Electoral Offenders Should Be Prosecuted by Police, AGF

Mr. Akeem OlatundeAfolabi, a Senior Advocate, is an indigene of Offa town in Kwara state. He read law at the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto and graduated in February 1994. Akeem, who had his Masters Degree (LL.M) at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State was called to the Bar in March 1995. In this interview with PETER FOWOYO, he spoke on the concluded presidential election and the lessons to be learnt from it, the performance of the members of the seventh National Assembly, election petition tribunal, appointment of judges and sundry issues.

How would you rate the performance of the seventh national assembly considering their inability to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill and other important bills?

Well, let me limit myself to the Petroleum Industry Bill, I don’t know much about other important bills which they were unable to pass since the proclamation of the President by which this current National assembly came into being. Their inability to pass the PIB saddens one if we are to look at the time for which the bill has been on since the last National Assembly.

I don’t know what has been holding this current National Assembly back to complete this exercise once and for all, those who are in the petroleum industry have always told us that if the bill is passed, it will impact positively in the petroleum industry in Nigeria and if that was to be so, I just wondered why it took long to pass the bill.But let us give them the benefit of doubt that it will be passed before their tenure expires because we still have about two months before the end of this administration. I hope that they will do the needful before the assembly is wound up when a new set of legislatures come on board in June 2015.

There are suggestions that legislative work should be part time basis so as to reduce the cost of governance. Do you share this view sir?

Absolutely, I agreed with those that hold that notion. The amount of money we are spending on legislatures in Nigeria is just too much and if I may recall, a former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria cried out as to the amount of money our legislatures are receiving. By and large, if you look at the amount of money we are pumping into the National assembly to sustain these legislatures; it will not be a bad idea if we can adopt the concept whereby we make the membership of those in the National Assembly a part time basis.

To me, when you look at the amount of money we are spending on those people and you try to compare it with the people who have spent so much of their lives in the executive arm of government for example, somebody in the parastatals, for God sake, you will see somebody who has put 30 years in a particular ministry before he or she is made a Permanent Secretary, how much is he earning? Compared to somebody who is barely 30 years of age and he is elected to the National Assembly, if you look at the amount of money being spent on these legislatures such as constituency projects and all that you begin to wonder what projects they are executing at the constituency level.

I believe that should be the responsibility of the executive arm of government and that is why you see in most situations because there is always the need that their own interest are protected if the executive submits a budget to the National Assembly you will be hearing stories that what the executive submitted is not sufficient and so they have to increase the budget proposal of a particular job or contract which the executive arm of government intend to carry out. I believe as a means of cutting cost, it will not be a bad idea if we can adopt the concept whereby legislative exercise should be on a part time basis in terms of the money we paid them so that you will only receive allowances whenever you sit and I believe whenever we adopt this procedure it will reduce tremendously the amount of money we spend on these people.

The presidential election has come and gone, what lesson shall we learnt from the exercise.

You must always have it at the back of your mind that there is always a day of reckoning and that power belong to the people, after four years you have to return for them to reassess their views ofperception or position about what you have done in office.If you have done well, they might decide to re-endorse you and if you have performed below expectation, I think the masses who actually have the right and power will ensure they use their power to remove you from office.

That you have the opportunity in the first place to occupy any office don’t think you’re the best candidate and the best person with the best qualification that can only be elected in election into any particular office, it is just an opportunity which you’ve and if at the end of the day the Nigerian people who voted you into office decides to have a change of government I think we must all respect the wish of the Nigerian people whichever way it goes, nobody should force himself on the Nigerian people. Once they have spoken you just have to take it. That is my own perception.

Conflicting results emerged prior to the end of the election in social media and the radio stations by some people, under the electoral act who has the power to announce results?

Basically, the responsibility of making announcement of result is that of the Independent National Electoral Commission and no other person. Since we concluded the exercise on Saturday we have been seeing all sorts of results posted on various social media. It is quite unfortunate and at times the thing do cause unnecessary confusion.So, under the electoral act and let me say statutorily, it is the responsibility of INEC and whatever result comes from INEC should be taken as the authentic result so whatever any other person has posted nobody should give credence to such a result. In all, INEC has the prerogative, the exclusive power to make announcement as to the result of any election.

The police arrested some electoral offenders such as in the past but, nothing is done to prosecute these set of people, does the electoral act provides for the prosecution of electoral offenders?

Sure, you see under the electoral act, there are some categories of actions that are classified as electoral offences and I believe adequate penalty or sanctions have been provided under the electoral act, it is unfortunate that after election even when people are arrested because of the election, once declaration of results have been made hardly do you hear anything about those who committed these offences. I think the police should be up to their responsibility and working with the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation in most deserving situation must ensure that those people who are caught in perpetrating one or two electoral offences are made to face the music, they should be prosecuted so that whatever judgment or conviction is sustained in the court of law would serve as deterrent to other people, it should not be business as usual.

In the course of election if you engaged in any illicit act and you’re caught, you should be made to face the music. I think that there should be a serious synergy between the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the police as an institution and even the body saddle with the responsibility of conducting election in Nigeria so that when people are caught you must ensure that they are made too account for their misdeed in the course of the election, they should not allow the thing to go just like that, it does not augur well for the development of our electoral system.

I want to appeal to the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police as the head of that institution and INEC as a body responsible for the conduct of the election to ensure that they follow each case to a logical conclusion. When you’re caught, you should be made to face the appropriate sanction which you’re entitled to if you’re found guilty after a conclusive prosecution. You have every opportunity to say whatever you want to say and if they can prove or sustain the allegation against you then you must be made to face the music.

What are your expectations from the election petition tribunals that are set up across the country to deal with election matters?

Well, they’ve been set up prior to the conduct of the election. As we speak now I wouldn’t know whether in terms of assigning portfolios as regards to which particular state they are supposed to sit, I wouldn’t know if the President of the Court of Appeal has done that but prior to the conduct of the election, the judges that will sit in various panels in the tribunals of the various states have all been sworn in. We just hope that they will ensure that people who got into office through back door maybe in terms of one or two tricks in getting the wills of the people circumvented would be made to get out of that office and the actual candidate who won the election would get justice and be sworn in. They are men of repute and integrity and I believe they will uphold the rule of law and ensure that justice is done to all concerned.

Some lawyers have argued that 180 days is not sufficient to decide electoral matters, others have argued otherwise. On which side of the divide are you?

You see, we must appreciate what led to the amendment of the constitution when the issue of 180 days was brought in. Prior to the last amendment, we had cases in which election petition matters lingered on for up to three years at times when the term of the sitting governor in most elections is four years. A lot of people believe that because of the fact that there was time lag; the sitting governor will always do whatever he can do within his power to continue to frustrate the proceedings of the tribunal. But in a bid to check this mischief, I think the National Assembly brought in the issue of 180 days but, by and large, if you look at it, I don’t  think the mischief which they sought to cure as at then has actually being cured because we now have a situation by which most election petition matters are not heard on its merit because 180 days to conduct an election petition with regards to the decision of the supreme court, your days starts to count in the first day of your petition so much so that even if there were interlocutory appeals in the course of the proceedings that does not stop the 180 days.

Assuming your petition was struck out at the lower court in a governorship matter and you decided to appeal up to the supreme court, the 180 days will continue to run by the time you come back from the supreme court you discovered that the 180 days have lapsed and the court does not have jurisdiction to entertain your matter with regards to the constitution as the thing is so provided therein. I think there is a need to revisit that provision in the constitution that talked about 180 days and have a sort of modification so that the 180 days should be 180 days of actual sitting of the tribunal. So that if somebody has an interlocutory appeal to prosecute from the tribunal up to the supreme court, whilst his appeal were pending in the court of Appeal and the supreme court, his 180 days should not count. It should stop so that by the time he comes back and succeeds at the supreme court then he will continue from where he stops by the time he filed his appeal.

But we have a situation where the 180 days start reckoning from the very day you filed your petitions so that by the time you come back from the supreme court, the time lag start reckoning has become spent so I believe there is a need for a slight modification to ensure or make provisions to the effect that the reckoning of 180 days will be 180 days from the day of actual sitting of the tribunal.

Some lawyers have argued that politicians should not be involved in the appointment of Judges at the state High Court. What is your take?

Well, when we look strictly at the provisions of the constitution and you talk of the politicians except you’re saying a governor as a politician because it is the provision of the constitution that the appointment has to be done between the governor of a state and the National Judicial Council. It is the constitution that vested the power of appointment on the governor of a state while recommendation is to be done by the NJC until that one is change.

I don’t see anything wrong in it if you have governors that uphold the constitution somebody must be the appointing authority so that the thing will not just be one sided those people who have been nominated their names, qualifications and the rest of it will be taken to the NJC as people who are suitable. If a governor wants to appoint a particular person and that person is not competent when the matter gets to the NJC, if the people over there has certain information or fact which they believe makes the person not to be suitablethey can as well refused in making recommendation to the governoras to the appointment of that person as a judge.

But I would want to see a situation when people are to be appointed as a judge to any of our bench, it is not out of place if there is an advertisement in the newspaper to say so and so person is being considered for appointment as a judicial officer perhaps if the generality of the people think this person is unworthy to be on the bench please write so and so people, draw our attention to it and if that opportunity is created whoever writes anything is trying to contribute his quota to the development of his country or state. If you want to appoint a judicial officer and somebody has an information that such a person you want to appoint is not worthy of being considered. There must be that opportunity for people to voice out, people to draw the attention of the authority concerned on the incompetence of certain information which makes that person unsuitable to be considered for appointment. That is one thing that is lacking in the process of appointing judicial officer. There must be that opportunity whereby civil populace should have the chance of bringing up issues which perhaps are hidden to those in charge of appointment. It is high time we soon have that opportunity or that situation by which the civil populace should have the opportunity of writing to the approved authority by drawing their attention to certain basic fact or information regarding such person to be considered for appointment.

What is your assessment of our criminal justice system?

I would say that we have a lot of improvement. You see, the society itself keeps evolving and what was obtainable in the 70’s in terms of criminal procedures in the various courts of law are not the same with what we are using now. By and large, we try to streamline what and what a lawyer can do. Look at Lagos state for example, there are situations now even when you want to challenge the competence of an information that has been filed, there are provisions in the criminal justice in which it will tell you that you can’t do so until after the case of the prosecution. All these innovations that have been introduced and in some other states is just to make sure that accused persons are not allowed to frustrate the case of the prosecution we must commend them, they have been living up to their responsibility in terms of those people who are in the justice reform sector.

I won’t subscribe to any notion that says our criminal justice system has gone from bad to worse, I would rather say that we are moving and I commend our judicial officers, they are trying within the context of the environment in which they are, If you go to various courts most of them have been writing in long hands as compared to other jurisdiction outside the shore of the country, you see a judge and the stenographers are there, when it comes to the issue of marking exhibits that is when you will see a judge writing anything, at the end of the session, stenographers will type everything out, take it to the judge for him to read. We don’t have that in Nigeria but, I believe in some states now, we are also trying to bring something like that to see in what ways it will reduce the workload of judicial officers. I would say with all respect that we are also progressing.