Femi Falana, human rights lawyer,
says it is unconstitutional to impose fines on “angry citizens” who challenge
illegal policies of government.
In a statement on Sunday, Falana
said no judge of the high court is empowered to fine litigants who have not been
convicted for crimes.
The lawyer described the award of
costs as a “renewed attack” on public interest litigation by judges.
“Specifically, the Fundamental
Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 have enjoined judges to encourage
public interest litigation in promoting the human rights of Nigerian people. Ex
abundanti cautela, the doctrine of locus standi has been abolished in the area
of human rights by Order III of the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure
Rules 2009,” he said.
“Since access to court has been
guaranteed by sections 6 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution and article 7 of the
African Charter on Hunan and Peoples Rights Act, it is illegal and
unconstitutional to impose fines on aggrieved citizens who approach the courts
to challenge the illegal official policies or unconstitutuonal legislations
under the current democratic dispensation.
“As far as the law stands no
judge has the power to order a litigant to pay costs outside the ambit of the Rules of the respective High Courts.”
Falana said fair hearing should
be given to litigants and lawyers in the award of costs.
“I wish to state that no judge is
empowered by the Constitution, High Court Law or Rules of Court to impose fines
of N5 million or N10 million on a litigant who has not been tried and convicted
for committing a criminal offence in Nigeria,” the senior advocate of Nigeria
(SAN) said.
“We are therefore compelled to draw the attention
of our judges to the case of Fawehinmi v Akilu (1997) NWLR (Pt 65) 979 wherein
the Supreme Court overruled the case of
Abraham Adesanya v The President (1981) ANLR 1.
“Since the anachronistic doctrine
has been set aside to pave way for public interest litigation our judges should
desist from striking out or dismissing cases which are filed to challenge
impunity of public officers in Nigeria.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com