Should Nigeria Change To The Jury System?

In consideration of the victories scored by the V.P in court, should Nigeria change to the jury system? It seem to me that the wish of most people does not support or reflect the court decision.

the richest man wins in Nigeria we dont have system

Do they have a jury system in place before?? i don't think so.

It should be "It is about time Nigeria introduce the jury system into their legal system.

I know we've never practiced the jury system,but I'm raising awareness if an alternative should be considered.

This is silly, just because a judgement does not represent your preconceived ideas does not make it bad judgement. We all know most of the actions taken against Atiku were ILLEGAL anyways so challenging it in court will only yield the natural result. The courts are meant to interpret the law, no satisfy mo wapa's personal political wants.

@Donzman

If you've followed my posting in this forum, you may note I'm a sticker for rule of LAW. However the Jury system verdict as practiced by the U S is so iron clad that rarely do we have it overturned, just wondering since most people seem divided about our present system to the extent of labeling the Judiciary as corrupt maybe its time to change since we've adopted the American system of government anyway.

This is silly, just because a judgement does not represent your preconceived ideas does not make it bad judgement. We all know most of the actions taken against Atiku were ILLEGAL anyways so challenging it in court will only yield the natural result. The courts are meant to interpret the law, no satisfy mo wapa's personal political wants.

You are indeed a DONZMAN

What is a jury? All you need to know is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury

Jury system ke?,

U'll see that the jury will be bought andf justice will be more difficult.

Jury system is sure the best. The jury usually consists of men and women of great integrity and honesty, it will safe the judiciary from corruption, since such men of high calibre cannot be bought, or so it seems, not all of them could be bought with money. But the politician will never use such systems, because it seems will not suit them.

Mowapa I think the JURY SYSTEM wll be suitable for Nigeria conpared to this Judicial onsense we have now. Oly God knows if those Judges really consider NIgeria before they deliver Judgements

Jury system is good oh, but in a country like ours i just wonder
ya'll sure know what i mean

Juries consisting of people who will make decisions using logic and psychology rather than their personal feelings.

ermm even in a developed world you would find no such jury, many will say they are totally unbiased that is not true, I did jury service once and i can tell you personal feeling do go into it, although people won't say it out loud.

Jury system are based on facts given to them by the judge of the case. How can we be so sure in a country

like Nigeria where the highest bidder wins won't buy this jurors? will there be remedy if they are found to

be partial? nice thought but It won't work in Nigeria. What we need is a system of check and balance.

Jury systems are better in my opinion. You have greater numbers of people assessing the evidence in a court case with (in theory) no personal involvement with parties associated to the case. Their conclusion is far likely to be more accurate than that of a single Judge doing the same.

@ MAMAJAMA

What you just described is no different from witness tampering, it could happen even in the most "civilized society". Our judicial system work, albeit in a slow way, but that should not preclude from tickling with it

Personally as a lawyer, I am in love with the jury system. It works so well in the U.S.A but unfortunately Nigeria is not ripe for such innovation. If our judges can be go at, how much more jury men who are mere lay people.

In nigeria the jury would obvious have an interest in most political cases
might work well for other criminal cases though

how would they even select people in nigeria?

Jury system will not work in Nigeria because we are too religious. We would rather leave justice in "Gods hand" than send our neighbors to jail. Besides, a judge can turn down the juries verdict and impose his own judgment. In high profile case, a typical Juror can be tampered with not to mention his/her family members threatened by the defendant and/or even the prosecutor to get a case going their way.

Yes, the jury system is the best but you need a well defined, functional constitution for it to work.

Jury System is very good in a judgement if it is wisely used. If the juries are honest it is good but considering the way Nigerians operates this days a whole lots of people will be said to be guilty when they are not.

To me every system of judgement is good if there is nothing like partiality and dishonesty.

Hell no!!!
the average nigerian will be easily persuaded to sell his/her jury vote especially with the present situation of thing thus rendering justice to the highest bidder!

Forget about bribery, we'll have folks like mo wapa who will go into court but instead of judging the case based on evidence presented, he'll judge it based on preconceived notions. Even a jury will find Atiku's disqualifications illegal because they're simply unconstitutional. As a juror, you're still required to follow evidence presented in court and not what you heard on t.v. or whatever personal feelings you have towards Atiku.

It's obvious he's calling for a jury system because the judgements on Atiku are not to his liking, he feels Atiku is wrong even though he hasn't seen a letter in the constitution.

I don't think Nigeria should adopt Jury system because they don't have the resources to maintain it.
As in the hotels, the protection of jury members from being biased, the protection of the familes of the jurors, the payments.
We have to consider this before we can talk about getting a jury.

well it will surely increase the cost of winning cases in Nigeria. Obviously buying over a Judge is cheaper than buying over ajury.

it should be encouraged
i'm all for it!

Nigeria has the Jury system already albeit only in Court Martial (Military Personal) only.They have Judge and Jury.

I don't see the jury system as it operates in the US working in Nigeria. The jury system requires people to be educated sufficiently about the law to make a determination of guilt or innocence based on the merits of a case. Moreover, juries are selected randomly from the voter's register. Can you picture an illiterate 'boli' seller from the village being placed on a jury and asked to decide complex legal issues? Not to denegrate uneducated people but, if we want to be honest, it would be a difficult task. In this day and age in Nigeria, I don't think a jury system is practical.

A jury system in a nation of hungry illiterates is a recipe for disaster, a breeding ground for sacred cows and the death knell in the coffin of respect for the rule of law.

The Jury System is tempting, but truth be told, it wouldn't work in our society, at least not now when our democracy is so young and so corrupt. What would happened in such a jury system is exactly what John Grisham presented us with in the Run Away Jury. Nigerians are hungry. Twelve jury members sharing the ghana must go is better than one judge who can do without the money.
That is not to say there are no honest men in Nigeria, but everyone has a price, and like i said, Nigerians are very hungry people.
That system just won't walk. We should be thankful anyway, that the judiciary is beginning to look up and hold back the evil plans of the Executive and the Legislature.

mo wapa (m)
« on: March 08, 2007, 09:57 PM »
In consideration of the victories scored by the V.P in court,

It seem to me that the wish of most people does not support or reflect the

What is wrong with the present system

The victories scored by the V.P are based on the rule of law
and not people emotions.

A lawyer friend of mine told me its no big deal, since the
VP has good case