Justice administration: What hope for Nigerians?

One of the three arms of the government is the judiciary and ordinarily, one can argue that it is the most powerful arm. The judiciary interprets, defends, and applies the law in the name of the state. While the legislature makes the law(s), the judiciary has the power to make judgements that go hand in hand with or against the law.

In every sane country, there is a standard punishment for breaking the law. It would, however, seem that Nigeria is not a sane country because a lot of citizens get away with breaking the law, no matter how mildly or mightily.

One might wonder if these citizens get away with their infractions because the crimes were not brought to the attention of the judiciary. However, recent developments have shown that even when the appropriate quarters are notified, lawbreakers still escape justice.

A good example is the case of ‘Killaboi’ who allegedly murdered his girlfriend, Austa Okoye, two months ago. She was found killed and mutilated inside his apartment. He left her there for days before her body was found and then came on his Instagram page to admit that he killed her and he was willing to surrender himself to the authorities when the “time was right”, all the while knowing that he wasn’t even in the country anymore.

Her mother tried her best to solicit help on social media and she managed to get the help of Twitter users who trended the “JusticeforAusta” hashtag for days and tagged the relevant authorities but still nothing was done about it.

Weeks later, ‘Killaboi’ came back to Twitter and continued tweeting and retweeting as if nothing had happened until he was outed by people who knew him. He closed the account and opened a new one and will continue to do so for as long as he wishes since our system doesn’t work.

It genuinely baffles one how a murderer can admit to killing someone and be able to flee the shores of the country. Even if the authorities weren’t aware of his crime as of the time he fled the country, one would think that they would employ diplomatic relations with foreign nations to flush ‘Killaboi’ out of his hiding immediately after a police report was filed.

But, as usual, the system has failed us again. Nothing has been done about it and the murderer has been allowed to go scot-free. They have come – two full-blown months later – to declare him wanted in Lagos. It took our authorities two months to declare a murderer who is probably a thousand miles away wanted when we all know full well that the chances of him getting caught now are at best very slim.

In times like these, it is no wonder that a lot of Nigerians turn to religion and it makes it understandable why the saying “religion is the opium of the masses” is very popular in Africa. I think it should be reconstructed to be “religion is the opium of the masses in Nigeria” because it is very fitting. With a system that doesn’t work, a government that doesn’t ease the pain of its people but is only preoccupied with enriching the pockets of those in power, and a very high cost of living that doesn’t match the wages of the masses, it is no wonder that people turn to the church, the mosque, or traditional temple in hopes of getting justice. I suppose it does feel like opium to us. Since humans have failed us, we turn to God.

In times like these, we often forget that we voted these people into power. That might not be completely accurate but we still have a number of us who know that some of the candidates – be it at the local or national level – will do badly but still vote them in because “they are our people”, and then we proceed to complain when they change up on us.

However, there is hope, still. On the 9th of October, 2023, the court did right by us and sentenced policeman Vandi Dramdi to death by hanging for shooting Lagos lawyer, Bolanle Lawal.

This, naturally, made many people happy and it most definitely restored our faith, even if a bit, in the system. Every citizen hopes that this country truly works and while we are a long way from getting there, we just might get there someday.

• Ishola, a Mass Communication student of the University of Ilorin, is an intern with the Saturday Tribune.

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