Akinseye-George, who is the President of the CSLS, blamed the problem on poor implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, and the lack of cooperation of lawyers towards ensuring speedy trial and effective criminal justice delivery system.
The don, who along with others, championed the enactment of ACJA in 2015, spoke in Abuja at the opening session of a two-day ‘capacity-building workshop for lawyers’.
The event was with the theme, ‘Trends in criminal justice administration and the anti-corruption fight’.
Akinseye-George expressed concerns that “several years after the coming into effect of the Act, the criminal justice system continues to experience delays and congestions”.
Although he did not mention the 25 cases his centre was monitoring, Akinseye-George noted that that the cases had been stuck in court for years despite the improvement in the procedural law.
He said, “Our Centre is monitoring about 25 high profile corruption cases in court.
“These have been stuck in the courts for years despite the provisions of the ACJA for speedy trials.
“In other words, the improvement in the criminal procedure law and the increasing number of lawyers and senior advocates on a yearly basis has not translated to greater effectiveness of the criminal justice system, greater access to justice by the poor or improved justice delivery system in the country.
“Although more courts are being established and the legal profession is growing by the day, there is not much to write home about justice delivery in the country.”
The senior lawyer who said 31 states of the federation had adapted and the Act with the five remaining in the process of doing so, noted that the provisions of the law “cannot be properly implemented without the cooperation of the legal profession”.
He said, “Put in another way, the effectiveness or otherwise of the ACJA depends on the legal profession: judges, registrars, prosecutors and legal practitioners.
“For example, without the cooperation of these different actors, the ACJA provisions on Speedy trial cannot be successfully implemented. It saddening to note that despite the provisions ACJA, there has been no significant reduction in the population of awaiting trial inmates in the country.”
He described as “disheartening” that some lawyers “have developed new but reprehensible tactics for unduly delaying court proceedings especially when it comes to defending high-profile corruption charges involving politically exposed persons”.
He said the legal profession must unite “to reverse the downward slide by the profession and the criminal justice system manifested in the palpable inability to conclude cases bordering on accountability initiated against high profile defendants and politically exposed persons”.
The event was attended by the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Ishaq Bello, Chairman of the Abuja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, and an ex-Speaker of the Kwara State of Assembly, Dr. Ali Ahmad, who also as a member of the House of Representatives sponsored the bill leading to the ACJA.
They described the ACJA as revolutionary and called for its proper implementation to ensure speedy and more effective criminal justice system.