Keyamo vows to unbundle supreme court if made AGF

A senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a ministerial nominee, Festus Keyamo, has said that if he is made the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), he would decongest the Supreme Court, the Prison and cases lists in courts.

Speaking during his screening by the Senate, yesterday, he also canvassed for the law to be amended to make the powers of the AGF and DPP subject to judicial review.

“It is subject to abuse when people accused of abuse are freed,” Keyamo said.He declared that if he is made the Attorney General, “my first task will be to unbundle the Supreme Court. It is the busiest in the world and that is not acceptable. Some of the cases that go there are frivolous. This country is big enough to have six regional courts.”

He said the Administration of Criminal Justice Act demands that every Police station open itself to the nearest Magistrate courts for inspection, same with the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs).He, however, observed that they don’t complying with those provisions of the Act.

“Magistrates should be given the powers to grant bail even in matters involving murder when there is no evidence at the early stage.”

On the proliferation of political parties in the country, he called for sanitisation of the political space to get rid of frivolous political parties.He said there was need for a benchmark for registration of parties.

“Nigeria has too many frivolous political parties and I recommend that not all should be allowed to participate in presidential elections.  I think we can strike a balance that for new parties to be registered; you must show capacity at the local level. And until the party wins a seat at a particular level, you cannot run for an office in the next level up to the presidential election,” he added.