Locking up innocent people in prison

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WERE it not for the fact that the revelation came from the Minister of Interior, Honourable (Dr.) Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, it would have been impossible for many to realise or acknowledge that such a dark practice existed in Nigerian prisons. However, as indicated by the minister last week, some personnel of the Nigerian Correctional Service have been perpetrating the egregious illegality of collecting bribes from influential members of the Nigerian society and locking up innocent people with whom they apparently have disagreements without the court system.

According to the minister, who spoke at the UN House, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, during his presentation at the International Donor Roundtable on Correctional Service Reform organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), an event witnessed by top officials from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, House Committee on Reformatory Institutions, UNODC, UNFPA, concerned NGOs, diplomats and members of the international community, including the Italian Ambassador, and representatives of the governments of Germany, Qatar and the USA, the Federal Government, is ready to expel officers abusing their powers by locking up people without a detention warrant. Decrying the practice, which he said had become commonplace practice, the minister said: “Any controller caught taking money from a big man to lock up a poor man without a detention warrant will be expelled from the service. We are here to fill in the gap for the weakest in the society. We are here, as a government, to be the voice of the voiceless, and the strength of the weakest. Never again should the freedom of anybody be taken away on the basis of his weakness.”

To be sure, it sounds stranger than fiction that in a supposed democratic society, anyone would have the power to be able to lock up perceived opponents or persons believed to have offended them in a prison facility, with the active connivance of prison officials, and without the slightest contact with the legal system, which has the constitutional authority to remand suspects in prison pending their applications for bail. If correctional service officials collecting bribes under any guise is a serious offence, it is even more egregious that they are doing so in order to, as it were, constitute themselves into a court of law by detaining innocent people in prison. The simple conclusion, extremely dastardly in its purport, is that if the influential personalities in question want the victims dead or decapitated, the erring officials would be willing to do their bidding, as long as filthy lucre is forthcoming. This is, we dare say, a horrendously unjust, brazenly criminals, and eerily dispiriting practice that must be immediately stamped out if the justice delivery system which is already under severe assaults is not to break down completely.

Whereas only the court of law has the power to commit suspects into custody, it is striking that the practice deplored by the interior minister, which must have caused countless numbers of people distress over the years, did not come to light until now. Was it that such cases were never reported to the authorities or that they were, but those in charge of affairs failed to act on them? If they were reported but not acted upon, Nigerians certainly deserve to know the individuals involved. It would be a terrible thing to continually impose a fait accompli on innocent people simply because of the lack of consequences for egregious crimes in the country. The situation has to change, and very fast too. Besides, just how can the government expect foreign investors to put their money in a country where innocent people can be locked up at will, and without government officials rising up to be counted and charging all those involved in the usurpation of the functions of the judiciary to court, so that they can account for their criminal actions? What further evidence of official disregard for human life, let alone human rights, is needed when innocent individuals are languishing in jail just because some corrupt members of the elite have so decreed?

We endorse the resolve of the government to deal with the erring correctional facility officers. To say the least, the Interior Minister’s declaration indicates a desire to see an end to the ugly phenomenon and it is a step in the right direction. However, it is necessary to carry out a comprehensive investigation to determine the origins, extent and reach of such a practice and roll out strategies to ensure that the practice is stamped out permanently. And beyond expelling the culprits, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law. That is when Nigerians can have confidence in the ability of their government to redress injustice. As the minister himself has said: “Trust is not something you ask for – you earn it.”

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