…Condemns raid on residence of Justice Mary Peter-Odili

…Advocate abolition of parading of suspects in media by security agencies

Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Mr Onofiok Luke has commended the Center for Socio-Legal Studies( CSLS) for spearheading the amendments to the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA). Delivering his remark as the Chairman at the opening ceremony of the Expert Review Meeting on the proposed amendment to ACJA organised by CSLS in Abuja, Luke said the passion and interest in finding lasting solutions to the perennial problems facing criminal justice system 2015 was laudable.

He stated that the goals of the meeting are in line with the legislative agenda of the House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila who is committed to justice sector reform through strategic legislative exercises including bills, motions and stakeholders engagements.

"We consider the Centre and other stakeholders with genuine interest in the betterment of our justice system as partners and co-travellers"

"On our part, the Committee on Judiciary has worked towards the goals of improving our justice system, ensuring speedy dispensation of justice, giving Nigerian citizens and residents greater access to justice, protecting the integrity of our court, canvassing for reasonable funding of the judiciary and better welfare for judicial officers", Luke said.

In a related development, the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, condemned the siege by security agents on the resident of Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. According him, “very troubling about the incident is the fact that the major law enforcement agencies including the Office of the Attorney General have all denied having a hand in the siege. Further adding insult to the injury is the flimsy grounds of ‘illegal activities’ which the application for the warrant was founded on"

"The unfortunate incident makes our today’s meeting more timeous and telling because it provides us with the opportunity of reforming the process of application and issuance of search warrant in order to weed out abuse in the process", he added.

Also the lawmaker advocated the abolition of parading of suspects in media by security agencies. He said it will go in sync with judicial thinking that the exercise is unlawful.

The expert review meeting had in attendance Hon. Justice A. J. Kutigi, Hon. Justice O. A. Adeniyi both of the FCT High Court, Prof. Yemi Akinseye- George, SAN , President of CSLS, Dr A. F. Afolayan of the Nigerian Law School, Mrs Bamidele Akinseye-George, Executive Director of CSLS, A. T. Kehinde, SAN and others.

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01/11/2021