The tasks for Justice Minister Fagbemi

Date: 2023-09-13

The recent appointment of Chief Lateef Fagbemi, one of Nigeria's foremost jurists, as a member of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, could not have come at a better time.

At a time the country's judicial sector appears to be decaying – too quickly -, his appointment as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, offers a silver lining.

Chief Fagbemi, a celebrated lawyer has made significant contributions to the development of law and justice in the country. He has been involved in various landmark cases, which includes but not limited to election petitions and other constitutional matters.

He also served as a judge in various Nigerian courts, including the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, and at 37, he became the youngest lawyer to earn the coveted SAN rank.

While assuming office at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja recently, the 64-year-old jurist, an indigene of Kwara state, acknowledged the challenges hindering Nigeria's judiciary, and the administration of effective justice.

But he had earlier, during his ministerial screening by the Senate, laid out his plan on how to sanitize the country's judicial sector. To tackle corruption in the judiciary, Chief Fagbemi called for adequate welfare provision for judges, most especially.

As it was with his predecessors, Fagbemi will be performing both the work of AGF, which is to represent the public in all legal proceedings for the enforcement of law and the assertion or protections of public rights, and also, the role of a minister of justice, that is, the legal arm of government primarily concerned with bringing cases before the judiciary that are initiated or assumed by the government.

Ideally, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the AGF should not be one, as combining the two will perhaps bring about a conflict of interest in protecting public interest and doing the government's bidding. These are two sides of the coin.

Again, Fagbemi, as Minister of Justice and AGF, has a significant role to play in ensuring that the Tinubu government obeys court orders, and have regard for the rule of law.

Our judiciary, under Minister Fagbemi, should be independent and insolated from intimidation or undue influence of the executive.

Talking about arrest without trial, the current administration is already threading the path of its immediate predecessor, where many arrested persons spend several months in gulags of our security/intelligence agencies, without trials.

The immediate-past Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has been in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, since June.

There is need for the new AGF and Minister of Justice to look into this. Not only Bawa, but other high-profile Nigerians detained by the DSS should immediately be charged to court.

Fagbemi should also do something about the delay in prosecutions. He should come up with rules that prohibit the prolonging of cases in our courts of law.

He should also introduce a policy that will address the problem of 'arrest without trial', with a view to fast-tracking legal prosecutions in the country. Indeed, a robust justice system helps to beget a peaceful and orderly society.

If the judiciary must continue to remain the hope of every common Nigerian, then it must be purged of all obnoxious acts that are desecrating the country's temple of justice. This is the time for our brand new Minister of Justice to champion qualitative reforms for our judiciary. He will be writing his name in gold.

Source

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Garba Ayodele Wahab     Odogun Olushola Gabriel     Abdulrazaq Aiyelabegan     Labaeka     Donatus Ejidike     Ahmed Shuaib Buranga     Alfa Belgore     Maryam Ado Bayero     Ibrahim Kayode Adeyemi     Adebayo Salami     Ibrahim Labaika     Mutawali     Tosin Saraki     Ayobami Akanbi     Alliance For Democracy     Saheed Popoola     Abubakar Imam     Sango-UITH Road     Alfa Modibbo Belgore     Yaru     Tuesday Assayomo     Risikat Lawal     Oyedepo     KWSUED     Ganiyu Taofiq     Ibrahim Abiodun     Bureau Of Lands     Kwara State Pension Board     Olaosebikan     Abdullahi Samari     Sheikh Ridhwanullah     Abdulmajeed Wahab     Raliat AbdulRazaq     Hassan Saliu     Aliyu Muhammad Saifudeen     SSA Youth Engagement     Christopher Tunji Ayeni     Aishat Mohammed Lawal     Sadiq Umar     Olajumoke Monsura Gafar     Diagnostic Centre     Bursary     New Naira Notes     Kwara United     QuickWin     Ilorin Talaka Parapo (ITP)     Shaaba Lafiagi     Yusuf Olaolu Ali     Ayo Salami     Ajibike Katibi     Issa Oloruntogun     BECE     Quranic Recitation Competition     Kehinde Boyede     Kwara State Internal Revenue Service     Muslimah Entrepreneurship Forum     Roheemat Hammed     Olaiya Lawal     NAWOJ     Elekoyangan     Saliu Mustapha     AIT Ilorin     Tunji Moronfoye     Kwara State Fish Farmers Association     Sherif Sagaya     Tinubu Legacy Forum     Ayinde Oki     Afolabi-Oshatimehin Adenike Harriet     Unicontinental Construction Company     Tunde Idiagbon Road     Geri-Alimi Split Diamond Interchange     Aminu Adisa Logun     Gbemi Saraki     Kwara Central     Amuda Aluko     Binta Abubakar Mora     Ayinke Saka    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Abikan     Monthly Sanitation     Abubakar Lah     John Mayokun Dada     Abdulmajeed Wahab     Abdullahi Dasilva Yussuf     Yakubu Danladi     Baba Idris     Funke Adedoyin     Centre For Community Empowerment And Poverty Eradication     Olatunde Michaels     Bolaji Abdullahi     Mohammed Abduraheem     Abdulhakeem Amao     Ahmad Olanrewaju Belgore     CCT     Saidu Yaro Musa     Aliyu Muyideen     Millennium Development Goals     Samuel Elizabeth Keatswa     Adesina Simon Sodiya     Umar Bayo Abdulwahab     Barakat Community Secondary School     Bayer Nigeria Limited     Osi     Oloye     Bursary     Harrison Osauwagboe     Abubakar Kawu Baraje     Gbugbu     Rafiu Olasile     Adewuyi Funmilayo     Kwara Consultative Forum     Maryam Ado Bayero     NSCIA     Marufat Oladosu     Esuwoye     Ilorin Emirate Staff Association     Salake     Tayo Alao     KFA     Aiyedun     UNILORIN Alumni Association     Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital     March 18     Roheemat Hammed     Yaman     Abdulquawiy Olododo     Henry Makinwa     Frootify     Olaitan Buraimoh     Kwara TV     Awwal Jawondo     Alliance For Democracy     Taibat Ayinke Ahmed     Ibrahim Gambari     Tunji Folami     Afonja     Olatunji Moronfoye     SSUCOEN     Onikijipa     Eleja     Ilorin Water Reticulation     Arinola Lawal     Illyasu Abdullahi     Ayegbeni     Bluenile Associates     Code Of Conduct Tribunal     Shaykh Luqman Jimoh     Sheriff Shagaya     Atunwa     Ronke Adeyemi     Yeketi     Mike Omotosho     Bukola Saraki     Ope Saraki     Bola Iyabo Ibiyeye Adisa