Abuses in arrest, detention

The arrest and detention of alleged criminals is no doubt beneficial to our society at large as it keeps those who are suspected to have done a criminal act away from the society pending the determination of their guilt or innocence by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Pursuant to section 36(5) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria every accused is innocent until proven guilty. This warrants the need for bail. However, there are some offences which cannot be granted bail due to their gravity or when it is so obvious that the accused would tamper with the prosecution’s evidence. Bails, when given, should be free even though in practical terms in Nigeria it isn’t.

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Often, the police have been alleged of unlawfully arresting youths and other individuals whom they feel are weak and they could easily pick on without anyone questioning them. They demand an exorbitant fee for bails after the illegal detention. Some officers of the law even go as far as planting illegal substance in the property of an individual in a bid to indict such people to make extortion easy.

Section 35(3) of the constitution has provided for the right of anyone arrested to be told reason for his arrest within 24 hours in a language he or she understands. But the opposite happens in practice. Subsection 5of the same section states the duration for detaining anyone arrested.

This power of detention is being abused so much that inmates in a police cell stay for weeks and months subjected to inhumane treatment without arraignment before a court of competent jurisdiction all in a bid to extort money from this individuals. If an accused is not tried within two months (for an accused without bail) or three months for a person released on bail starting from the date of his arrest or detention such individual should be released unconditionally or upon reasonable conditions that he appears for trial on a later date.

Bail is free is a theoretical slogan of the police force that lacks the backing of enforcement. To put an end to this menace in our society, the Nigerian Police Force should create a simple free toll line where members of the public can report the misconduct and unlawful detention by unscrupulous officers of the law.

Also, illegal raid and arrest should be frowned at by the police force. Victims of unlawful arrest should be compensated and given public apology accordingly which is no doubt in tandem with section 35(6) of the constitution.

Awoyale Oluwapelumi,

Ibadan.