Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Nigerian rule of law

If you've heard complaints by police and prosecutors about limitations on the use of illegally-gathered evidence, you can understand Mrs. Farida Waziri's complaints about the rule of law in Nigeria.

However, after reading the second article below, her complaints seem strange. Most people in Nigerian prisons have not been convicted of crimes. It could be that Mrs. Waziri is dealing with an elite population of criminals. There are significant differences between elite and grassroots politics in Nigeria, so we should suspect that there are significant differences between elite and grassroots law enforcement.

Rule of Law Frustrates Anti-Corruption War - Farida

President Umaru Musa Yar'adua's campaign for rule of law is frustrating the war against corruption in the country, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mrs. Farida Waziri has said...

She said, "Rule of law is stalling and affecting our operations because people are arrested an arraigned before the court and the judge only to be released the next day on bail. Honestly we are getting frustrated, because the man you pick up looks you into the eye and tell you ,you are wasting your time" Mrs. Waziri called for the establishment of special courts where suspects of economic and financial crimes can be tried within six months. "These courts should be independent. This is because the political officers who commits such offence are not sent to jail except the small ones" the EFCC boss explained...



Mass break-out from Nigerian jail

Over 150 inmates have broken out of an overcrowded prison in Nigeria's south-east during a midnight escape bid.

The police and army have returned all but 20 of the inmates who jumped to freedom after making a hole in the cell ceiling...

"The prisoners who escaped were agitated at the serious delays in the judicial process," Comptroller General of Nigeria's prison service Olushola Ogundipe told journalists.

In Enugu prison, 724 prisoners out of the total prison population of 987 have not been convicted.

Prisoners can be jailed for years without court sentences...


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