Kemisola Oye
CONSTITUTIONAL lawyer and human rights activist Mr Femi Falana (SAN) has threatened to institute legal action against the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) if, by 25th August 2024, it fails to arraign the remaining 708 persons arrested and detained at police stations across the country in the wake of the EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests.
Mr Falana, who is also the Chairman of Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), in a release, said a total of 2,111 were arrested across the country out of which 1,403 have been arraigned in various courts.
He gave the breakdown of number of arrests as follows:
- Kano–873;
- Jigawa –403;
- Katsina–120;
- Gombe–111;
- Sokoto–110;
- Borno–99;
- Yobe–90;
- Bauchi-60;
- Plateau–51;
- Kaduna–50;
- FCT–50;
- Nasarawa –40;
- Niger–25;
- Zamfara –19
- Cross Rivers State–10.
He said the suspects were ordered to be remanded in prison custody due to a lack of legal representation.
“The suspects were denied legal representation even though the Nigerian Bar Association had publicly announced its intention to provide lawyers to defend them.
“We have also confirmed that individual lawyers who had applied for the bail of the detained suspects in police stations were not informed that they were going to be arraigned in the courts.
“We submit that the decision by the authorities to deny the suspects legal representation constitutes a violent breach of their fundamental right to fair hearing guaranteed by Section 36 of the Constitution and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.
“This is highly discriminatory and illegal on the ground that politically exposed persons who are arrested for looting the treasury to the tune of several billions of Naira are usually informed in advance of the dates and of their arraignment in the courts. Such highly placed suspected looters are always granted bail in liberal terms and even authorised by trial judges to travel abroad for medical treatment.”
The senior lawyer also pointed out that It does appear that the security forces have decided to take advantage of the anti-government protests to clamp down on radical citizens and thereby expose the country to unprecedented ridicule.
The fiery lawyer cited the example of Comrade Michael Adaramoye (a.k.a. Lenin) whom he claims has been held in detention for over three weeks in the anti-robbery department of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja because he answers to the police sobriquet “Lenin“.
He also mentioned comrades Elejo Opaluwa and Mosiu Abolaji both of whom are also detained in the same police station for belonging to a socialist organisation which supported the protest.
“Seven Polish students who were taking part in an exchange programme at Bayero University, Kano, were arrested for taking photographs during the protest. They may be charged with espionage to give the impression that the protests were instigated by foreign interest groups.
“The offence allegedly committed by the 783 suspects arrested in Kano is that they displayed the Russian flag during the protest. A tailor who was sowing the flag was also arrested by the police. It may be difficult to press charges against the suspects in a country where the flags of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and other European countries are hoisted by the majority of hotels in Nigeria while Churches hoist the flag of Israel based on the erroneous belief that it is a Christian country.
“During the recent invasion of the National Secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abuja, some Marxist books and other radical works were carted away because they were allegedly used to incite and organise the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests in the country. As if that was not enough, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, has been summoned by the Nigeria Police Force for an “interview” on criminal charges relating to “criminal conspiracy, terrorism financing, treasonable felony, subversion and cybercrime “.
“Yesterday, a team of the Nigeria Police Force invaded the house of the Principal of Stars of Nations Schools in Nasarawa State, Mrs Helen Batubo, in connection with the protests. Mrs Batubo is the step-daughter of Mtr. Drew who owns the school and runs the bookshop on the 2nd floor of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)‘s Labour House in Abuja. Since there is no scintilla of evidence to justify the allegations of criminal conspiracy, terrorism financing, treasonable felony, subversion and cybercrime,” the police should cancel the planned interrogation of the President of the NLC and return the books seized from the bookshops as they have not been banned in the country.
“We are compelled to call on the National Human Rights Commission to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing of 22 citizens that occurred during the protests. At the end of the investigation, the culprits should be charged with murder in the state High Courts where the heinous offence was committed.
“Finally, it is pertinent to remind the Federal Government that some of the leaders of the 2020 #EndSARS protests were charged with frivolous offences while others had their passports seized and accounts frozen. Over 160 people were killed in Lagos and other cities. Yet the massive clampdown on the #EndSARS leaders has not stopped aggrieved youths from protesting against official policies that are considered inimical to the interests of the Nigerian people. Instead of subjecting the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protesters to unwarranted clampdown, the Federal Government should either release or arraign the scores of detained suspects before appropriate courts without any further delay.
“Whenever the suspects are going to be arraigned, they must be given adequate notice to be able to contact the Nigerian Bar Association and their family members to make arrangements for their defence. However, if all the suspects are not charged before 25 August 2024, the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) will approach the Federal High Court to demand their immediate release. ASCAB has also resolved to defend the cases filed against the protests by two state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.
“More fundamentally, it’s important to remind the Nigerian state again that beyond legalism, the solution to the political problem of which protests are mere symptoms lies in the honest application of socio-economic justice.
“Elements of this socio-economic justice include policy instruments fashioned to fight hunger, ignorance, disease and the scandalous inequality which define the Nigerian society today.”
Eighteen-Eleven Media