A Warri-based legal practitioner, Chief Robinson Ariyo,  has advocated for special courts to try election offences so as to serve as deterrent  to all as well as strengthen democracy.
Chief Ariyo said this while fielding questions during a phone-in Television program on Delta Broadcasting Service , Asaba.
Ariyo, a Rights Activist and Development expert, decried a situation where perpetuators of election crimes continue get off scot  free  adding that, this has led to  increase  in election crimes.
The legal practitioner opined that having special courts to deal with election crimes  enhances professionalism. In  his words,
“Where a particular number of judges are dedicated to a particular part of law, over a period of time, they become so used to it , such that , they have all the principles at their finger tips.
“Unlike assigning them to general principles of law ,where they would have to be reading as wide as possible.
“If you look at the trends in most courts in Nigeria today, the courts are now being compartmentalized in to the different branches of law.
“For instance, only about three four years ago we started having , High Courts in Delta State  where some   focus on  criminal aspects of the law   while others focus on civil aspects of law.
“If you were to come to the Warri court for example, out of the four courts that are there, two of them are dedicated to  cases whose subjects matter are civil proceedings, then the other two, cases whose subjects matter are criminal proceedings.
“In other words ,as you go higher in human civilization, you’d begin to know  that one person alone cannot handle a vast discipline!
“It is  only in Nigeria that, unfortunately, you have legal practitioners being general practitioners.
“In other climes, you don’t have Barristers and Solicitors blended together.”
Ariyo who is also a  Chief in the Palace of the Olu of Warri, with the traditional title of Egogo (Mouthpiece) of Warri kingdom, while saying  that he respects the views of those arguing against having special courts for election offences because there are already enough courts to adjudicate over issues that cover even electoral offences.
“While that may be true, we also know that our courts are overloaded with cases. Which means, when we think that the principles of Justice delayed is Justice denied, we need to do something to ensure that  we do something to reduce the workload” he added
Buttressing his points further , the fiery lawyer said, “Do not forget that when we set up our Electoral Tribunals, we still go to the normal court to pick judges and designate them to  the different tribunals and during the period you do this, you transfer or increase the workload of the other judges you leave behind .
“You may have to ask yourself the question, why have  tribunals which are  special courts for handling  elections petition when it was supposed to have been handled by, the normal courts”?
“That’s because, it is important to have people dedicated, focused on some components of the tasks they are given.
“So, in the long run, basically , the reason why it is advantageous to have this special commission,  is  the principles you can borrow from basic  Economics, the division of labor.
“In other words, when labour is divided, it makes the job easier, it makes for proficiency. The only shortfall from that ,is that , most of the judges that are now dedicated to  that, could experience some level  of boredom because they will keep on doing the same thing over and over and over again.
“But in all, when you weigh the pros and the cons, you’d agree that it is always better to have people focused on different aspects because the truth is that when you have people overloaded with work, it  will reduce productivity and  the more specialized these people are, it gives them enough time to focus on that  small aspect.”
Making reference to the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s submission that , if  created,  the Special Election Courts will amount to duplication of  responsibility, Ariyo noted that, “We had other security agencies when the EFCC was created.
“There’s nothing EFCC is doing that can’t be done by the  police and other security agencies. It was in line with the  principles of compartmentalizing duties and enhancing  professionalism that EFCC was created.
“EFCC should not try to strangulate the very principles that brought them into being. What brought them into being was the need to have specialization,” he enthused.
“Now we want to go up a little bit  further than that . If specialization to EFCC amounts to trying to deny the rationale that gave birth to you , simply because you feel that perhaps, it will reduce your scope of influence, but that is not the case.
It only means you have less work to do and you have more time to focus on your core duties.” Ariyo said.