The recent brouhaha about the purported evil and unlawful ‘novel’ provisions of section 484 & 485 of the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2020 (IMACJL) with due respect and exception of my Learned seniors and colleagues who have before now genuinely raised concerns, may be a calculated attempt by some light weight political adventurers to ridicule the government at the expense of our criminal justice system. Such acts of politicizing our laws must be vehemently refused and condemned.

The provisions of section 484 & 485 of the IMACJL is not novel as it is _inpari materia_ with the provisions of chapter 44, section 401 of the erstwhile Crimimal Procedure Law just abolished.

The aforementioned sections merely give life to sections 39 (1) and 319 (2) of the Criminal Code Law of Imo State which is among others, the substantive law of crime in Imo State. For clarity, section 39 (1) provides:

“Where an offender who in the opinion of the court had not attained the age of seventeen years at the time the offence was committed has been found guilty of an offence against either section 37 or section 38 such offender shall not be sentenced to death but shall be ordered to be detained during the pleasure of the Governor and upon such an order being made the provisions of Part 44 of the Criminal Procedure Law shall apply.”
Section 319(2) provides:

“Where an offender who in the opinion of the court had not attained the age of seventeen years at the time the offence was committed has been found guilty of murder such offender shall not be sentenced to death but shall be ordered to be detained during the pleasure of the Governor and upon such an order being made the provisions of Part 44 of the Criminal Procedure Law shall apply.

A careful reading of the above provisions will reveal that the ‘detention during the Governors pleasure’ must be by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction upon conviction of an underaged offender.

Interestingly, a similar provision in Edo State criminal law has received judicial blessing in the case of Guobadia vs. The State (2004) All FWLR (Pt. 205) 191 SC, (2004) 2 SCNJ 55 where the Supreme Court quashed a death sentence of an offender below 17 years and substituted same with detention during the pleasure of the Governor.

With respect to the foregoing, it is my considered view that the provisions of section 484 and 485 of the IMACJL 2020 which as I earlier stated is _in pari materia_ with Section 401, chapter 44 of the erstwhile CPL, was made to complement the provisions of sections 39(1) & 319(2) of the Criminal Code Law of Imo state and not an attempt by the Governor to abuse the rights of the Imo citizens as claimed by some people in the news making the rounds.

Chima Onumajulu, Esq. is my name and I am not a member or affiliate of any political party.