, has frowned on the brazen disregard for the rule of law.){kind=link}
Monday Ubani, formal Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has frowned on the brazen disregard for the rule of law and rights of the Nigerian citizens under the present democratic governance in the country.
He noted that lack of observance of the rule of law during the military regime before the nation’s nascent democracy was regarded as bad, as experience under the present democracy is worse than what was obtainable under the military government.
Mr Ubani, who doubled as the Chairman of NBA-SPIDEL, spoke presenting a keynote address delivered at the law week organized by the NBA Badagry branch, in Lagos, Ubani also noted that the present lack of adherence to rule of law and the trampling of the citizens’ rights by President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has taken the country several years backwards for a nation that is in quest of nationhood, regretting that Nigeria has advanced to nowhere, and even the little progress made by the judiciary during the military regime that the ugly trend has been wiped away by the reign of pervasive lawlessness all over the place.
It was contained in a release forwarded to AFRIPOST on Saturday night.
The renowned lawyer buttressed his position on the ugly trend with his experiences in the investigation of the invasion of the home of a retired Justice of Supreme Court of Nigeria, Mary Odili, and his detention by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), wherein he was detained for twenty-three days without any trial or conviction over suretyship to an accused person, recommending enactment of a law to strengthen the administration of criminal justice system of Nigeria.
According to him, “I suggested that substantive and procedural laws with elaborate processes and procedures for the issuance of search warrants, arrest warrants, detention orders, extension of detention orders amongst others be enacted into law for the states and the federal government.
“The independence of the Judiciary should not be a matter for negotiation. It is either we have an independent judiciary or we choose not to have it. The advantages of an independent judiciary cannot be over emphasised. The independence of the Judiciary should not be only on paper but should be practicalised. The administrative, operational and financial autonomy of the judiciary should be total and exhaustive. The Federal and State Governments should not be allowed to pay lip service to the independence of the Judiciary and the welfare of the members of the Bench.
Continuing, Ubani recommended, “Government Agencies or Security Agencies that tolerate or harbour criminal gangs, touts, or law-breakers in and around their offices should be made to answer to their illegal activities by being summoned by the various committees that superintend over them in the legislature.
“Ensuring obedience to Court Orders and respect for the rule of law should remain the eternal pursuit of NBA and other professional bodies until these become principles by which every government in Nigeria should abide.
“For me, the last recommendation makes the day for me. Obedience to court orders and rule of law should be a directive principle of state policy.
Absence of law is anarchy and no meaningful development will ever take place in Nigeria if the government derives pleasure in encouraging lawlessness and wanton disregard to the rule of law and rights of the citizens”, he concluded