Questions of access to public documents
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- Category: Comments
- Written by Nura Balarabe Dogo
- Hits: 621
The text of the judgment is a public document and families of the convict have the right to demand access to it. In fact, the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act may be defeated if a court judgment is held as the exclusive property of the court or the Judge. A court judgment should be subject to public scrutiny. If justice should be seen to be done, then members of the public, including families of convicted offenders, should not be denied access to court judgments.
What is reported in the press is not enough unless Nigerians can read the fuller and finer details of court judgment. The tendency to withhold public documents is reminiscent of the military era when the people’s rights were brutally suppressed. The Guardian Newspaper courageously set the standard for asserting the right of the public to have access to information. Against the warning by former President Babangida’s military regime, the paper went ahead to reproduce the speech of Major Gideon Orkah, who led the April, 1990 attempted coup d’état.
It is, therefore, surprising that, almost two months after the judgement on Major Al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan, Justice Dada is still allegedly denying the family access to it. If a judgment is not subject to public scrutiny, then the justness of her alleged uncooperative attitude is open to question. Copies of her judgment should be available within 24 hours after it was made. Curiously, however, the inability of the family to have access to this judgment is now creating controversy and outrage of its own. For a family determined to assert the right of their son to fair, unbiased and neutral judgment, it amounts iniquity to deny them access to the judgment. Considering the rights of convicts to appeal their sentences, it defies reason why the judgment should be treated like a tightly-guarded secret. What stopped Justice Dada from publishing the full judgment in the newspapers to avoid this kind of controversy? Allegations of a judgment being withheld from families of convicted offenders should not be treated lightly.
No Judge should allow this kind of controversy to taint their reputation. Considering the political undertones attached to the judgment by some critics, Justice Dada owes a moral duty to clear the air on this issue. The judiciary in Lagos State can ill afford to play politics with the fundamental human rights of those she convicted. It is even in her best interest that the public have access to the full version of her judgment. Keeping a judgment close to someone’s chest does not help the cause of justice anywhere.
A court judgment, once made, is no longer the property of the court. Justice should be conducted openly and withholding copies of judgment after it was delivered defeats the essence of justice. With the lawyers to Al-Mustapha having served a notice of appeal and stay-of-execution, every document related to the case should be made accessible to them without delay. Democracy is about openness and no institution can insulate itself from public scrutiny. Since no paper has published any denial of this allegation by Justice Dada, does she think the issue will die a natural death with the passage of time? The fact that the Al-Mustapha family made their complaint public Justice Dada should come clean and end this controversy once and for all by giving every interested party access to the copies of her judgment.
There are already allegations that the family is being deliberately denied access to the judgment so that the period of time within which an appeal is valid will lapse, thereby technically making it impossible for Al-Mustapha to appeal. The implication is that he must die once the period lapses based on her original and controversial conviction of death sentence against him and his co-convict. In fact, some people even suspect that her life would have been in danger if she had given a judgment contrary to the deep-running sentiments of the political environment where she operates. Concerned Nigerians are watching whether she will have the courage and the fear of God to do the right thing by allowing the family and Mustapha’s lawyers immediate access to the copies of her judgment.
Dogo wrote from Ahmadu Ahidjo Street, Asokoro, Abuj ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
Articles
Questions of access to public documents
Category: Comments Written by Nura Balarabe Dogo Hits: 621
The family of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the late General Sani Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, who was recently sentenced by a Lagos High Court to death for murder, raised alarm over the alleged reluctance of the presiding Judge Mojisola Dada, to grant them access to her judgment.The text of the judgment is a public document and families of the convict have the right to demand access to it. In fact, the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act may be defeated if a court judgment is held as the exclusive property of the court or the Judge. A court judgment should be subject to public scrutiny. If justice should be seen to be done, then members of the public, including families of convicted offenders, should not be denied access to court judgments.
What is reported in the press is not enough unless Nigerians can read the fuller and finer details of court judgment. The tendency to withhold public documents is reminiscent of the military era when the people’s rights were brutally suppressed. The Guardian Newspaper courageously set the standard for asserting the right of the public to have access to information. Against the warning by former President Babangida’s military regime, the paper went ahead to reproduce the speech of Major Gideon Orkah, who led the April, 1990 attempted coup d’état.
It is, therefore, surprising that, almost two months after the judgement on Major Al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan, Justice Dada is still allegedly denying the family access to it. If a judgment is not subject to public scrutiny, then the justness of her alleged uncooperative attitude is open to question. Copies of her judgment should be available within 24 hours after it was made. Curiously, however, the inability of the family to have access to this judgment is now creating controversy and outrage of its own. For a family determined to assert the right of their son to fair, unbiased and neutral judgment, it amounts iniquity to deny them access to the judgment. Considering the rights of convicts to appeal their sentences, it defies reason why the judgment should be treated like a tightly-guarded secret. What stopped Justice Dada from publishing the full judgment in the newspapers to avoid this kind of controversy? Allegations of a judgment being withheld from families of convicted offenders should not be treated lightly.
No Judge should allow this kind of controversy to taint their reputation. Considering the political undertones attached to the judgment by some critics, Justice Dada owes a moral duty to clear the air on this issue. The judiciary in Lagos State can ill afford to play politics with the fundamental human rights of those she convicted. It is even in her best interest that the public have access to the full version of her judgment. Keeping a judgment close to someone’s chest does not help the cause of justice anywhere.
A court judgment, once made, is no longer the property of the court. Justice should be conducted openly and withholding copies of judgment after it was delivered defeats the essence of justice. With the lawyers to Al-Mustapha having served a notice of appeal and stay-of-execution, every document related to the case should be made accessible to them without delay. Democracy is about openness and no institution can insulate itself from public scrutiny. Since no paper has published any denial of this allegation by Justice Dada, does she think the issue will die a natural death with the passage of time? The fact that the Al-Mustapha family made their complaint public Justice Dada should come clean and end this controversy once and for all by giving every interested party access to the copies of her judgment.
There are already allegations that the family is being deliberately denied access to the judgment so that the period of time within which an appeal is valid will lapse, thereby technically making it impossible for Al-Mustapha to appeal. The implication is that he must die once the period lapses based on her original and controversial conviction of death sentence against him and his co-convict. In fact, some people even suspect that her life would have been in danger if she had given a judgment contrary to the deep-running sentiments of the political environment where she operates. Concerned Nigerians are watching whether she will have the courage and the fear of God to do the right thing by allowing the family and Mustapha’s lawyers immediate access to the copies of her judgment.
Dogo wrote from Ahmadu Ahidjo Street, Asokoro, Abuj ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )