The Ibori Trial: A Shame Of Our Time

S. Yahaya

Nigerians continue to watch with keen interest the absurd drama unfolding at an Abuja High Court, where the legal battle to determine the ‘identity’ of one James Onanefe Ibori ‘of Delta state’ [‘Ibori’] rages on. The story is now well known of this Ibori who was convicted for an offence involving dishonesty sometime in 1995 by a Bwari Area Court . While the opponents of the present Governor of Delta State insist he was the person convicted, the Governor continue to deny this allegation. Recently another clown jumped into the fray claiming to be the convicted ‘James Onanefe Ibori’. Wale Adenuga’s ‘Super story’ must be watching all these with green envy.

The tragedy here is not the fact that a serving Governor is probably an ex-convict [with all its negative connotations and implications for both the Governor and the country] but that the Nigeria Police and the Judiciary cannot identify a former felon they have prosecuted and convicted. It is indeed ridiculous that a person will be tried and convicted in a court in this country and we would still need another trial just to identify that person [especially when he was not tried in absentia]. I seriously doubt whether such a scenario will ever happen in Britain or even across the border in Ghana .

The Nation would have been saved the embarrassment of this trial had the Police and the Judiciary been doing their duties competently. The police Act, for instance, empower the police to take photographs, finger prints e.t.c of any person that comes into their lawful custody [section 30(1) &(2)]. These data are only to be destroyed in the case where such person has been discharged and acquitted of any charge the police might have brought against him or her in a court of law. The data may also be surrendered to such a person if he or she request for it. This is one of the several provisions in our law books designed to eliminate situations like the one we are witnessing.

I cannot remember the last time the police use fingerprint evidence in the prosecution of any of its cases in courts. What we always see are questionable ‘confessions’. Every investigation starts and ends with a ‘confession’. The police are now experts in extracting ‘confessions’.

Nigerian courts are not faring any better. Case files are treated, in most cases after execution of judgements, with utter levity and disdain. They are dumped in dingy offices and left at the mercy of the weather, dangerous rats and other undesirables. Court Registrars do not seem to realize that these are important legal and historical documents.

Keeping and maintaining good records does not seem to be the favourite pastime of public officials/ institutions in Nigeria . The Nigerian police is a major culprit here and it is this major failing that has given rise to the embarrassing and strange proceedings we are now witnessing. Police records are at best only rudimentary. The police Crime Registries are in complete shambles and decades behind in current modern trends the world over. There are reported cases where the Police have recruited convicted criminals into their ranks not because that is a policy but simply because it does not have the facilities/data to know who is a criminal or who has a criminal or questionable past. A convict simply walks from one State to another and he is ‘clean’!

The Need For A Central Online Criminal Registry In Nigeria

September 11 is reputed to be one of the major intelligence failures in history. Famed Security Organisations like the FBI, CIA e.t.c were all caught napping. Amazingly, investigations conducted after that landmark event revealed to a large extent that, failure to share intelligence between these agencies rather than a lack of intelligence was responsible for the tragedy.

In Nigeria today, besides a total lack of intelligence, there is also the problem of not sharing effectively the little data that is available. Most agencies are working at cross-purposes. It is therefore possible for the Road Safety Corp to seize a road offender’s driving license only for that offender to surface at another State with a False Affidavit and a Police Report and claim that such license is either missing or stolen [to obtain another one].

Most banks in the country are now ‘online’. Though, I am not a computer expert but I know it is possible for the Police to benefit from this kind of technology to set up a Central Criminal Registry. It will then be possible for all its command to benefit from this pool of intelligence to serve the public better. The same will be useful for other Agencies like the Customs, Immigration service, NDLEA e.t.c. The sharing of intelligence within and between these institutions will greatly enhance their capability to discharge their duties effectively.

This kind of facility will save the Nation embarrassing trials like the Ibori trial.

S. Yahaya

Libra chambers

Nicon building

Abdulkadir Ahmed road

Bauchi.

Email: mmujadi@yahoo.com