By Yemi Osibanjo
There is no reason why the police cannot like the judiciary be funded directly from the consolidated revenue fund and be self- accounting. The Inspector-General of police may be appointed for a fixed one-term tenure without the distraction and compromises that tenure renewal brings.

There is little doubt that the legal process in Nigeria is challenged. There is a palpable sense in the polity that law and due process simply do not deliver on their promises on law and order, fair and speedy justice and security of lives and property. Few people today will leave their safety in the hands of the police.

Fewer believe that the system can hold the wealthy or influential to account. Litigation in the resolution of commercial disputes is viewed by the discerning as only a poor last resort, between tales of judicial corruption and long delays in the trial process the prognosis is usually quite bleak.

The rise in new crimes, kidnappings, and lately bombings is frightening enough. But the shocking impunity of the likes of the Boko Haram uprising which apart from hundreds of slain victims has taken the lives of 26 policemen in Borno alone heighten the sense that the State may have lost the capac;t to respond to challenges to its very being. This perhaps explains why Nigeria is classed as No. 14 in a list of 63 failed or failing States, war torn Somalia being No. 1.

The situation is not irredeemable. The inhibition to reversing these trends is in not recognizing just how close to the edge we are today. A serious commitment to implementing well thought out, practical and measurable solutions some of which we have highlighted, to the many problems offers perhaps a glimmer of hope that though the foundations may shake the house will not collapse.

Public officers prosecuted /being prosecuted by the Efcc

Former speaker of the House of representative, Dimeji Bankole Former deputy speaker of the House of representative, Usman Nafada Former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniels

Former Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala

Alhaji Akwe Doma, former Governor of Nasarawa State

Danjuma Goje, former Governor of .Gombe State

Ex-Delta State Governor, James Ibori POP chieftain, Bode George

Former Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye Former Edo State Governor, Lucky Igbinedion Former Adamawa State Governor, Boni Haruna

Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, former Enugu State Governor Former Plateau State Governor, Michael Botmang

Former Aviation Minister, Babalola Borisade

Nyeson Wike, former Chief of Staff to Rivers State Governor Former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nasir el-Rufai Former Health Minister, Adenike Grange

Former Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamu Former Taraba State Governor, Jolly Nyame

Former Chairman of the Police Equipment Fund, Chief Kenny Martins

Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) leader and ex-Governor of Sokoto, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa

Former Jigawa State Governor, Senator Saminu Turaki Former Abia State Governor, Orji Kalu

Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello

Former Oyo State Governor, Rashidi Ladoja Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode

Senator Nicholas Ugbane, Hon. Ndul Elemelu, Mohammed Jibo, Paulinus Igwe being prosecuted over the NS.2 billion Rural Electrification Agency scam.

Ex-bank chiefs, former CEO of Oceanic International Bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru Chief Erastus Akingbola

Former Managing Director of Union Bank, Bartholomew Ebong Ex-MD of FinBank Okey Nwosu

And Afribank ex-MD Sebastine Adigwe

Boko Harram Attacks

26 July 2009 – First clash with security agencies in Bauchi State after an all-night attack on Dutsen- Tanshi Police. 39 members, two policemen, one soldier killed

27 July 2009 – First attack in Yobe State during an invasion of Potiskum Divisional Headquarters, leading to the death of three policemen, one fire service officer 29 July 2009 – Confrontation with security men at Mamudo Village, along Potiskum/Damaturu Road, Yobe. 33 Boko Haram members killed.

29 July 2009 – An all-night battle with. combined security operatives at Railway Terminus, Maiduguri, Borno State. Scores killed and operational base destroyed.

8 Sept 2010 – Set ablaze Bauchi central prison and freed members of the sect who were jailed there

31 December 2010, explosions at a restaurant in Abuja killed at least four people and injured nine others.

28 January 2011 – Killed governorship candidate of the Borno State chapter of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Alhaji Modu Fannami Gubio and six others at lawan Bukar ward, Maiduguri

2 March 2011- Killed two policemen attached to the residence of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mustapha Sandamu at Rigasa area of Kaduna State.

30 March 2011- Bomb explosion in Damaturu injuring a policeman

2 April 2011 – Bombed Dutsen- Tanshi police station, injured two policemen

4 May 2011 – Shot dead a prison warder at Maiduguri Prison on Kashim Ibrahim Way 5 May 2011- Shot Duty Officer at Maiduguri Government House, Umaru Shehu, at his Abuja Talakawa residence of Maisandami ward killing a 13-year-old boy and injured another.

9 May 2011- Killed two Islamic clerics, Sheikh Goni Tijani and Mallam Alhaji Abur at their residences in Mairi and Bulabulum wards of Maiduguri.

9 May 2011 – Killed Bauchi State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Ibrahim Dudu Gobe and injured his son, Mohammed

13 May 2011 – Two people killed by bomb explosion at London Chinki, Maiduguri

15 May 2011 – Two soldiers killed during a gun battle at Gwange ward, Maiduguri 19 May 2011 – Planted bomb at lagosftreet, Maiduguri, which injured two soldiers, three policemen. A policeman was als6 shot dead same day in the city

29 May 2011- Bombed Bauchi military barrack, killing 14

31 May 2011- Shot dead Shehu of Borno’s brother, Alhaji Abba Anas Garbai EI-Kanemi 1 June 2011 – Bombed St. Patrick Catholic Church, Maiduguri

2 June 2011 – Bombed Borno State Epidemiological Centre

8 June 2011- Five people killed during attack on police stations in Maiduguri 12 June 2011- Four persons killed at a drinking joint in Bulumkutu, Maiduguri.

16 June 2011 – Four children killed in a bomb explosion at Damboa town, Maiduguri 16 June 2011 – Bombed Force Headquarters, killing 4 people and injuring many

26 June 2011, explosions at a bar in Maiduguri killed more than 25 people.

10 July 2011, a bomb attack on a church in Suleja on the outskirts of Abuja caused a number of injuries.

26 August 2011, an attack on the UN compound in Abuja reportedly killed over 23 people and left at least 81 wounded.

4 and 5 November 2011, an attack in Damaturu, Vobe State, and Borno State on a Sallah Weekend in which 67 people were killed.

Being an excerpt from a lecture delivered by former Lagos State Attorney -general and commissioner for justice Prof Yemi Osibanjo SAN , at the annual law week of Nigeria Bar Association NBA , Ikorodu Branch.