By Alex Enumah
A Professor of Law, Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), has identified the lack of political will on the part of elected government officials as the reason for the upsurge in insecurity currently plaguing all parts of Nigeria.
Akinseye-George, who is the president of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS), lamented that daily media report is replete with killings, kidnappings, jail breaking, attacks on law enforcement personnel, destruction of courts, and threats of invasion of different parts of the country by bandits, terrorists, cultists, cattle rustlers, and other outlaws.
He stated this last Tuesday in Abuja during a workshop to ‘Review and Validate the Explanatory Notes on the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015’.
According to him, “Before proceeding further in this welcome address, it is necessary to say a few words on the dire security situation of our country, which threatens not only the justice sector but also the very existence of our country. We share the concern of well-meaning Nigerians who have cried out about the worsening situation of security of lives and property in our country.”
While expressing worry that criminals have appeared to be waxing stronger by the day, as they are often paid huge sums of cash in exchange for the release of their victims, he observed that security operatives as well as apparatus appear to be poorly resourced and ill-equipped.
Akinseye-George also expressed fear that the security operatives may have begun to succumb to the superior determination and fire power of the outlaws.
“Those who were elected and made promises to protect all Nigerians appear to be weary and lacking in political will to rise to the challenge of maintaining law and order and securing the lives, livelihoods and human rights of Nigerians.
“The decay in the socio-political and economic system is compounded by the shutting down of the courts due to the strike embarked upon by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and other unions,” he said.
The law professor said rather than merely lamenting the current situation in the country, the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS) is calling on the government to as a matter of urgency, strengthen the courts and other institutions of accountability; commence the immediate revamping of the law enforcement agencies; reduce small arms among others in the country.
He further advocated for the urgent review of allowances of all political office holders such that the political class should be made to contribute part of their huge allowances towards bailing out and revamping the security sector in the country.
On the JUSUN strike, while Akinseye-George appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately direct funds of the judiciary to them through the National Judicial Council (NJC), he said: “State governments, which refuse to release to the judiciary what is due to them, should then be named and shamed.”
He said the purpose of the workshop was to enable the selected stakeholders of criminal justice and allied institutions to review the manuscript developed by the CSLS to guide the implementation of the ACJA 2015.
