TITLE OF THE ARTICLE: NDLEA Act and the Principle of Double Jeopardy: A Critical Analysis
AUTHOR:
CHRISTINE O. IKE, LLM (London), Lecturer,Department of Public and Private Law University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
ABSTRACT:
Section 22 of the Nigerian National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency Act of Nigeria, 2004 could aptly be described as a vindictive piece of legislation. It seeks to impose a second jail term of 5 years and assets forfeiture on Nigerian citizens( who have served prison terms abroard for importing hard drugs and psychotropic substances into foreign lands) for bringing the name of the country into disrepute. The section offends against the principle of double jeopardy . It is a legislative “overkill”. When a Nigerian citizen runs foul of the law in a foreign land and has paid the price for his action, the least the home country can do is to try to rehabilitate and re-integrate the returnee criminal into the society; not clamp him back in jail. A second jail term only serves to breed embittered citizens who become problems to the country. In the light of the above, this paper proposes the review of section 22 of the Act and recommends that the offending section be expunged from the statute book.