Integrating Public Policy with Criminal Justice System and Constitutionalism

The Opinion that Saves the Immunity Clause and Transformed Our Criminal Justice System.

The Essay that you are about to read, saves the Immunity Clause (Section 308) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Above all, it helps in defining the ills in our criminal justice system and how to overcome them. I am not a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). I'm not a celebrated Constitutional Lawyer. And I am not a Criminal Law Savvy Jurist, either. However, when the Immunity Clause came under severe attacks before the 2014 Constitutional Law Review by the National Assembly, this essay made a difference. No Nigerian Law Professor, Legal Guru, or Constitutional Scholar on the record to stand up in the defense of the section or canvass the public policy consideration that persuaded the drafters of the clause. This essay did. It had nothing to do with how brilliant or scholarly the author is in Constitutional Law or Criminal Law, it is about common sense and the ability to reason beyond the obvious - what is the Legislative Intent of the section, defined as the thinking of the drafter when he was writing the section. The goal is to save our budding constitutional democracy, by deferring prosecution of the President, Vice President, Governor, and Deputy Governor for any crime or offence, until when they are out of office. The intent was never to encourage corruption or the embezzlement of public funds by those protected under the section. Finally, following the retention of the section by the National Assembly, the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, issued a press release to celebrate its retention, and maybe by coincidence, the content of the press release was a regurgitation of the  Rationale Part of the essay that you are about to read. Why is this essay necessary? Simple. Uncommon Sense and Innate Wisdom displayed successfully for the enrichment of the Nigerian Legal System.  Everybody - writers, lawyers, commentators - was lamenting about the rots in the Nigeria Criminal Justice System, but no one was able to identify and articulate what the problem was or how to surmount it. This essay did. Happy reading.