FREEDOM, equality and Justice. – These beautiful, elegant and noble words encapsulates the focus of The Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria. Welcome, chapter 1 (3) that states 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 the inconsistency, be void. Along comes Covid, lockdown and the plethora of legislations purportedly made thereunder by the State Governments and Judicial bodies and one of those is the newly presented virtual courts bill now before The National Assembly. I am pleased that some of my proposals on remote hearings; bundles and proceedings have been considered and included in the virtual courts hearings bill now before The National Assembly and the Federal High Court Rules on remote hearings directions and also included in many states own remote hearings rules such as The Lagos, Enugu, Ebonyi States High Court practice rules on remote hearings and also the NICN remote hearing rules.
However, there is an area everyone seems to have forgotten. This area is the impact of Chapter 1, section 6. (1) of the Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, which states that In the determination of his civil rights and obligations, including any question or determination by or against any government or authority, a person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its independence and impartiality.
And further: (3) The proceedings of a court or the proceedings of any tribunal relating to the matters mentioned in subsection (1) of this section (including the announcement of the decisions of the court or tribunal) shall be held in public.(4) Whenever any person is charged with a criminal offence, he shall, unless the charge is withdrawn, be entitled to a fair hearing in public within a reasonable time by a court or tribunal: We have a problem. Is a hearing in a virtual court by its definition, without more, a fair hearing in public? The answer must be no. It is not. The root word and etymology of Public is varied. It has hybrid meanings and connotations. It is, at once, an adjective when it is used to describe the behaviour of people as a whole unit. The word, public can also act as a noun where it refers to ordinary people in general as in ‘…the courts are open to the public…” Several questions arises that impinges on this definition of public.
One, Are the virtual courts open to the public? If they are not, how could it be said that they are public? In the natural sense of the word, before COVID-19, when a court is sitting in any physical place, a member of the public has a constitutional right to enter the court and sit and watch the proceedings at no cost. In a virtual court hearing, is that even possible? The answer, currently would be no, when, you consider the following issues: Lack of electricity and power to power the computers and IT infrastructure needed to make the system work. When the mobile networks are bad and signals are unreliable. When majority of the population have no access to Iinfrastructure. When the costs of data bundles for mobile phones are prohibitive.
These above problems are on the ground, but the constitution requires a fair hearing to take place in public, it can be argued that a virtual court hearing where members of the public find inaccessible for the reason propounded above, would not qualify as a fair hearing, held in public. The above is also the case in civil hearings even though the consequences of the absence of the members of the public in those hearings are not as severe and far reaching on the liberty and welfare of its citizens as that which opens in a criminal trial, nevertheless, civil hearings must be held in public to be a fair hearing.
If that is the clear and incontrovertible result of this bills and practice directions, it naturally follows that any criminal convictions secured in a remote hearing or virtual hearings are unsafe and would be overturned on appeal.
Can this be prevented? Is this preventable? Yes. But what are the likely solutions?
There are many but the list below is a useful starting point.
Amend the virtual courts bill now before The National Assembly to provide that the members of public are free to attend the virtual courts hearings.
Amend the virtual courts bill to provide for the efficient dissemination of access information to virtual courts, to the public using established judicial portals.
Creating more venues for civil and criminal courts to sit where members of the public can be enabled to attend hearings subject to social distancing.
Appointment of more magistrates and judges to tackle the huge workload.
Provide proper and further Judicial training in use of IT
Proper and better funding of the Judiciary by appointing more IT specialists to assist our Judiciary.
Improvement of networks and data connections of the Judiciary and court users.
Implementing the above would be a good starting point, not an end, to the continuance of the overall improvement of our justice systems so that the tenets of our constitution on fair trials and hearing in public can become a reality and criminal convictions can be made safe, and this is, definitely, in the interests of Justice.
- Christopher, a senior lawyer, is a member of the Enugu Bar.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Buy and read digital replicas of your TRIBUNE titles by subscribing through E-VENDING
Edo: APC Weighs Options, Fears PDP Takeover •Governors stick with Obaseki, Odubu adamant
Two weeks to the much-anticipated primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, national party chieftains are worried the ruling party in the state may end up gifting the governorship… Read full story
COVID-19: AfDB Approves $288.5m For Nigeria
The Board of Directors, African Development Bank (AfDB), on Friday, approved a $288.5 million loan to help Nigeria tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impact on people and businesses. In the latest report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 79 per cent of the households in the country… Read full story
Why We Did Not Treat Raped Sales Girl —LUTH
The management of the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has denied not treating on purpose an 18-year-old salesgirl, who was on Thursday raped by a dispatch rider. A twitter user @youdiee, who claimed to be the owner of the store where the rape incident took place had accused the hospital of neglecting the victim… Read full story
Surrender Or Be Disgraced, Buhari Tells Katsina Bandits
President Muhammadu Buhari has met with Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State over the rising wave of banditry in the state and advised criminals to surrender now or face a “disgraceful and violent end.” According to a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity) in… Read full story
Edo, Ondo Primaries: APC Ready With Membership Registers —Isa-Onilu
National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lanre Isa-Onilu, has disclosed that the membership registers of the party for Edo and Ondo states are intact and current. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had told political parties wishing to conduct direct primaries in the… Read full story
COVID-19: Ondo Threatens Another Lockdown
Ondo State government on Friday threatened to reverse the decision to lift the ban on lockdown in the state should the number of COVID-19 cases keep on increasing. Tribune Online report that the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, on Special duties and Strategies, Dr Doyin Odebowale, gave this… Read full story
The New Normal: What COVID-19 Has Changed In Our Lives
SINCE the prevalence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic compelled government at all levels in the country to shut down schools on March 23, being one of the containment mechanisms employed by advanced nations with worse incidence rate of the virus, Adeola Adeyemi and her siblings, like others in Nigeria… Read full story
Four Men Who Raped 13 Year Old Girl To Be Arraigned This Week
The four men who allegedly gang-raped a 13-year-old minor in Kaduna would be arraigned before a competent court of law this week. A reliable source at the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development told Sunday Tribune that the Central Investigation Department (CID) had concluded its findings… Read full story
My Father Was Close To Making Me A Carpenter’s Apprentice —Bode George
I am the real special model from my background. My great-grandfather was a reverend gentleman. He had a white horse and was born in Lagos and became a reverend. He was evangelising around Nupe area in present-day Niger State where there were Christians; then, he married a Nupe woman… Read full story
Nigerian Should Always Do Fact-Check On Politicians —Sani
Anthony Sani, the immediate-past Secretary-General and former Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), now a member of the Governing Council of Sir Ahmadu Memorial Foundation and of Northern Media Forum, speaks on 21 years of civil rule in the country and other issues … Read full story
I Still Have So Much To Offer – Ronke Oshodi-Oke
Ronke Oshodi-Oke is a household name, especially in the Yoruba movie industry having graced the screens for decades. The veteran actress, who is undergoing a rebranding process shares some of her plans on movie and music… Read full story
Majek Fashek And The Curse Of Drug Addiction
THE death of Nigerian singer-songwriter, guitarist and reggae music lord, Majek Fashek, in New York, America, last week threw Nigerians into a nostalgic mood. It brought into memory the exact picture of a musical icon who the country lost to the icy pincers of death. Reports of his passage sauced his strides on the dancehall… Read full story
Why Governors Are Jittery Of Financial Autonomy To State Legislature —Kaze
The autonomy of the judiciary and legislature is very important, I am proud of the 6th and 7th National Assembly because at a point in time the National Assembly both the Senate and House of Representatives actually voted for the financial autonomy of the state legislature but that bill failed at the state level because… Read full story