CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF COURT MARTIAL CASES AT APPELLATE COURTS IN NIGERIA 1990- 2014
- Project Research
- 1-5 Chapters
- Abstract : Available
- Table of Content: Available
- Reference Style: FOOTNOTE / ENDNOTE
- Recommended for : Student Researchers
- NGN 3000
ABSTRACT
Court martial is a major aspect of administration of military justice. In Nigeria, courts martial set up by the Army, Navy and Air Force have had numerous problems in the last 24 years leading to upturning of majority of the judgments by appellate courts. Judgments of about 70 percent of court martial cases that were appealed against in Nigeria between 1990 and 2014 were upturned by appellate courts. This work discovered that the major reasons that made appellate courts to upturn the judgments were on grounds of lack of jurisdiction, non-observance of the principles of fair hearing and lack of diligent prosecution among others. The Nigerian Armed Forces have lost several officers and soldiers to dismissals from courts martial of which their dismissals and sentence of imprisonment were upturned many years after, when it was difficult to get them back to service. This equally led to wastage of several man-hours prosecuting such cases at high expense. These were equally accompanied by harsh comments from justices of appellate courts which in some instances ridiculed the military justice system in Nigeria. The research is therefore aimed at proving that between 1990 and 2014, most of the court martial judgments were upturned on appeal based on lack of jurisdiction, non observance of the principles of fair hearing and lack of diligent prosecution. The major objective is to ensure that courts martial follow the prescribed procedures during trials. The research found out that one of the major reasons that makes court martial presidents and members conduct the procedures of the court in ways contrary to what it should be is command influence. Command influence is the negative influence of some convening authorities which makes the members to do his bidding at the courts martial. As a way out of the problem, the research recommended the insulation of courts martial from command influence and ensuring that those whose avoidable actions caused the upturning of court martial judgments on appeal get to feel the consequence of their actions. The principal ways of insulating courts martial from command influence as identified by the research include the Nigerian Armed Forces keying into the housing scheme of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to get a personal house for every officer at the rank of Major. The officers are to bear the cost of the houses but to pay gradually from commission. In this way, officers will have a house to retire to, early in their career, thereby reducing the retirement phobia that facilitates command influence. The work equally recommended a situation where court martial members do not get evaluation reports from convening officers of courts martial where they are members. In the final analysis, the researcher believes that if these measures are adopted, the upturning of judgments of courts martial by appellate courts in Nigeria will be reduced to the barest minimum.
Related Project Materials
THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC OPINION ON PUBLIC POLICY
EXCERPT FROM THE STUDY
Mass media has a great impact in modeling of public opinion by the wide range of methods to chang...
MULTI-LEVEL INTRUSION DETECTION AND LOG MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN CLOUD COMPUTING
INTRODUCTION
As Green IT has been issued, many companies have started to find ways to decrease IT cost and overcome econ...
FINANCIAL INFORMATION AS A TOOL FOR MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING (A CASE STUDY OF BETA GLASS PLC)
ABSTRACT
This study examines financial information as a tool for management decision making using beta glass plc as a ca...
A Speech Act Analysis of Speeches on Insurgency in Nigeria
Abstract
Nigeria is still battling with the problem of insurgency. Pictures of bloody acts of violence by insurgents are shown. Insurgenc...
EFFECT OF WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE ON MANUFACTURING FIRMS
ABSTRACT
In this research work titled “Effect of working capital management on financial performa...
THE IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC SERVICE IN NIGERIA
Abstract
The study is aimed at determining the impact of motivation on employee’s job performance...
A HYBRID GENETIC-ARTIFICIAL FISH SWARM ALGORITHM FOR ECONOMIC LOAD DISPATCH WITH VALVE-POINT AND MULTIPLE FUEL EFFECTS
ABSTRACT
The restructuring of the electrical power industry has given rise to a high degree of vibrancy and competitive...
ASSESSMENT OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
ABSTRACT
This research was carried out to assess Information Management in Primary and Secondary Schools in Ahmadu Bello University, Zari...
EFFECTS OF PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP ON SERVICE DELIVERY
ABSTRACT
Public private partnership in Nigeria and other developing nations in Africa were adopted for...
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to compare management practices and output of private and public secondary schools in...
