Idris Ahmed is the Principal Partner of I.D. Ahmed & Co Chambers based
in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. He speaks with ABIODUN BOLUJOKO on
the role of the judiciary in the presidential election virtue among
other issues. Excerpts:
Some people are of the opinion that judiciary is not supposed to be
the last to give judgement over the presidential election verdict.
What is your reaction to this?
Yes, my reaction to this is that those who are of that opinion that
the judiciary should not be the last to give judgement to the verdict
are simply anarchist. They are anarchists in the sense that they don’t
believe in the rule of law. In a normal political setting, it is very
elementary that we have three arms of government, we have the
legislative, executive and the judiciary which is provided in section
456 of the 1999 as Constitution as amended.
The executive is to execute its own rule, the legislature is to make
laws for good governance while the judiciary is to interpret the laws
made by the lawmakers . It is the constitutional responsibility of the
judiciary once there is a dispute to determine dispute settlement
between the two despondents.
How would you react to the EFCC’s action of parading suspects of the
Nigeria Bar Association on social media?
Legally, I think we can call it trial by publicity, assisting the
police or security agencies to parade the suspects, they have not yet
proved to have committed the allegation.
(Cut in:) Since they are not yet proven to have committed the
allegation what right does the EFCC to parade them on social media?
The point here is that legally there is no law that empowers them but
I must be sincere with you, conventionally on the strength of
accountability and transparency, even the US and all parts of Europe,
what they do is that once a suspect is arrested or apprehended, they
are paraded before the press to enable the society at large to know
that such people have been arrested for certain allegation of crimes,
this they call criminal profile so that whoever comes around to the
EFCC office concerning investigation on such matters, they can go to
their data base to see if they have such records. On the strength of
law, it is wrong and that is why you will see that their faces are
blurred.
How do you think we can destroy the network of kidnappers in this country?
Yes, I think the government should stop playing lip service, they
should do more by strengthening the security agencies, give them
every support required. Nigeria has one of the most porous borders in
the world. The influx of foreigners through this border is a threat to
the country as some of them only come to kidnap. I want to let you
know that even in the US today, there is a lot of gun battle these
days, I think there should be a global law stopping the production of
arms. There should be a ban on people having private guns in their
possession. I think this will help curb menace of kidnapping in the
country.
On the issue of xenophobia, is there any legal implication on the
repatriation of Nigerians from South Africa?
No, there is no legal implications. They are Nigerians and they are
welcome back home. Nigeria is their country. The government on its
part should encourage them to create job in the country. The
government should make Nigeria conducive so that the citizenry will
remain at home and create jobs in the country. But subsequently, it is
going to have negative economic effect on South Africa
