Editorial

Citizen Chinedu Eze’s story and justice system

THE value a country attaches to its citizens is partly viewed within the context of its commitment to respecting and defending their freedom and dignity from all forms of violation. This commitment, to a large extent, determines public perception of any government’s ability to evolve a virile society teeming with patriotic citizens. The obverse is also true. Placing premium on citizens is not just about ensuring security of life and property and socioeconomic satisfaction, which of course are very crucial, it is about official intolerance for injustice against any citizen irrespective of his/her station in life. That is why countries and even private organisations establish systems with processes and procedures to ensure that national/corporate outcomes match or approximate projections. Where the system exists but processes and procedures are circumvented, abridged or neglected, you have a case like that of citizen Eze Chinedu who was reportedly detained in prison for 14 years without being pronounced guilty of any crime or formally sentenced to prison terms by any court!

This case is really embarrassing but the truth is that the country’s correctional centres are most probably suffused with cases like Eze’s. No country can be considered as placing high valuation on its citizens while it condones this level of injustice. It is even more scary and disturbing that Eze claims his predicament was rooted in his refusal to cooperate with the police, a euphemism for owning up to the offence he was accused of committing even if he committed no such offence. He is not the first victim to accuse the police in that regard. Many other victims of the Nigeria Police’s recourse to lazy and unorthodox methods of interrogating and extracting confessions from suspects are known to have made similar claims, even in open court. In other words, those in uniform who are being sustained through taxpayers’ money are the same people tormenting and abusing citizens. You cannot run to them for protection and that is a tragedy because they are supposed to help out people in danger.

Surely, the justice system needs further reform. The judiciary may have performed fairly well in carrying out reformation of its system, but much still needs to be done, particularly in the area of instituting an effective feedback mechanism to ensure that the execution of its verdicts, orders and rulings follows due process and conforms to the rule of law. For instance, if a functional mechanism for periodic monitoring, evaluation and reporting were in place, it would have been difficult for a citizen to be detained in prison for 14 years without a formal sentence and without raising official eyebrows. The implication is that if the non-governmental organisation that facilitated Eze’s release from prison had not intervened, he could have remained unjustly incarcerated for a long time. This is symptomatic of a dysfunctional system and it is unacceptable.

To be sure, we acknowledge that no system anywhere is perfect, but systems in civilised countries have continually struggled to approximate perfection with a measure of success, and that is because they are deliberate and intentional about attaining such a goal. It is almost certain that any frailties or shortcomings in their systems have little or nothing to do with human sabotage or culpable negligence. But it can only be assumed to one’s peril that this is the case in the country. For what could have kept an innocent person behind bars for upwards of 14 years without the system caring a hoot about his predicament if not the utter ineffectiveness and irresponsibility of the Nigerian processes and their drivers? And even after an unjust incarceration is unearthed and dealt with through the release of the person concerned, nothing is done to interrogate the system and the circumstances that birthed the injustice and, more importantly, what could be done to prevent a recurrence, including identifying the perpetrators of the injustice for punishment.

Rather, the unjustly incarcerated person is enjoined to thank God for his/her release and pray to God not to again fall victim of the unending proclivity of the Nigerian system for injustice. That, surely, is not the way to go, or injustice will continue to fester. Again, there is a sense in which the increasing cases of wrongdoing, malfeasance, sleaze, culpable negligence and so on in the official circles is partly down to impunity. The erroneous notion that government officials are always right is dangerous and it is because consequences seldom attend their wrongdoing. In civilised climes, public officials are extra careful not to compromise the system or take advantage of citizens in the ordinary course of their duties because they can hardly avoid being punished for such infractions of the law.

If this country must rein in the kind of embarrassing spectacle that Eze’s avoidable predicament presents, then his case should be painstakingly reinvestigated in order to get to the root of his ordeal and ensure that all those involved in his unjust incarceration are exposed and punished. Another significant objective that recommends official review of his predicament is that the understanding of the nitty-gritty of his case will enable the relevant authorities to institute and implement the appropriate strategy that would help to prevent a recurrence.

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