By Haruna Salami
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu representing Abia North senatorial district wants Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 amended.
Senator Kalu led the debate on the bill titled: ‘Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 (Amendment) bill, 2020′ during plenary on Wednesday, which passed second reading.
The Chief Whip of the Senate and former governor of Abia state noted that this would be the first time an attempt is made to amend the law since it became an Act in 2015.
According to the lawmaker, the bill seeks to amend those sections of Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015, that “contradict the principles of fair hearing and court jurisdiction as provided in the Constitution”.
“This is to further avert some loggerheads between the administration of criminal justice Act and the constitution.
He recommended that Section 8 (4) of the Principal Act which provides“The arraignment and trial of a suspect for a crime shall be in accordance with the provision of this Act unless otherwise stated in this Act” be amended by deleting “unless otherwise stated in this Act” by inserting “and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”The reason is that the Constitution the Supreme law of the land provides in section 1(1) as follows;
“This Constitution is Supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria,”
“In view of the above provision of the constitution, all authorities in Nigeria shall conform to the constitutional provision.” Therefore the administration of criminal Justice Act shall also conform with the supreme provision of the constitution 1999 as amended.
The Court has held that the 1999 Constitution as amended is the fundamental law on which every law in Nigeria rests. Moreso, the Supreme Court per Fabiyi JSC on the Supremacy of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria said “ The Constitution of Nigeria is the grundnorm, otherwise known as the basic norm from which all the other laws in the society drive their validity.
“Each legal norm of the society drives its validity from the basic norm. Any other law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution must-give way or abate.” The Court has also held that“The constitution of a nation is the ‘fons et origo’ not only of the Jurisprudence but also of the legal system.
“Section 253 of the Constitution provides “The Federal High Court shall be duly constituted if it consists of at least one Judge of that Court”.
“Section 273 provides “for the purpose of exercising any jurisdiction conferred upon it under this constitution or any law ,a High Court of a State shall be duly constituted if it consist of at least one Judge of that Court.
“The various High Court Rules and Court of Appeal Rules have provisions with regards to the position of pending cases,when judges are elevated .
“Courts are classified according to the Constitution and other extent laws. We should clearly demarcate or spell out the jurisdiction of the court to avoid contradiction and uncertainty.
“We can set lofty goals for ourselves. I hope we can agree that, with this amendment, we aspire to create a criminal justice administration legislation that is both more effective and more humane; to respond to crime in ways that produce socially desirable results—greater safety, less fear, less suffering, greater respect for the rule of law and less injustice.
The bill, after scaling second reading was referred to the Committee on Human Right and Legal Matters for further legislative inputs.
