2. A tribunal constituted under subsection (1) of this section shall consist of
the following persons to be designated by the Governor, that is to say – (a)
a serving or retired judge of a High Court or any court of like jurisdiction,
whether or not of the State concerned, who shall be Chairman; (b) an
officer of the Nigerian Army not below the rank of major or an officer in
the Nigerian Navy or Nigerian Air Force not below the corresponding rank;
and (c) an officer of the Nigerian Police Force not below the rank of chief
superintendent of police: Provided that no member of the armed forces or
of the Nigerian Police Force who has taken part in the search for, pursuit
or apprehension of any person to be tried under this Act or who has taken
part in the investigation of the offense alleged or suspected to have been
committed by that person shall sit as a member of a tribunal constituted for
the trial of that person for that offence.
6.3.24.
The Act provides at Section 9 (2) that “(p)rosecutions for offences
under this instituted by the Attorney-General of the State or where there is
no Attorney-General, the Solicitor General of the State in respect of which
the tribunal was constituted or by such officer in the Ministry of Justice of
that State as the Attorney-General or the Solicitor General, as the case may
be, authorise so to do…”. Further to the above, Sections 10 and 11 confers
upon the Governor the authority to review the judgment of the tribunal
without any right of appeal to the judiciary.
6.3.25.
The Court certainly is of the opinion that considering the text
creating the Special Tribunals in light of Section 7 of the African Charter,
the said act is in violation of the rights of the applicants as protected by
sub-section (a) and (d) of Section 7.
6.3.26.
These identical issues were raised before the African Commission
on Human and Peoples’ Right growing out of a trial by a military tribunal
constituted under the same Act which resulted into the imposition of the
death penalty. Because this Court is in full agreement with the analysis and
conclusion of the Commission, the said determination is hereby quoted
herein verbatim and incorporated as a part and parcel of this judgment.
“60/91: Constitutional Rights Project (in respect of Wahab Akamu, G.
Adega and others) / Nigeria
6.3.27.
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The Facts