Currency Counterfeiting and âSubstantial Justiceâ in Colonial Nigeria: Rex vs Tijani Ali, 1931â33

Ayodeji Olukoju

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ChapterÂ 9 Currency Counterfeiting and âSubstantial Justiceâ in Colonial Nigeria: Rex vs Tijani Ali, 1931â33

In: Crime, Law and Society in Nigeria

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Ayodeji Olukoju

Ayodeji Olukoju
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 215â233

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004396289_011

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Abstract

Currency counterfeiting and uttering was a major threat to the integrity of colonial administrative, commercial and financial systems in British West Africa. The menace was combated by police interdiction and prosecution of offenders under a legal system that dispensed âsubstantial justiceâ, devoid of reliance on technicalities. Relying on archival records, including proceedings of the trial of the protagonist, Tijani Ali, this paper highlights the perils and inconsistencies of speedy justice under the Lugardian âlaw and orderâ regime in Northern Nigeria; the limitations of ad hoc judges in the adjudication of criminal cases; the limited opportunities for redress by aggrieved colonial subjects; the importance of context (local, regional, or global), exemplified in this case by inter-war economic vicissitudes; and the need to focus on individual actors to humanize crime by giving a human face and voice to the accused persons. The paper also demonstrates that the criminal profiling of ethnicities and occupational groups (the Ijebu and goldsmiths, respectively, in this case) during the colonial period presaged current practices of racial profiling in some Western countries. In the end, Tijani Ali was served âsubstantial injusticeâ through a flawed dispensation of âsubstantial justiceâ.

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Crime, Law and Society in Nigeria

Essays in Honour of Stephen Ellis

Series:Â Afrika-Studiecentrum Series, Volume: 37

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004396289

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 30 Apr 2019

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ChapterÂ 9 Currency Counterfeiting and âSubstantial Justiceâ in Colonial Nigeria: Rex vs Tijani Ali, 1931â33

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Crime, Law and Society in Nigeria

Essays in Honour of Stephen Ellis

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ChapterÂ 9 Currency Counterfeiting and âSubstantial Justiceâ in Colonial Nigeria: Rex vs Tijani Ali, 1931â33