1. Justice for the Rich, Judgement for the Poor: ‘Elite Immunity’, Rampant Impunity and the Administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria
- Author:
- Mike Opeyemi Omilusi
- Publication Date:
- 06-2019
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Brazilian Journal of African Studies
- Institution:
- Brazilian Journal of African Studies
- Abstract:
- The challenge of systematically studying the African power elite and the mode by which it governs has become urgent not only because of the conceptual and theoretical dead-ends to which much of current received wisdom leads, but also because a better understanding of the nature, composition and renewal of the elite is critical to our understanding of the governance of the public sphere (CODESRIA, 2003). A focus on political elites is a focus on the primacy of political interests. As both Mosca and Pareto underscore in their works, members of the elite act in order to preserve their position within their societies. Specifically, political elites’ action is aimed at the preservation of their political power. As Thomas Schwartz argues, members of the political elite are ‘ambitious people seeking office for individual recognition, career advancement, and the power to affect societies’ (Schwartz 2009, cited in Tardelli, 2013:88-89). [...] This study therefore, interrogates the content and context of executive immunity and its attendant culture of impunity that permeates the political environment. It contends that the immunity clause not only sanctifies, abinitio, criminal behavior by the said public officials but also gives them every incentive to be vile and depraved to their heart’s content – to turn immunity into impunity.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Criminal Justice, Impunity, and Elites
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Nigeria