“He is entitled to fair hearing, even when caught red handed” _Former Attorney General of Nigeria” Akin Olujinmi SAN

Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Hon. Agboola Ajayi and Former Attorney General of Nigeria, Akin Olujinmi (SAN)

“Proof can be difficult; during the cross-examination of the persecution witnesses a case that appears good on the facts may be ruined by powerful and incisive cross-examination by the defense.”

This statement was made by the former Attorney General of Nigeria, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, during a comprehensive maiden public lecture titled “criminal adjudication and the challenge of justice” at the faculty of Law, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo town.

While giving the maiden public lecture, he asserted the fact that cross-examination is a tool in the hands of a defense lawyer who takes the advantage of known limitations like falsehood, exaggerated statements and exploiting them to the maximum.

Olujinmi, also made reference to the insight of the holy bible utilitarian value of cross examination.

“In a law suit, the first to speak seems right until someone comes forward and cross-examines.”

Speaking further at the event, Olujinmi expatiated on the dilemma of justice and fair hearing in criminal adjudication; citing the section 36 of the 1999 constitution.

Quoting the section, “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations, including any question or determination by or against any government or authority, a person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its independence and impartiality.”

Olujinmi explained further that, any criminal trial conducted in breach of the above provision would be declared a nullity, even, if all that happened was that the trial court sat in its chambers to read the judgment, the trial would be declared a nullity.

Stressing further, Olujinmi said anyone accused of crime must have his day in the court; be it terrorism, kidnapping, corruption, economic crimes, murder or whatever crime involved. However, everyone deserves fair hearing even when caught in the act.

“He is entitled to fair hearing even when caught red-handed.”

While addressing the gathering on dilemma of justice, Olujinmi described the world as a place being submerged by the faces of evil.

“There is hardly any place in the world that is free from the scourge of insecurity.

“Al Qaeda is busy with its destructive campaigns around the world.

“ISIS is engaged in a destructive campaign in the Iraq-Syria belt.

“Boko Haram is wreaking havoc in our land and lives are taken almost on daily basis. The Chibok girls are still held in captivity. However, kidnapping has become a lucrative engagement,” he said

Olujinmi affirmed that as long as human society exists, crimes will persist; however the security operatives need to exceed permissible limit in the deployment of force to tackle these crises.

The former attorney general concluded his lecture by stressing out the delay of justice is another worrisome situation afflicting justice.

“Despite the comprehensive review of the rules of procedure of courts in the country we are still not out of woods.

“Nigeria recently enacted the administration of Criminal Justice Act with the hope that it would provide the magic wand to accelerate the pace of criminal trial, but cases still get delayed”

In his lecture, Olujinmi called on the National Assembly to enact law for the compensation of those who wrongly sentenced or convicted by the court of law in the country.

"Those of us who are lawyers in the conduct of things are aware many are wrongly convicted in the process of prosecuting and later discovered the convicted person are not guilty.

"I call on the lawmakers at the National Assembly to enact law that will compensate anybody who are wrongly sentenced or convicted.

"The convicted persons need to be compensated for the wrong conviction and time spent in the prison.

"Liberty of a man, wrongly convicted is worth millions of years spent in life, you can only realise the value of liberty until you are wrongly convicted," he added.

Olujinmi, however recommended the employment of more judges to reduce the work load of judges.

Buttressing Olujimi’s point the Chairman of the event, Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, called on the Nigerian government on the need to train and retrain prosecuting officers handling cases in the country, in order to ensure cases see the light of the day.

The Governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Hon. Agboola Ajayi, said investigation into cases in the country has to be improved through the training and retraining of prosecuting officers among others.

Ajayi pointed out that the government should do more in this regard so that the criminal and prosecuting cases by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti graft agencies see the light of the day.

According to him," investigation in the country has to improve on the training of prosecuting officers on cases."