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Tag: detention

  • Businessman sues CSP for N20m over unlawful detention

    Businessman sues CSP for N20m over unlawful detention

    Anambra-based businessman, Tochukwu Nwosu, has sued a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Ifeanyi Iburu over unlawful arrest and detention.

    In the suit filed at the High Court of Anambra State sitting in Awka, the plaintiff demanded compensation of N20 million for the violation of his fundamental rights to freedom.

    Nwosu, through his counsel from Joe O. Eze and Associates, was arrested on September 4, 2024, at 10 am at Kamali Phase III, behind Dubai Estate, Awka, without any justifiable reason.

    Read Also: Senate, House opt for joint probe of oil sector

    He was detained inside the cell of the Police Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu, from 10 am to 10 pm, further infringing on his rights.

    Describing his arrest and detention as a breach of his fundamental rights as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the plaintiff accused the respondent of abusing his power.

    “We pray the court to declare the arrest and detention unlawful and award N20 million in compensation to Nwosu for the damages suffered,” Nwosu prayed.

  • Businessman gets N7m for unlawful detention

    Businessman gets N7m for unlawful detention

    The Federal  High Court in Lagos has declared the arrest of a businessman, Dickson Nonso Onuchukwu, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) unlawful, illegal, oppressive and unconstitutional.

    Justice Akintayo Aluko held that the plaintiff’s harassment, arrest and detention were a violation of his rights to dignity of human persons, personal liberty and freedom of movement.

    Onuchukwu had in suit FHC/L/CS/679/2018 filed by his lawyer, Anthony Omaghomi, sued the EFCC, Inspector-General of Police (IG) and the Lagos Commissioner of Police to court for alleged defamation of character, harassment and unlawful detention.

    The businessman, who had been arrested several times by the security agencies, was also paraded by the EFCC together with one Augustine Emenike and a Russian, Max Lobaty as the faces behind Swiss Golden International Company.

    The commission, which described the online gold networking business as a Ponzi scheme, had declared on all its social media handles that the sum of N216 million was recovered from the company following petitions by some Kano residents that they were scammed of their money.

    Read Also:Court orders CBN to pay German N63.7m, $10000 awarded against FG for unlawful detention

    Determined to clear his name of any wrongdoing, Onuchukwu, who was first arrested by the EFCC in November at his office (Swiss Golden Africa) in Ikeja, told the court that he provided documentary evidence to the EFCC that he was not an affiliate of Swiss Golden International.

    He told the court that he was also a customer like those complaining that they were defrauded, adding that the difference was that he took the business seriously and had been networking, growing in it.

    Onuchukwu also prayed the court to award N1billion damages against the respondents.

    Justice Aluko held that the EFCC (first respondent) acted illegally and violated the fundamental right of the Applicant when it arrested and detained him based on the petitions which were not written against the applicant and where no complaint was lodged against him.

    The court ordered EFCC to pay the applicant N5 million while the IGP and Police oommissioner were to pay N2 million to the applicant.

  • Man freed after seven years in detention

    Man freed after seven years in detention

    A magistrate’s Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has freed an elderly man, Hassan Mumuni, following a plea bargain after he spent seven years in detention.

    It followed the intervention of the Legal Aid Council (LACON), represented by its counsel Grace Adenubi.

    Mumuni was remanded in 2016 for involuntary manslaughter; he drove a vehicle that was involved in an accident that took someone’s life.

    The case was referred to LACON in 2021 by the presiding Magistrate McDavies Amore.

    The defendant was eventually arraigned before Justice Yetunde Adesanya in 2022.

    Adenubi applied for a plea bargain, and Mumuni pleaded guilty.

    A maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment was approved for a lesser offence of reckless driving.

    Read Also: Court okays detention of suspected Codeine, Tramadol smuggler

    Justice Adesanya upheld the plea bargain agreement on September 21 and ordered that the defendant be released having already served the sentence which ran from the date of remand.

    A joyful Mumuni has since travelled to Katsina to meet his family.

    Magistrate Amore also struck out the case involving Nweke Chinedu for want of diligent prosecution following an application by Adenubi.

    The case was over alleged theft of cable, but the prosecution did not produce witnesses to prove the case.

    The defendant could not perfect his bail having been abandoned by his indigent family.

    Magistrate Amore struck out the case in line with Section 35(4)(a) of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees personal liberty.

  • So, the law now permits detention of a 2-yr-old? 

    That question must be answered by all those whose business is to mind our laws and ensure that no infraction of them are permitted. We are talking about the messy happenings surrounding the months old strike action at the Lagos State Polytechnic. The administrative inadequacies that had crippled activities in that institution will certainly be sorted, if not by the Ambode administration that is on its way out into history, by the incoming administration of Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    It has to be so because a minor misunderstanding which could have been resolved by a more circumspect management had dragged on for so long that the governing council that could have been a worthy mediator was unwittingly made complicit in the crisis. I’m told the outgoing government, for some curious reason, is looking the other way; the reason why it has so far not been able to speak out so authoritatively, to soothe frayed nerves or wield the big stick to rein in the guiltier between the management and the institution’s warring workers. Someday, the reason for this indifference or passiveness will break out like a new day.

    However it goes, the monumental illegality of detaining a two-year-old baby has already cast a slur on the school management that instigated the police action which led to the detention of Baby LASPOTEC and her foster mother. Yes, the school management could not have been insensitive to approve of the baby’s detention, as it were, but is there any evidence that the school management frowned at the serious error of commission by the police when it learnt of it? Did it prevail on the police to hold fire in that regard and was spurned by an overzealous police officer? Or its attitude was, let the devil be damned?

    The policeman that ordered the detention of a unionist along with her foster child definitely must answer to some charge from the police high command, because I find it hard to believe that the top cops, with their training and exposure, would turn a blind eye to this blunder, which should be of interest to the federal authorities, the African Union and the United Nations.

    This column is interested in how the issue of the baby’s detention is resolved. Otherwise, we can greet ourselves in this state and in this country welcome to Banana Republic!

  • Detention centres

    •Monthly visits by magistrates will reduce the agony of detainees

    CHIEF Judge (CJ) of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Justice Ishaq Bello, deserves praise for the committee he has set up to implement the provisions of section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA). Section 34 provides that the chief magistrate, or where there is no chief magistrate within the police division, any magistrate designated by the chief judge for that purpose shall, at least every month, conduct an inspection of police stations or other places of detention within his territorial jurisdiction other than the prison.

    There is no doubt that the makers of the ACJA, in making section 34, had in mind the challenges faced by detainees arising from structural challenges in the administration of criminal justice in the country. One of the challenges is tardiness on the part of the police, which results in detention of persons well beyond the statutory period allowed by the 1999 constitution (as amended). There are even instances where the records of the crime committed by a detainee are misplaced, which in turn hampers a proper trial.

    According to the CJ, the ACJA was “enacted as a solution to the challenge faced by the Nigerian court system.” There are reports that detainees suffer unnecessarily because of these challenges, and so we support genuine effort to make detention process more humane. The CJ also envisages that “the proposed police stations visit will provide a platform to introduce a legal advice scheme to ensure suspects and victims have access to free legal advice and that they are kept in humane conditions as the ACJA anticipates.”

    No doubt such a monthly visit will bring greater efficiency and enhance a better justice delivery system. Such visits would also stop reports that sometimes the records of crime of detainees could vanish, resulting in some detainees languishing in detention permanently. Furthermore, it should stop cases of under-aged detainees, sometimes even amongst persons accused of committing serious crimes. Indeed, it should end the bizarre allegation that lawful detainees could be swapped with other persons; and the deplorable condition of detention centres.

    We hope to see the end of maltreatment of detainees by police officials, sometimes through the deprivation of full rations, inhumane tactics during interrogations, or sexual abuse of the female detainees, amongst other vices. We believe that a monthly visit by a court official will serve as a check on some of these allegations. So the CJ is right in his expectation that the “inauguration of the working group births the change we want to see in the area of human rights of persons in the police stations and other detention centres,”

    The challenges faced by detainees at  police stations and other detention centres compelled the law makers to enact section 34 of the act, so that the chief judge gets a report from the chief magistrate or any other person so designated. That report will enable the CJ to exercise his powers to release detainees or make necessary recommendations. After all, generally, under our laws, no person should be detained for more than 48 hours, without being charged to court.

    The CJ also said that “apart from ensuring that rights of suspects are respected in the detention centres, the group is being tasked to come up with strategies for the effective implementation of this project.”

    We urge the committee to ensure the project is implemented to give verve to the provisions of the 1999 constitution. We also urge chief judges of states that have enacted the Administration of Criminal Justice laws, to emulate Justice Bello by ensuring the enforcement of section 34 of the law.

  • No journalist in detention in Nigeria, FG replies CPJ

    The Federal Govern-ment has debunked report by the press freedom organisation, Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ), that a certain Nigerian journalist has been in detention for the past two years.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who issued the rebuttal in Abuja, said the person the CPJ was referring to was never a journalist.

    “Let me state here, without equivocating, that contrary to the report by the Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ), no journalist is in detention in Nigeria.

    “Clement Abiri, who is being referred to as a journalist, is not one. He does not belong to any chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists.

    “He was arrested for pipeline vandalism and crude theft, including militant activities in the Niger Delta,” he said.

    The minister restated the commitment of the present administration to press freedom and gave the assurance that the media has nothing to fear under the present dispensation.

    “We are proud the Nigerian media is one of the most vibrant in the world.

    “We are proud of the role that the Nigerian media has played in our long march to democratic governance.

    “This administration will continue to provide the enabling environment for the journalist to function unmolested,” he said.

     

  • Leah Sharibu’s continued detention

    Sir: Since last week and especially during the Easter holidays, my thoughts have been with the only Dapchi schoolgirl– Leah Sharibu who was left behind in detention among her released school mates.

    While giving more insights into the failed escaped bid, one of the released Dapchi schoolgirls revealed that Leah sneaked out along with two of her classmates – Maryam and Amira. The three girls were said to have wandered in the bush for three days, during which they met a nomadic Fulani family from whom they sought help on how to return to Dapchi. Unknown to them (Leah, Maryam and Amira), the girls were not aware that they had made a big mistake by seeking help from the Fulani. Instead of assisting the girls, the Fulani man reportedly took them back to their kidnappers. Quoting Hajara Adamu, one of Leah’s released classmates: “The Fulani man said to them: “so you are the missing girls that we’ve heard about on radio”. The Fulani man was said to have given them a jerry can filled with cow’s milk and returned them to the terrorists.

    The story narrated above might have proved some suspected and undeniable links between the Boko Haram insurgents and the Fulani herdsmen. The two groups seem to have certain common grounds or certain things in common – to steal, to kill and to destroy. The Boko Haram operates by stealing/abducting or kidnapping school children and blackmailed the government to pay money as a ransom for the release of their victims. Sometimes, the terrorists forced the government to release some of their commanders as part of their terms of negotiation. They also burnt down villages and killed their victims in an attempt to steal their victims’ foodstuffs for their survival.

    In related manners, the Fulani herdsmen are also fond of destroying the farmlands of their victims, burnt down the villages, raped, maimed and killed in several attempts to take over by brutal force the farmlands of their victims for the grazing needs of their cattle.

    While the federal government has succeeded in containing  and limiting the spread of Boko Haram operations beyond the North – Eastern part of the country, the same cannot be said of how the same government is treating certain acts of criminality that are being perpetrated by some suspected Fulani herdsmen. This year alone, not less than five mass graves have been dug where victims of these Fulani herdsmen were buried for refusing to yield their territories/farmlands to forceful acquisition without any form of compensation.

    The situation became so worrisome that retired generals who were former Heads of State/Presidents and former Defence Minister/Chief of Army Staff respectively could no longer avoid to keep their talks/advice with the Presidency private and were compelled to bare their minds for prosterity’s sake.

    The clarion call now is for each of us (those in government and the electorate/the Nigerian populace) to accept God’s verdict, plead for mercy and retrace our steps from the crimes that the Righteous Judge has found us guilty of so that we can be qualified to serve as the Mediator or group of Mediators that God is looking for to stand in the gap before Him and plead for the land of Nigeria through our prayers and actions.

    In the meantime, no harm shall befall Leah Sharibu. The innocent teenage schoolgirl should be released so that she can return to the warm embrace of her parents and the Dapchi Community without any further delay. We also hope that she has not been molested or abused in any form. Enough is enough of these self – inflicted afflictions and manipulations!

     

    • Gbemiga Olakunle, JP National Prayer Movement, Abuja.
  • Video: El-Zakzaky speaks from detention, says I’m improving

    Video: El-Zakzaky speaks from detention, says I’m improving

    Leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, was  allowed a brief public appearance yesterday two years after he was thrown into detention with his wife,Zeenah.

    His  appearance at a Safe Facility in Abuja was to assure his followers that he is indeed alive,contrary to rumour of his death last week.

    El-Zakzaky,who wore a white flowing gown and had a  turban on his head, told reporters that he was ok and had been allowed to see his doctor.

    He thanked Nigerians for their prayers for him.

    He also thanked the DSS for agreeing to his demand for a change that has enabled his personal doctors to examine him.

    He said:”It was severe  on me on Monday but subsequently it started subsiding and for the first time, at least the security allowed me to see  my own doctors .

    “So it was my own doctors who examined me.

    “Before, I used to be  examined by DSS doctors alone, but this time, I did not agree  and my own doctors came to examine  me .

    “I am getting better.Thanks for all your prayers.”

    Following is the transcript of the one-minute, 20 second interaction El-Zakzaky had with reporters:

     Journalist: Good afternoon, sir?

    El-Zakzaky: How are you?

    Journalist: Can we have a word with you?

    El-Zakzaky: If they (DSS personnel) agree and allow me (He says so jokingly)

    Journalist: How are you feeling now?

    El-Zakzaky: I feel better.The security (officers) have allowed me to see my doctor, my personal doctor. I thank God. I am improving.

     Journalist: Do you have anything to add?

    El-Zakzaky: I thank you for all your prayers.

    Journalist: Thank you sir.

    El-Zakzaky: Thanks (As he walked away).

    He was immediately returned to his detention room.

    The DSS and his lawyer ,Mr.Femi Falana (SAN) had, on Friday,denied that he was dead.

    However,Falana said he was very ill and needed to see his doctor.

    The cleric was arrested  along with his wife, Zeenah, following a bloody clash between his supporters and the entourage of the Chief of Army Staff,Lt General Tukur Buratai in Zaria in December 2015.

    Ibrahim Musa, spokesman for  the Islamic Movement of Nigeria had claimed, in a statement last week,that  “hoodlums have been commissioned by the authorities to foment trouble by burning tyres and properties in the course of our peaceful processions.

    “Part of their evil plot involved spreading false news of the alleged death of our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky due to illness,  on a fake Facebook page.

    “They had hoped to achieve their mischievous aims by using that to wreak havoc and attribute same to a supposed reaction of members of the Islamic Movement.”

    Last  November Falana appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to order  the immediate  release  of El Zakzaky in compliance with the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja in December 2016 .

    He said  the court also awarded them N50 million reparation and directed the Federal Government to provide a temporary accommodation for them as it had been  established that the Nigerian Army and the Kaduna state· government had burnt and demolished their private residence at Zaria in Kaduna State

    Watch the video below…

    [jwplayer infBomPp]

  • Fayose gives cars to aides over EFCC detention

    Fayose gives cars to aides over EFCC detention

    •Governor to sue anti-graft agency

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has fulfilled his promise to give new cars to the two officials of his administration who spent two weeks in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged diversion of over N680 million from the state’s share of bailout funds.

    The governor yesterday presented the Commissioner for Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo, and the Accountant General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi, with new Kia Rio cars after a thanksgiving service to mark the third anniversary of his administration.

    Fayose said he was honouring the two officials “for their loyalty to the state” in the face of a fresh onslaught by the anti-graft agency.

    The two government officials were arrested in Abuja on September 28 while attending the governor’s declaration to run for President in 2019.

    The governor also held a welcome party for Ojo and Owolabi last Thursday, which he declared as “half-work day,’ to allow civil servants attend the occasion.

    But majority of workers shunned the event.

    At yesterday’s event, Fayose said: “We have to reward you for enduring intimidation, mental and emotional torture and illegal incarceration for the sake of our state. The Constitution of Nigeria does not empower the EFCC to arrest state officials over alleged graft.

    “That function belongs to our House of Assembly. We will sue the EFCC to court for this illegality, pursue the case to a logical conclusion and get damages for this ill-treatment.

    “The Constitution of Nigeria is supreme and has over-riding influence over any government parastatal, such as EFCC.”

  • Court orders detention of 60 IPOB members

    Court orders detention of 60 IPOB members

    A Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, has ordered the detention of 60 members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) at the Afara Federal Prisons on Aba Road.

    The Nation gathered that the magistrate gave the order when their lawyer challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter, following the reading of the charges against them.

    The magistrate, who directed that the case file be transferred to the Department for Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice, adjourned the matter till October 25 for compliance and possible transfer to a High Court.

    By law, a high court has the jurisdiction to entertain the charges against the suspects.

    The IPOB members were among those arrested by security agents in Umuahia, Isiala Ngwa and other parts of the state capital during the clash between the Army and members of the separatist group.

    Police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbonna, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the IPOB members were arraigned on eight-count charges of conspiracy, terrorism, attempted murder, unlawful society and rioting.

    A chief magistrates’ court sitting in Aba North Local Government Area, presided over by Ogbonna Adiele, had ordered the remand of seven suspected IPOB members at the Aba Prison for a similar crime.

    The trial judge ordered that the case file be transferred to the DPP for advice.

    The matter will come up on September 27 for compliance to the court’s directives.