Lawyer Dr A.C.B Agbazuere,
file suit against eradication of section 165(2) of the new Administration of
Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
The Abuja based lawyer and
erstwhile Commissioner for Information in Abia State stipulates that a court “may
require the deposit of a sum of money or other security as the court may
specify from the defendant or his surety before bail is approved”.
However, the plaintiff, in
the suit he lodged before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court,
challenged the legality of that potion of the law, insisting that its
application would amount to a gross violation of section 36(5) of the 1999
constitution, as amended.
He argued that the section
has made it more difficult for indigent Nigerians facing minor criminal charges
to secure bail from courts.
The ACJA was signed into
law by former President Goodluck Jonathan early this year.
Meantime, cited as
defendants in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/889/2015, were the Attorney General of
the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the
National Assembly.
Specifically, the
plaintiff contended that if section165(2) of the ACJA, is allowed to exist, its
application will entail that a Nigerian citizen who has no money or other
security will be deprived of his right to bail and will not have his bail
approved and will therefore be sent to prison until he/she pays the money when
he/she is yet to be tried for the offence.
In a 17 paragraphed
affidavit he deposed to in support of the suit, Dr. Agbazuere, cited various
judgments of both the Supreme and Appeal Courts, which he said backs his
position that section 165(2) of the ACJA runs contrary to the 1999
constitution.
According to him, “The law
is settled that the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria is supreme and if any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of
this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail and that other law shall to
the extent of its inconsistency be void by virtue of section 1(1) and (3) of
the constitution.
“That
applicability of section 165(2) of the Administration of Criminal Act, 2015
will deprive Nigerian citizens of their liberty, freedom and fair hearing.
“My
Lord, I submit that in our laws, presumption of innocence is so sacrosanct that
the burden of rebuttal or the burden to discharge presumption of innocence at
any time demands that the prosecution would have established or proved the
essential ingredients of offence and the accused person is unable to bring
himself within the defences of exceptions allowed under the law generally.
“With
section 165(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, the accused
is to pay money before his bail can be approved when the prosecution has
neither proved the essential ingredients of the case not has the accused been
found guilty.
“By
providing for the mandatory payment of money before bail is approved, section
165(2) of the Act has now presumed every person guilty when he has not been
tried and found guilty. It is an aberration and ambush against the people and
should not be allowed to stand.
“At
a time when the level of poverty in Nigeria is so alarming that the President
has declared that Nigeria is broke and states cannot pay salaries to workers
except with the aid of bailout funds ( which are also loans), any legislation
imposing payment of money on Nigerian citizens before their bail is approved is
not only inconsistent with the intendment of section 36 (5) of the constitution
but also a bad law as it is anti-people.
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