect, particularly on toll taking from motorist and bail money and other forms of corruption presently prevalent or shall we say, the order of the day in the force.

The police must also put in place, funds for purposes of investigation which fund must be easily available to any investigating officer thereby removing the burden of victims bearing the cost of investigations. This must also come with enhanced condition of service for the force men.

In the United States of America, there is the federal witness programmed or the federal witness protection programmed. The programmed is designed to cater for persons who suffer or who are likely to be victims because of their roles in the Administration of Justice. The State bears the entire cost it would take to resettle them to live new lives in a new location with different identities. The same is suggested to the government of the day.

The Anti Corruption Commissions must be empowered financially and in terms of man power to do their work. This will certainly put the fear of the need to apply some caution in the system. In addition to legal practitioners in practice, there are several organization involved in the defence of victims. So if you fall victim feel free to consult a legal practitioner of your choice or any of the following:

Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR)
Civil Liberties Organization (CLO)
Hurilaws
Crime Victim Foundation (CRIVIFON)

Ladies and Gentlemen: I do not intend to bore you unnecessarily; I am minded of the fact that there are other programmes for the day. I understand that there is an auction and a banquet too. I must thank you for the attention afforded me while the lecture lasted. This in brief is the lecture for the day it will be my pleasure to take your questions.

Obruche Ayeteni Esq. presented this lecture to the Rotaract Club of Ikeja on the 28th of October 2001.