A look at criminal justice system in Nigeria

I once had great interest in criminal litigation and the criminal justice system of Nigeria. In fact when my former boss appraised my skill set and placed me rightly in his IT, IP and legal research team, I made a fuss. Why doesn't he want me to be out there as a criminal defence attorney?

He looked me dead in the eyes and told me I'll come back one day to thank him for putting me in my place. That didn't take long.

Couple of weeks later, I was filing some processes at the Yaba Magistrate Court and a colleague called me to hold a brief for him as he was already on his way to court that afternoon.

When I walked in, the court was jam-packed with people. Lucky enough, I am a lawyer and a plain cloth learned colleague gave up his seat for me when he saw the files I was carrying. "Bros sit here let me rush outside and attend to something. You owe me one now." I thanked him.

A state counsel was addressing the court. I saw him first during my externship at the Ministry of Justice Lagos and I've seen him couple of times in court. That day, he had about 15 different case files in front of him. He was the only one present for the state. This prosecuting counsel was sweating profusely as he tried to flip through his files and get the right file for each person called up.

Then this young boy of 19 years was called up and he went into the dock. No lawyer was representing him.

The magistrate waited for the prosecuting counsel to address the court but he kept flipping through his files, apparently searching for the boy's files. When the magistrate called his attention to stop wasting the time of the court, he looked up and said these words.

"Your Honour, I can't find his file, but I'm sure he must've done something. That's why he is here. The IPO should be around. I think the boy broke the windscreen of a car during their cult fight."

The magistrate was visibly infuriated but she kept her cool. She asked the boy how long he has been in prison and the lad replied; two months.

The owner of the said car was in court and Her Honour asked the man if the boy standing inside that dock was one of the boys who broke his glass during the street cult fight.

"Madam, true to God, I don't know. But I saw him there when I arrived. So I called Police to arrest him." There was an uproar in court.

Her Honour asked the boy if he was aware of any cult fight that day. It seemed she descended into the arena since the prosecuting counsel was overburdened and couldn't even find the boy's files in his stack.

The lad was crying and couldn't say a word. It took the strong admonition of Her Honour before he said few words amidst sobs.

He was sent out to buy bread by his boss from their mechanic shop. He saw the broken windscreen and stopped to see what had happened when men picked him up and threw him in a Police van.

There was pin drop silence in court and I didn't know when I spoke out loud.

"This is a travesty!" The magistrate gave me a stern look and I quickly apologised.

The prosecuting counsel was asked if he had anything to say and he pointed towards the IPO and the man who brought the complaint to the Police.

The man who brought the compliant said he didn't see the boy break his glass and no ground to suspect him. The IPO said the same thing, but insisted the boy had criminal tendency, pointing at his eyes and the bruises on his body.

Who wouldn't have bruises after being tortured for weeks?

Her Honour lambasted the prosecuting counsel and IPO. The lawyers in court that afternoon were visibly choking with anger that the boy spent two months behind bars for something that wasn't distantly related to him.

The man whose car was damaged stood beside the dock with pictures of his damaged car and told the magistrate he really doesn't want to go on again with the case. He said the officers collected money from him and promised to nail the culprits but that was the opposite right there.

The young boy inside the dock was still crying. I was shaking my head and tiny tears gathered around my eyes.

Her Honour dismissed the case and ordered for the boy to be released. The elderly women who came to court that day were all shedding tears. Her Honour had to take a 30 minutes break. My colleague showed up during the time.

There is a big problem with our institutions in this nation. Justice cannot be done when facts, evidence and intelligence gathering is not well handled.

For many days, I couldn't sleep well as my head kept replaying that court sitting. "Bros, it could've been anybody that day beside that car."

That event and some others made me lose complete interest in criminal litigation and cemented my love for IT and IP Law. Asides the reward for the latter being more, I get to invest my resources in futuristic tech across the globe.

A lot of things about here is broken, but we are willing to fix them, one problem at a time. Till we get to the Promised Land, I shall be waiting for when you will pass me a glass of water and thank God for the gift of grace for the race.