Legal system designed to deny justice nationwide ― Adewole

As Nigerians remained beholden to the various temples of Justice, with the hope of obtaining justice on their various issues of life, presidential aspirant on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP) Adewole Adebayo, has said that the legal infrastructure in Nigeria is not built to deliver justice.

This he said had made Nigeria to be in urgent need for help for her people to access justice.

According to him the best lawyers globally, Nigeria not an exception, are trained to constitute obstacles to the delivery of justice in Nigeria.

The presidential aspirant with background in legal practices and advocacy for access to justice said this when he played host to a teal from the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law, led by her Nigeria Country Representative, Ujeoma Nwafor.

Adebayo said the practice by many expert lawyers has excluded many poor Nigerians who think that justice was not for them, even when such legal entity dedicate resources to seek pro bono services to them.

He noted that such perception has been unconsciously created and sustained over time to the poor, who have concluded that such a legal firm cannot be afforded and could not offer her the legal representation it would need.

He stated thus: “I can tell you ladies and Judgment of HiiL that we need help in our access to Justice. Just people in my society don’t have access to Justice and at a point, you will begin to lose a sense of entitlement to Justice.

“Sometimes we spent 20 years in court litigation, on two paragraphs agreement we spend 50 years determining whether someone is innocent or not.

“It is not working for us, not only is it not working for us but I believe that Nigeria would be the most successful country for you in all your travels because the need for Justice is our country is our sole cause. It’s presence will be build peace and development

“We will be on the path to development when Justice is so common and is within and around us and I hope that that time you will use us as a good example for many countries of the world.

“So much of the legal system is defined and designed to limit access to Justice.

So that you have a case to access to Justice. I can put legal obstacles in your way, to say you are out of time. Your lawyer used the wrong language. We did not pay the right fees and your witness is not admissible in court and all of that.

He said lawyers are trained in this line and there is a need to promote advocacy to deliver genuine justice to the people.

“We have to protect Justice because it is so inside us, It is above us. We are just for those who are religious. We are secular. We’re trying to do the work of the Divine. That’s how I see Justice.

Nigeria Country Representative, Ijeoma Nwafor who led a team of the Hague Institute for Innovation (HiiL), pointed out that the outcome of her research so far has exposed the weakness of justice served in Nigeria.

On her team was the Founding Director of Hague Institute for Innovation (HiiL), D. Samuel Muller, who said: “We came to the conclusion that the 5.1 billion people in the world do not have adequate access to Justice, 5.1 billion people, that is two third of the world’s population at any given time. A little over 1 billion, people do not have a resolution for a civil administrative or criminal case that they have.

“That’s an eighth percent of the population. When you look at our data, generally people who have Justice problems only about 30 percent of them get resolution, two-thirds are still walking around with the problem.

He continued “When you look also at the data of how many people use, judges, courts and lawyers to solve their problems. It’s only generally globally. Speaking, you have, maximum of eight percent and usually hovers around 5%.

“So there’s a whole set off people, I like to call them the 95%. The 95%, doesn’t go to court, but it is still walking around in that group.

“And the last thing we found was pretty staggering. I have actually begun to make that part of a standard question. I ask when I meet Ministers of Justice in the world, who is the minister for the prevention of Justice problems in your country?

“The answer I always get is nobody. We only deal with cases once they’re there. That’s what the whole system is for. He noted.