Justice? what justice?

By

Aja Agwu

Justice, whether at macro or micro level, is still unattainable in Nigeria because the country itself is a bundle of injustice. The structural formation of Nigeria is malodorous, and it is reeking of unmitigated injustice. This is why Nigeria has had to fight a civil war. So far, there is nothing to indicate that Nigeria in any way, came out of that war instructed. The 1966 pogrom that made that unavoidable is still continually going on, against the same people, the Igbos, who were the victims of the 1966 carnage. For daring to rise against injustice in 1966, the Igbos have remained brutally suppressed with the coercive apparatuses of the Nigerian State. Igbo killings are the favourite pastime of all sections of Nigeria.

But the injustices have spread. Southern minorities have started feeling the pains more than ever. That is why the Niger Delta is ever rumbling with discontent. First, there was MOSOP. But the organisation has been thoroughly bloodied. Only a ghost of its former self remains. In its place in the militant advocacy of minority rights, has arisen the Egbesu boys. But since the levelling of Odi, the Egbesu have suffered a severe trauma. However, its whimpers are still loudly discernible.

Curiously, this incidence of injustices in Nigeria have been profoundly politicised. That is why we now have the Arewa Peoples Congress (APC) and the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), all pretending to be fighting one injustice or the other, non-existent injustices anyway, that is, comparatively speaking. The result of this confusion is that Nigeria has become a vast killing field. Nobody is safe here. Anybody can just get killed any day by these militant groups fighting against phantom injustices, and nothing happens. Nothing happens because their victims (whether in Alaba Market, Lagos; or Sabon Gari, Kano) have no hold on power. They are the powerless people in Nigeria. You can just walk into any shop in Alaba (Lagos) or Sabon Gari (Kano), drag out and slaughter an Igboman and nothing happens. Only a little noise will be made and the whole thing will end. Imagine the bravado with which the OPC is operating and nothing happens. But when the MASSOB holds an innocuous meeting (as in Oyigbo (Obigbo) Rivers State last week), they are indiscriminately shot like outlaws. What is a greater injustice than this? So much for macro injustices in Nigeria.

Because these macro injustices have not been addressed, the micro ones have grown. Micro injustices are those perpetrated at the level of the judiciary, affecting both individuals and groups. The Nigerian judiciary has been lacerated by venality, and the festering sores are stinking to high heavens. Justice is bought, not merited. All manner of considerations (money, ethnicity, religion, etc.) determine the dispensation of justice in Nigeria. Some worn-out excuses are also piled up for these ills, one of which includes the poor funding of the judiciary. But this is only a little problem. The main reason for the corruption of the Nigerian judiciary is the greed in the society. But the society is also paying dearly for it. People have learnt to embark on self-help measures, visiting their adversaries (real or perceived) in the jungle.

The talk, here, about the jury system is okay, but I am afraid that the Nigerian society is not germane for its operation. The jury system is capital intensive. Now that we cannot maintain the judiciary as it is, how can a broadened and complex one like a jury system be maintained? The Nigerian society and state need a re-orientation for the jury system to work here. But above all, the rule of law must prevail. The absence of the rule of law is the main factor that reinforce the macro and micro injustices in this country. Until the rule of law is respected, justice here will remain a far cry.

Aja Agwu wrote in from Lagos