RELEVANCE OF SEPARATION OF POWERS AND ITS APPLICATION TO NIGERIA By Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, CON, LL.D (Lond.), FNSE, FCIArb, FNIALS Being the text of a lecture delivered at the NBA Annual Law Week Lecture on 5th July, 2019 at the Afe Babalola Bar Centre, Ado-Ekiti I wish to express my appreciation to the Planning...Read More

JUSTICE: LOSS OF PUBLIC CONFIDENCE – ANOTHER LOOK AT THE ROLE OF LAWYERS AND JUDGES “There is a real link between a strong and independent judiciary and economic growth and prosperity. No investor will for example invest in a country in which it will take years to resolve the simplest of business disputes”. Last week,...Read More

JUSTICE: LOSS OF PUBLIC CONFIDENCE- SEPARATION OF INVESTIGATIVE AND PROSECUTORIAL FUNCTIONS (6) “Both the ICPC and the EFCC have powers not only to investigate but also to prosecute. …if the prosecutor becomes involved in the investigation of a case, then the prosecutor may become committed to a particular line of inquiry and loose objectivity in...Read More

JUSTICE: LOSS OF PUBLIC CONFIDENCE-NEED TO SEPARATE OF INVESTIGATIVE AND PROSECUTORIAL FUNCTIONS OF EFCC AND ICPC (7) “Where there is a separation of the duties of investigation and prosecution, there will be increased likelihood of fairness to an accused who will by this development be shielded from unfair persecution or even prosecution”. Over the course...Read More

“NELSON MANDELA would have been hanged in 1964 but for the discretionary power of the judge to substitute imprisonment”  The death penalty is as old as mankind itself. For thousands of years, it has been applied, as confirmed by the major religious texts, as the ultimate penalty or punishment for crimes as varied as adultery, stealing,...Read More

Last week I began a discussion of the debate about the propriety of Nigeria’s retention of the death penalty. I concluded last week’s piece with an examination of the argument that the death penalty deters criminals. My view as s stated last week is that it does not even if the number of persons so...Read More

“NELSON MANDELA would have been hanged in 1964 but for the discretionary power of the judge to substitute imprisonment” The death penalty is as old as mankind itself. For thousands of years,Read More

(II) “NELSON MANDELA would have been hanged in 1964 but for the judge’s discretionary power to substitute imprisonment” Last week I began aRead More

  MATTERS ARISING “What the senate resorted to was to ask such nominees to react to allegations or petitions pending before other statutory bodies. Naturally the concerned nominees denied the allegation but in law, mere denial does not amount to full proof that the allegation is not true”. Upon the assumption of President Muhammadu Buhari...Read More

JUSTICE: LOSS OF PUBLIC CONFIDENCE –LAWYERS ALONE NOT TO BLAME  “Lawyers have for far too long been unfairly isolated as the sole cause of the delay in the prosecution of cases, there is just so little a Judge or indeed a lawyer can do in certain circumstances”. The judiciary in Nigeria has come under immense...Read More