It is Unlawful for the Police to Parade Criminal Suspects Publicly-UMORU THEOPHILUS IKO-OJO ESQ

The Parading of criminal suspects on television and several media platforms have been a constant practice of the Nigerian Police Force over the years. Suspects are not only subjected to varying forms of undignifying treatment ,they are paraded in the most despicable manner possible.

This usual  practice of the police was taken further in 2012 during the unfortunate lynching of four innocent men ,ugonna obuzor,Toku Lloyd ,Chiadika Biringa and Tekena Elkanah ,all students of the University of Portharcourt. They were lynched after they were falsely accused of theft in Aluu ,a community in Portharcourt ,Rivers state .More worrisome were the presence of some officers of the Nigerian Police Force who literarily aided ,supported and witnessed such dastard act by the Aluu community.

Also recently in Abeoukuta ,Ogunstate the Police paraded a two month old toddler ,her mother and 15year old brother for the allegation of theft committed by her father.

The Nigerian Courts have repeatedly cautioned Law enforcement agencies ,especially the police to desist from parading criminal suspects before the media or and in public and despite such warnings the Police have failed to heed to the countless court orders in this direction .What is even more intriguing is the fact that almost all suspect paraded by the Police are poor criminal suspects who were alleged or accused of stealing handset or properties less than N10,000 .Suspects from the ruling class in Nigeria who are alleged to have laundered Billions of Naira are never paraded .In view of the above it as become apt and necessary to examine the legal position as it concerns this practice.

LEGAL POSITION.
Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999,embodies the Presumption of Innocence Clause which enures in favour of the accused or suspect in any case .This provision also avails the accused every right to be fairly heard by a competent court of law and even avails him necessary time and space to prepare for his defence.

Article 7 of the African Charter On Human & Peoples Right Act ,also imparimateria  with the provsions of Article 1 of the UN Charter of 1948 (which Nigeria is signatory to)also embodies the Presumption of Innocence Clause.

Section 34 of the Nigeria Constitution also avails every person his or her Right to Dignity of Human Persons ,that is, No person MUST be subjected to any degrading or inhuman treatment by virtue of being human.In Ndukwem Chiziri Nice Vs AG Federation & Anor(2007) CHR 218 at 232 ,the court criticized the act of parading the suspect(s)before the Press , despite the fact that he had not been found guilty by any court of law.

Yet.....

Inspite of the extant laws ,the Police have continually paid deaf ears and have continued their  unlawfully, uncultured and barbaric act of parading criminal suspects .The Police have also engaged in extra judicial killings of innocent Nigerians and bringing "fictitious" charges against other Nigerians all in the guise of "doing their job".

It is high time for the Nigerian Police to be overhauled and taught the basics of how to respect the rights of the Nigerian masses.It is high time for the National Assembly to therefore stand up and criminalize the parade of suspects by the Police and punish any erring officer who fails to respect the extant laws prohibiting same.Suspects who have been once paraded  by the Police whether found guilty or not  at the end of the day can still enforce the infringment of their fundermental human right to dignity and fair hearing .

Umoru Theophilus Ikoojo Esq,LLB ,BL (Hons) ,is a Legal Practitioner based in Lagos State, Nigeria.

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Constitutional Issues in the Freezing of Governor Fayose's account by Mike Ozekome SAN

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Mike Ozekhome, has said the human rights activist , Mr. Femi Falana, was wrong on his position that the Nigerian constitution cannot guarantee absolute immunity against criminal prosecution for governors, deputy-governors, president and vice-president in the country.

Falana had, during a paper entitled: The Limits of Immunity Clause’, he delivered at the sixth birthday of the Edo State’s Secretary to Government (SSG), Professor Julius Ihonvbere, said that the money Laundering Act and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act as well as the international criminal court laws do not give absolute immunity to governor Fayose against criminal prosecution, adding that the EFCC was toeing a legitimate path by freezing the governor’s accounts and thereafter obtain an court order against his bank. But Ozekhome said Falana goofed on these areas and defended his position accordingly.

The senior advocate who heads governor Fayose’s legal team against the EFCC at the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti, spoke to journalists yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, saying: “Falana made three points on the matter and I totally disagree with him. He said that you can institute a legal process against governors because they are also sued during election petitions.

“And I disagree with him on that because election petitions are generic, they are generic because they are in a class of their own. They are a hybrid, neither civil or criminal procedures. That is why it is the constitution itself that gives the right for a governor to be sued when they are challenging his mandate, it is not the lower laws like an Act of parliament like EFCC. “EFCC is an act of parliament which is millions of miles lower than the provisions of the constitution.
And any provision from the EFCC Act or money laundeiring Act which is inconsistent with the provision of the constitution is null and void by nature of section 1, sub-section 3 of the same 1999 Constitution, “ he said. Arguing further, he said: “It is the same constitution in section 308 that says that when it comes to civil or criminal procedure, you can never sue the governor and such should not be entertained in any court of law.

“Falana also said that the Money Laundering Act can also apply against a sitting governor, that is wrong. The Money Laundering Act is an act of the parliament which is as low as the EFCC Act and the two of them must bow down to the Kabiyesi (Lord) of our laws which is the 1999 constitution (as amended in 2011) And that constitution in its section 308 says that whether under the money laundering Act or the EFCC Act, you cannot move against Fayose or any other governor, vice-president or President or deputy-governor.

“The third point by Falana that immunity is not total has been debunked because section 308 of the constitution overrides all the Acts of parliament such as the Money Laundering and EFCC Act. He also said that governors of Nigeria are not immune from the procedures of the international criminal court, of course that is outside the jurisdiction of Nigeria. “So, none of all the arguments Falana has canvassed therefore can show that immunity can be watered down.

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Fundamental Human Right of Prison Inmates by Femi Falana SAN.

January 18, 2014, Mr. Hamani Tidjani, a prison inmate, died at the Kirikiri Maximum Security prison in Lagos. The deceased who was suffering from partial stroke was not given any medical attention by the prison authorities. He was a citizen of Niger Republic who was arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic and brought to Nigeria in September 2003 for invstigation and trial for some trans-border armed robberies and allied criminal offences. After a prolonged trial he was convicted by an Ijebu Ode High Court in 2011 for receiving stolen goods and sentenced to a 10-year jail term. Although the deceased completed the sentence he was however not released from prison custody as he was standing trial for similar offences in the Lagos High Court.

In the last one year or thereabout, four other convicted prisoners of Nigerian nationality, namely Messrs Ganiyu Adeniyi, Danda Akanbi, Thomas Odafe and Ariyo Osisanya had died in the same prison on account of medical neglect. From the information at our disposal, the killing of prison inmates through medical neglect is not uncommon in all other prisons in the country.

For instance, a Mr. Toyese Kehinde who had served a month jail term for his inability to pay a fine of N5,000.00 for an environmental offence died at the Benin prison on September 20, 2013. The said Mr. Kehinde was illegally detained after the completion of his sentence. A week later, a 21-year old undergraduate of the University of Benin, Ibrahim Momodu also died in the Benin Prison. Another inmate, James Oglesby, had died last year after he was beaten by two other prisoners inside the prison’s recreation yard.

In a similar vein, Mr. Sunday Akinyemi, who was standing trial for conspiracy and stealing of funds belonging to his own company also died in December, 2012. In that case, the Justice E.A Adebajo (now retired) of the Lagos High Court had refused to allow the applicant who was standing trial before him to travel abroad at his own expense to treat cancer of the colon which was diagnosed by the military hospital, Ikoyi and confirmed by the Lagos University Teaching Hospital while he was undergoing trial before the judge. When the health condition of the defendant became critical our law firm requested the Ikoyi prison management to either treat him or release him for treatment.

As the request was turned down we applied to the Federal High Court for the enforcement of the fundamental right of the detainee to life. In granting the prayer of the detainee to travel abroad for medical treatment at his own expense, Justice Mohammed Idris rightly held that, “There is no doubt that life is the ultimate measure of all things and for that reason the right to life is unarguably the most fundamental of all liberties. Without the right to life, no other right can be enjoyed, and it is for that reason that it is guaranteed under section 33 of the Constitution, and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.”

It is our submission that prisoners are entitled to all the fundamental rights guaranteed to other citizens save the right to personal liberty and freedom of movement. In Peter Nemi v. The State (1996) 6 NWLR (PT 452) the Court of Appeal held that the life of a convict on death row cannot be terminated without due process of law. In Nasiru Bello v The State (198) 2 N.S.C.C. 1257 the Supreme Court awarded reparation to the family of the deceased who was executed by the Oyo State government while his appeal was pending at the Court of Appeal.

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RE-POST:Who will "tame"the Police Force(1)by T.I Umoru ESQ.

Police is your friend,so says the Jaded cliche. In reality,the irony of this statement is so glaring even a blind man can see it. We are familiar  with exclamations such as Hold it! Park well ! Put on your inner light! These commands are rendered in bellicose tones to the helpless Nigerian motorist who is expected to respond with immediate alacrity in order not to draw the ire of the police man.

An average police man in Nigeria is unfriendly,perennially angry and haggard,ill trained,ill equipped and constantly cuts an alienated picture in the eyes of the public. He is  also poorly clothed in heat-absorbing black uniform,fagged out,grossly underpaid and housed in the most squalid,ill maintained and decrepit habitation known as barracks. Police check points have now become business centers run by the police and scrumptiously  endorsed by her authorities and for God's sake i ask,who is in charge of the police force??? Her usual "norm" of extra Judicial killings,brutality and flagrant use of command languages is not only disturbing but alien to a democratic society where the rule of law reigns  supreme. I have often averred that the police is as deadly  to the Nigerian citizenry and detrimental to the nations' collectivity and spirit just like the "shadowy Islamist sect"-"bokoharam".  It would in fact be within the ambience of logic if the proposed peace talks by the Presidency with the sect extends to the Nigeria Police Force,they should be well informed,guided and literally  "guarded" from breaching the fundamental human right of the Nigerian masses.

This piece is dedicated to the many Nigerians who have fallen prey to the reckless impunity of the police.I say Justice would sure prevail no matter how long or distant.....to be continued*

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