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A former chief justice of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Bello, has called for the standardisation of the administration of the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
Bello said the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015) in Nigeria needs to operate at an international standard that would deliver a working system.
A retired chief judge of the FCT, Bello made the recommendation while giving his keynote address at the first annual conference of the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee.
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The conference was organised with support from GiZ, MacArthur Foundation, the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC), the CLEEN Foundation and the Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA).
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Addressing challenges of delivering speedy judgement in Nigeria, the retired chief judge said many cases in the country are delayed by frivolities and interlocutory applications that most times mess up the process.
Bello said:
Bello noted that the ACJA, 2015 was set to solve some of the challenges and lapses bedevilling the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
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He, however, said that without a standardise administration of criminal justice in the country, Nigeria would continue to be victim to trumped-up charges either by personal or political malice.
Bello also noted the importance of making provisions for social amenities that are necessary for the creation of the platform for peace and stability in the country.
He said:
Continuing, Bello said that in other parts of the world, a court or a judge is expected to handle three cases per time but in Nigeria, you can find one judge assigned to over 1,000 criminal cases that are riddled with all manner of applications.
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He noted that a standardized system is one with three stages of the justice system – the pre-trial judge, the trial judge and the post-trial justice who ensures the implementation of the judgement by the court.
He said:
He said that all hands must be on deck to ensure that the Act eliminates all the bottlenecks that make the system less attractive.
He added:
On his part, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf said that the ACJMC is the most crucial innovation of the ACJA as it creates room for uniformity of work and purpose for an upward trajectory.
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Earlier, Sulayman Dawodu, the secretary of the ACJMC had said that the committee is charged with the unique responsibility of implementing the provisions of ACJA which is aimed at ensuring speedy and effective dispensation of Criminal Justice
Dawodu said:
He said that in its effort to uphold the law, the committee has a series of projects that have brought major stakeholders from all works of life to play key roles in making ensuring speedy trial.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had sentenced a former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulraheed Maina to eight years in prison.
Maina was sentenced after facing many years of long trials for money laundering and diversion of funds meant for millions of Nigerian pensioners.
He was also found guilty of stealing over N2 billion belonging to pensioners, most of whom have died by the court presided over by Justice Okon Abang.
Also, Maina's son, Faisal was earlier sentenced to 14 years in prison by the same court in Abuja on Thursday, October 7.
According to the court, 21-year-old Faisal is guilty of a three-count money laundering charge preferred against him by the EFCC.
Justice Abang in his judgement said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was able to establish that Faisal operated a fictitious bank account with a first-generation bank.
The EFCC also established that through Faisal's account, his father, Maina, laundered N58.1million.
Source: Legit.ng
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