A delegation from Revive Africa Initiative, a renowned NGO with special focus on advocacy fro ideal society paid a commendation visit to the attorney general/commissioner for Justice, Delta state on Thursday 8th of November, 2018.
In the speech presented by the Director General, Amb. Ugagaoghene Ogheneyole commended the attonrey general for his positive impact in the judicial sector since his assumption of office as Attorney general and commissioner for justice, ranging from championing of the drastic and thorough reform of Delta state Judiciary, improved effectiveness and efficiency as well as restoration of sanity in the system which is evidenced in the improved discipline of Judicial staff, set up of special courts,improvedprosecution and litigation process and provision of free legal aide for those who can not afford a leader et al.
Noting that the law and Judicial sector plays a very key role in the stabilizing the society and peaceful coexistence of mankind as it compels everyone irrespective of class and status to be well behaved and spells out consiquencies for defaulters hence it is very sacrossant for the judicial sector to mentain high level of sanity and efficiency.
Noting that the law and Judicial sector plays a very key role in the stabilizing the society and peaceful coexistence of mankind as it compels everyone irrespective of class and status to be well behaved and spells out consiquencies for defaulters hence it is very sacrossant for the judicial sector to mentain high level of sanity and efficiency.
The Director general further stated that his commitment to the service of humanity and strong resolve for standard has placed him above board and distinguished him amongst his colleagues.
Tephe attorney general was decorated with honour for his outstanding inputs in the reform of the judiciary in a time where the law and judiciary has become the last and only hope of the common man.
While he congratulate the commissioner of Justice for his achievements and the prestigious prize, he drew his attention to some areas requiring his keen attention.
1. PROLONGED PRISON REMAND FOR MINOR AND FOR BAILABLE OFFENCES.
In his words "our recent works in the prisons interventions across Delta reveals that over 80% of those who have spent several months/years in the prisons were not convicted inmates but those placed on remand, many of them have been on remand for a period ranging from one to three years, we have some who are remanded and are never taken back to court for about a year, mostly because such inmates do not have people of influence who can facilitate their appearance in court, most times these victims stay unnecessarily long in the prison without further appearance because of delay of legal advice from public prosecution office.
He noted that they have also realizes that most magistrates have failed and even totally neglected their constitutional obligation of visiting and inpecting all the Police cells under their jurisdiction every two weeks to ensure that people are not unduly or unnlawfully detained, this has encouraged the careless and unlawful detention for a long period of time, suspects in the Police cells.
He also brought to his notice, the increased rate of Police brutality and abuse of human rights by Policemen in Delta state and reckless extortion of road users.
He also lamented the delay in commencing the Prosecution of the rogue officer who shot dead a student in federal college of education Asaba during APC primary and also presented a copy of a petition to that effect.
The following prayers were made to the attorney general;
to review the case files of all inmates and issue prompt recommendations
To Direct all magistrates across Delta state to resume consistent inspection of Police cells within their jurisdictions every two weeks as provided for in the law of the land to ensure that citizens are not unduly detained for too long.
To Set up a special unit to handle public complains regarding to Police brutality and abuse of human right under the human right department and ensure follow up of complains as the common man do not know where to report to seek redress when they are either brutalized, abused or extorted and the superior Police authorities tend to always cover up these cases when reported.
He informed the Attorney General that Revive Africa Initiative is also planning in collaboration with the Police Public relation officer, a Police awareness day tagged 'Police, the law and the People' to address police-masses relationship and regard for the rule of law and requested the Attorney General to chair this very unique awareness roundtable.
The high points of the visit was the presentatiin of a copy of the proposal for their lagacy project on education and appeal for his support and sponsorship for the project which is aimed at returning one thousand out of school children to school Annually.
Responding, the Attorney General briefed them of their impacts and efforts as regards the issues raised, stating that their major challenges are unwillingness of witnesses to testify against culprits, high level of curruption involved in the process of prosecuting criminal cases, delay in the movement of files from the court registrars to the ministry and sabotage on the part of prison welfare officers.
While he noted that many inmates are lost in the prison with lost case files, he noted that the department's treats over 800 case files every week.
The Attorney general promised to get back to the Initiative on the set up of a special team to visit the prisons with a veiw of reviewing the cases of inmate, meanwhile he called on the initiatives to bring up cases that they feel needs the interventions of the ministry as the ministry will not hesitate to do the needful.
The Attorney 6commended the team, promised to chair their awareness program and also pledged to support the education project of the organizations.
Note: This is an intellectual property of Voice of the street advocacy Magazine and is not to be reproduced in any form, copied or used without the copyright permission.
About destiny igbinedion
0 comments:
Post a Comment