By Othniel A. Ikpibako, FCIArb.
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Introduction
In the antediluvian era, there was no law, neither was there order in society. It was a chaotic life of the jungle, where the strong subdued the weak, the wealthy oppressed the poor, the powerful enslaved the powerless; everyone was a law unto themselves. In fact, man was a wolf unto man which occasioned grave miseries. It was a situation aptly described by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan of life in the ‘state of nature’ which was ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.’
The desire of man for better life led to an organised society with law and government. The essence of government is to administer the law for the greater good of the greater number, chiefly among these goods, is security, followed by welfare. This leads to the idea of a lawful society, which is an organised society where law reigns supreme. In other words, a lawful society is one governed by legal rules or rule of law. According to A.V. Dicey, the rule of law entails three important indicia: supremacy of the law, equality before the law and the application of the law by an independent judiciary.
The Rule of Law in Nigeria
Law is simply rules and regulations that are enforced among a people of a given territory. So, for there to be law, it must not only exist – made or evolved – but must also be enforced. The laws of any given society is enforced by the executive branch of the government, foremost represented by the Attorney General in this regard; hence, every government in the world usually have an Attorney General who is the Chief Law Officer of the state (See Sections 150 and 195 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999). Furthermore, as aforementioned, for a society to be termed lawful, governed by law, three factors have been propounded by A.V. Dicey, to wit, supremacy of the law, equality before the law and the application of the law by an independent judiciary.
A multi-billion-dollar question is hereby asked: is Nigeria a lawful society? Is the law of Nigeria supreme in Nigeria, is everyone equal before the law of Nigeria, is there an independent judiciary which apply the law without fear or favour? Noteworthy, we are not talking about theory here, which if it is, we will quickly say yes to the foregoing posers, as they exist in paper. However, we are discussing reality here. Where a President or Minister of the government will violate the constitution or disobey a court order, with impunity; or, an agency of the government will violate the law with impunity; where, when some persons decamp to the government in power, their crimes are forgiven; or, some persons are given very ludicrous sentences for heinous crimes; or, where some persons are arrested but not prosecuted but released in the most curious circumstances; or, where the judiciary is cowed by the government, and some judges cannot make an order against the government; or, the government interferes in some judicial proceedings; or, in some instances of judicial corruption. The generality of the foregoing, are overwhelming reality in Nigeria.
It is clear, in practice, that the law in Nigeria is not supreme, but some few persons are above the law – needless to say, that all Nigerian Presidents, have at some points, violated the constitution with impunity and same goes for a lot of the Ministers. Many of the State Governors and their Commissioners are also culprits in this regard. The agencies of the government violate the law every now and then, with impunity. The government and its agencies disobey court orders, indiscriminately, without any consequence. Furthermore, we cannot say everyone is equal before the law in Nigeria – the rich and the poor, the political class and the populace, the powerful and the powerless, are not equal before the law. The law has been amended just because of one man, to wit, to extend the tenure of the Inspector General of Police. The judiciary in Nigeria is not independent. The Chief Justice of Nigeria had been suspended by an ex parte order of the code of conduct tribunal, in the most brazen judicial interference by the executive.
Order in Nigeria
The primary function of law in the society is order, and order is keeping everyone in their place within the bounds of the law. In a society, there cannot be partial order but holistic order; in order words, there cannot be seeming order in some part of a society and chaos in another part, and such society is correctly termed an orderly society. Every part of a society must be orderly, for the appellation an orderly society to apply. Hence, a government will deploy all societal resources to any part where there is chaos to restore order and will never rest until such a chaotic part of the society is restored to become orderly. In deploying state resources, to keep order, a society ensures that, over time, people are kept in their places, without further ado. Hence, an orderly society is assured.
Another multi-billion-dollar question is hereby asked: is Nigeria an orderly society? In another words, are people kept in their places within the bounds of the law in Nigeria? Where people cannot travel on the road, without fear of being kidnapped; or where, people cannot safely go to the farm any longer, not for fear of wild animals, but of terrorists; or where, our political leaders, do not only restrict their livelihood to their entitlements but see the commonwealth as their personal estate and more often than not squander it; or, where most of the citizens break the law with impunity, such as beating traffic light and over-speeding. From the forgoing, no one can confidently say that there is orderliness in Nigeria. Furthermore, it is not obvious that the Nigeria state is deploying adequate resources against the above-mentioned chaotic situations. The government only tinkers with them. In fact, the aforementioned situations have become the new normal in Nigeria, unfortunately.
The Maintenance of Law and Order in Nigeria
I dare say that law and order are like twelve and a dozen or two identical twins. One implicates the order. In other words, a lawful society is an orderly society and vice versa. Hence, where law is not only made but also enforced, an orderly society will ensue. In Nigeria, as noted earlier, the executive enforced the law, usually through the Attorneys General, as constitutionally designated as Chief Law Officers, and the security agencies are in charge of keeping order. What this means is that there is enormous duty on the Attorney General of the Federation and Attorneys General of the States, to ensure a lawful society within their respective jurisdictions, and consequently a lawful Nigeria state. A lawful society will culminate in an orderly society.
The Attorneys General as instrumentality of maintaining law and order in Nigeria, in addition to the specific constitutional powers of instituting, taking over and discontinuing criminal proceedings, implicates the following functions:
- Prosecutorial matters – to liaise with the security agencies, to ensure every arrested person is investigated and prosecuted, timely.
- Apprehension of offenders – to liaise with the security agencies, to prevent the breakdown of law and order, through prompt and effective apprehension of every offender. The terrorists lurking in the forests, the kidnappers and ritualists, are not beyond arrest; modern technologies and advanced techniques abound to track, arrest and flush out these criminals.
- Necessary security intervention – to advise the government towards provision of modern gadgets and equipment – drones, CCTV cameras, precision weapons, et cetera – for the investigations and combating crimes. Noteworthy, most crimes, for example, terrorism, is an internationalised crime, hence the AGF can advise the government on international cooperation and support to flush out the menace of terrorism from the Nigeria soil. Furthermore, the AGF should ensure that funds allocated for the provisions of security infrastructure are actually and judiciously spent by the security agencies, and prosecute anyone who embezzles such funds.
- Law development – to ensure the updating of laws, by proposing amendment and enactment of new laws, to meet up with societal development.
- Lawful conduct of the executive branch – to ensure the executive branch of government always act according to law. Importantly, to ensure the executive obeys court orders, promptly – there is no lawful society where the executive, which is supposed to be exemplary by obeying court orders, incorrigibly disobeys court orders.
- Role in the dispensation of justice – To propose laws which aid speedy and effective administration of justice. Importantly, to constantly ensure the executive do not interfere with the judicial functions, which is important for judicial independence.
- Where the President or Governor, as the case may be, goes against any of the above, for the Attorney General should resign, after addressing the press and clearly stating objective reasons such, to send an invaluable signal which would be helpful to his successor; in essence, that the promotion of the rule of law and upholding the course of justice is a non-negotiable ethical duty of every lawyer, no less the Chief Law Officer.
Conclusion
Law and order in a society is not just a cliché neither a mere bombastic term. Rather, it is the outcome of an organised society which can be attained by concerted and coordinated efforts, especially through the instrumentality of the Attorneys General who are the Chief Law Officers, in conjunction with the security forces.
Othniel A. Ikpibako is a legal practitioner and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), and can be reached on truthlawfirm@gmail.com
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Authored by Ben Ijeoma Adigwe Esq., ACIarb (UK), LL.M, Dip. in Artificial Intelligence, Director at the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Asaba, Nigeria.
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