Kano CJ gives Magistrate courts 6 months ultimatum to dispose cases beyond 2 years
Judgement
By Aminu Garko
The Kano State Chief Judge, Justice Dije Aboki has given magistrate courts in the state six months ultimatum to dispose cases pending beyond two years and where suspects were not on bail or have themselves to be blamed.
Justice Aboki gave the ultimatum while declaring open a workshop on “Popularizing and Disseminating the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws, ACJL” organized by the Law Hub Development and Advocacy Centre with support from MacArthur Foundation in Kano State.
According to her, “I have sent a circular to all the magistrates in Kano to ensure that cases that are pending for longer than 2 years in which the suspects are not on bail must be disposed off before six months.
“We are going to ensure this is attended to and any Magistrate that fails without any good reason will have his or herself to blame,” she said.
She said the action became imperative to address unnecessary detention of suspect citing instances where suspects were under detention for as long as six years but don’t have case diary or legal advise from the end of the Police and ministry of Justice.
The Chief Judge also disclosed plans to set up a committee towards implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law in the state.
Justice Aboki however vowed to strive alongside with the state government to ensure funds for the training and retraining towards application of the law in the state.
On his part, the Commissioner of Police, CP Mohammed Usaini Gumel stressed the need for all stakeholders to be carried along and make inputs appropriately noting that the law is “Accused friendly” as it portend protection of the interest of the accused persons more than the interest of the victims,
CP Gumel however assured of it full support towards implementation of the law in the state noting that it has concluded arrangements in collaboration with the Kano State Branch of Magistrates Association of Nigeria (MAN) to carry out regular and sustainable training programme on Kano State ACJL, 2019 with a view to providing technical assistance and capacity-building for our police programme on Kano State ACJL, 2019 with a view to providing technical assistance and capacity-building for it personnel towards effective implementation of the law in the state.
“We are also aware that, many of us at the gate of Criminal Justice Administration (Police) are considering this Law as “Accused friendly” as it portend protection of the interest of the accused persons more than the interest of the victims, the State and the society. As a result, all attempts towards introducing some of these new innovative provisions of the Law, are considered as “security obstacles” whereby many notorious and hardened criminals in the State got released by the Courts in the name of complying with the Law.
“Please let me not be misquoted by any one as I am not here to criticize any part of this Law, but I am trying to show that henceforth to have a well-articulated and all-encompassing amendment, there’s the need for the buy-in of all the relevant stakeholders and for everyone to be carried along throughout the process or when addressing some of the matters arising. Therefore, everyone must be given adequate time and facility to study and understand the provisions of this Law, and ensuring that the key players get adequate sensitization,” the Commissioner of Police stated.
Earlier, in his welcome address, the Executive Director, Law Hub Development and Advocacy Centre, Osita Chukwuma represented by the Project Team Consultant, Joshua Dada said the essence of the workshop was to carry out an assessment of the state of implementation of the law and practice direction, challenges and successes to give the hub perspective on how to give intervention towards full implementation of the ACJL in the state as well as draw lessons to cascade in other states.
