Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Judge Cristina Barau presided over the mobile courts during the COVID-19 pandemic and praised their effectiveness. Since trials were held on-site and judgments were handed down quickly, the mobile courts played a vital role in ensuring compliance with safety protocols.
The Nigerian police or pandemic response team made arrests and brought suspects before a table where a judge sat to present formal charges. State lawyers promptly filed and prosecuted cases. The guilty were often fined rather than jailed, a cost that likely deterred them from breaking pandemic restrictions again.
Barau was trying as many as 100 cases a day, and although he sometimes worried that defendants wouldn't always understand the charges and that sentences would be rushed, he concluded that the mobile court system was a viable alternative to traditional courts because it significantly reduced paperwork and costs.
Other supporters of the initiative say the mobile courts expand access to justice, especially in remote areas, which is why they continued to exist even after pandemic restrictions were lifted. Currently, the mobile courts focus primarily on traffic violations.
Justice Safinatou Abdulkareem, president of the Road Safety Mobile Court in Niger State, believes that mobile courts are better than taking road offenders to physical courts.
“Traditional courts only waste time and hinder their journey. Once they are arrested and a trial is held where they are punished or fined, they can continue their travels or business,” she said.
But such persuasive views rarely include the perspective of those on trial, who are often absent from trials and have little room to defend their clients when they do appear.
“In mobile courts, everything is done summarily. The system does not give us lawyers that opportunity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile courts were established across Nigeria to enforce public health measures. Mobile courts are holding up.”
But defense lawyers say the trial is bringing more injustice than justice.
Supporters of the initiative said mobile courts expand legal access, especially to better serve litigation in remote areas.
“Lawyers are faced with the choice between settling or having their clients convicted,” said Sabiu Ahmad Bashir, an Abuja-based lawyer.
To investigate the allegations against their clients, lawyers often only have template forms filled out by police officers and no further evidence.
In a recent case, Mr Bashir appeared before a mobile court for traders at Gudu market who were being prosecuted by the Abuja Markets Authority. He first denied the charges and advised his clients to plead “not guilty”.
However, minutes later, he was ordered to immediately present his client's defence in court as the verdict was to be handed down at the same hearing.
“We decided to plead guilty and my client was convicted and ordered to pay a fine.”
Judges such as Justice Barau and Justice Abdulkarim have said that even if a conviction is found in such a summary trial, the fines imposed are affordable and the guilty party can simply pay the fine and walk away.
There are many cases where this is not the case.
In September 2022, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority auctioned over 130 vehicles seized from criminals convicted and sentenced to fines in a mobile court. Due to failure to pay within the stipulated time, the convicts lost their properties.
“We don't expect thorough justice there,” Bashir said of the mobile courts. “They are only effective in expediting cases.”
This article was first Continenta weekly newspaper distributed across Africa. Mail & GuardianDesigned to be read and shared on WhatsApp. Download it for free here. about this website