Fast-tracking corruption trials
There is the common agreement that Nigeria’s criminal justice system is too slow. But there is contention as to the primary cause. Judicial officers, administrators, lawyers and other experts have
- ACJA could have helped but it is observed more in the breach
There is the common agreement that Nigeria’s criminal justice system is too slow. But there is contention as to the primary cause. Judicial officers, administrators, lawyers and other experts have proffered possible solutions, but the delay lingers. The legislators weighed in with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), which was hailed as revolutionary, and after the initial successes, the long delays returned with vengeance.
Last week, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was fined N500,000 by a high court in Abuja, for failing to bring its witness to court, after several adjournments.
So, the culprits for the undue delay in criminal trials cuts across litigants, defence lawyers, prosecution lawyers, investigators, courts, correctional centres, and structural challenges arising from funding and infrastructure.
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In the EFCC case, the prosecution failed to produce its 13th witness, DCP Edwin Okpoziakeo, scheduled to testify in the trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, before Justice Hamza Muazu. According to the prosecution counsel, A. O. Mohammed, the witness had gone for a private matter before another court on the same date.
But the defence noted that while the ACJA provides for not more than five adjournments, the prosecution has had eight and still counting. Section 396(3) provides, that upon arraignment, trial shall be day-to-day, and where impracticable, sub-section (4) provides for not more than five adjournments, and interval dates of not more than 14 days.
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Section 396(5) further provides that where parties have exhausted the five adjournments, the intervals shall not exceed seven days, including weekends. The court is empowered under sub-section (6) to award costs to discourage frivolous adjournments.
We observe that the above provisions of the ACJA are observed in the breach, which is the reason trial of criminal cases linger for years.
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The findings of the Corruption Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO), set up by former Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen, and chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Suleiman Galadima, may be helpful. The committee reviewed 2,300 corruption cases, and interfaced with state and federal high court judges, and the Court of Appeal.
The committee submitted its report in 2018, which was based on prosecution, drafting of charges, court management and prison conditions, to the 86th meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC). Interestingly, at the ninth meeting of COTRIMCO in Abuja, senior lawyers and heads of anti-corruption agencies raised concerns about the delay and offered what they considered as solution to the challenges.
With respect to corruption cases involving high ranking officials, they listed the challenges to include, legal technicalities, frequent adjournments, jurisdictional objections and the filing of interlocutory appeals.
Chairman of the EFCC Ola Olukoyede and his counterpart at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have also expressed concern at the slow pace of trials in cases involving politically-exposed persons. Speaking at the COTRIMCO meeting, Olukayode raised concerns about frequent adjournments and procedural technicalities that led to prolonged trials in corruption cases. He noted that exercise of discretion by judges allows the filing of multiple interlocutory applications and the consequent delays undermine the integrity of the judicial systems.
The chairman of ICPC, Musa Aliyu, (SAN), suggested the introduction of special practice directions to make trials in corruption cases time- bound, as practiced in election petition cases. He also advocated for development of standardised judicial procedures to ensure consistency in financial crime cases.
The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and several civil society organisations have also raised their voices on the undue delays in the conduct of criminal trials. With those accused of the delay raising concerns, we wonder who will proffer the solutions?
Clearly, as far back as 2018, COTRIMCO raised the causes of the undue delays to include poor prosecution, duplication and multiplicity of cases, delays caused by courts, and the challenges of the correctional centres. In 2026, those challenges and the recommendations were still there.
What the nation needs is solution.
