By Innocent Anaba
ABUJA — Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, has called for the involvement of Directors of Public Prosecution, DPPs, in the investigation of serious criminal cases to reduce the alarming number of awaiting trial inmates in prisons across the country.

Speaking at the 1st National Conference on Criminal Prosecution & 7th Directors of Public Prosecution Forum, organised by Legal Defence and Assistance Project, LEDAP, in Abuja, he said: “As a way out, it is suggested that the office of DPP should be directly involved in the investigation of serious criminal offences to complement the effort of the police.”

Represented by Justice Nwali Ngwuta of the Supreme Court, he noted: “This will ensure that such matters are taken to a court of competent jurisdiction and eliminate the problem of incarceration before the actual trial. It will also eliminate some abnormalities in the criminal process such as demanding that the suspect identifies his alleged victim as a process of his own identification.

Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, also raised concern over the awaiting trial inmates problem, noting that prosecutors, DPPs and Attorney Generals were not doing enough to check the development.

He said this had led to a situation where litigants and even lawyers, no longer rely on public prosecutors, as most people now resort to using thugs to settle their matters, thereby rendering the work of prosecutors irrelevant.

Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Aminu Tambuwal, also supported the call for the stoppage of plea bargaining, saying: “It has to stop,” particularly for the rich.

Represented by Mr Ali Ahmed, Chairman, House Committee on Justice at the event, he said: “The plea bargain today, is only for the rich. If a poor man steals a goat, I am not sure the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, will plea bargain for him. We cannot have a set of rules for the rich and another for the poor. It has to be done responsibly. It has to be done to straighten the system and not to abuse it. If there are fundamental breaches in its implementation in the past, the House shall review it.

“The way it is today, if I am the Attorney General and I like your face, I can give you plea bargain. There has to be regularisation of the process and not the section application,” he added.