By Dada Ahmed.
To many, especially the uninformed about legal process and judicial system in Nigeria, the fact that “law is the last hope of the common man”, may sound odd. What more, that an accused person standing trial before a court of competent jurisdiction becomes a millionaire.
However, the reality of these circumstances became glare recently, following a court judgment which awards damages to the accused person on account of a breach of his fundamental rights by the police which detained him.
Astonishing as this may be, the essence of the dictum was re-echoed recently in Lokoja,Kogi State capital when a Federal High Court Judge,Justice Sunday Bassay-Onu, awarded N1 million to an accused, Daniel Atabor, who challenged the breach of his fundamental rights by the police for detaining him beyond 48 hours, in contrast to the 1999 Construction (as amended).
Atabor,who is standing trial before the court for alleged purchase of a stolen property, seems to have the uncommon thing by challenging the Police Command in Kogi State for detaining him for more than 48 hours. To him, such action by a security institution contravens the principle of the nation’s Constitution.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), Atabor was arrested on Sept. 25 by the Police (A) Division, Lokoja, Kogi State over alleged purchase of a stolen motorcycle but kept him in Kabba Custodian centre ever since then, without bail or charge before a Court of Law.
Irked by the action of the police and determined to enforce his fundamental rights, Atabor, through his counsel, Mr E O Amoke approached the court to challenge what he described as illegal detention and for the court to enforce his fundamental rights.
Atabor, therefore, prayed the Court to declare that his continued detention by the police was illegal and amounted to the breach of his fundamental rights, adding that his rights were enshrined in the nation’s 1999 Constitution(as amended) and African Charter of the laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Atabor also demanded N50 million as damages for his arrest and detention beyond the 48 hours as stipulated by the Police Act and against Sections 34, 35(1)(3)(4)(5)(6), 37 and 41(1)(2) of the nation’s 1999 Constitution (as Amended).
He relied on Articles 2, 4, 5 and 12(1) of the African Charter of human and people’s rights (rectification and enforcement) Act (Cap 10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria in his prayer.
He did not rest on his oars as he also asked the police command to tender to him,a public apology to be published in a national newspaper over the breach of his fundamental rights and liberty, as a citizen of Nigeria.
Delivering his judgement on the case,Justice Sunday Bassay-Onu, aligned with the submissions and argument of the counsel to the accused and ordered the Police Command in the state to pay Atabor the sum of N1 million as damages for breaching his fundamental rights.
Justice Bassay-Onu noted that the continuous detention of Atabor was a “breach of his fundamental rights”, adding that the police action was against the Section 4 of the Police Act.
The judge reminded the Police that Section 4 stipulates that a suspect should not be detained beyond a day or two, from the time of his/her arrest.
According to him,keeping the Atabor in custody beyond the stipulated time frame, within the Police Act, amounted to a breach of his fundamental rights as enshrined in Sections 34, 35(1)(3)(4)(5)(6), 37 and 41(1)(2) of the nation’s 1999 Constitution (as Amended).
He noted that the action of the police negated the principle contained in Articles 2, 4, 5 and 12(1) of the African Charter of human and people’s rights (rectification and enforcement) Act (Cap 10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
The Judge consequently awarded one million as damages to the applicant(Atabor), against the respondents (Police), for breaching his rights and liberty.
The court also ordered the Police command to release Atabor on bail and charge him before a law Court and publicly apologise to him in a national newspaper.
Many legal practitioners described the judgement as a land mark decision that would go along way to write many wrongs pertaining to breaching of fundamental rights of persons in the country.
They argued that the judgment had brought fore what remained elusive to many Nigerians, especially suspects suffering from breach of their fundamental rights.
Responding to the judgment, the Police,through their Counsel, S.I. Ikutowa, claimed that they were still investigating the case of a stolen property labeled against Atabor.
Ikutowa expressed the feare that releasing Atabor from detention would negatively affect police investigation into Atabor’s case.
Reflecting on the judgement, an Enugu-based legal practitioner, Barrister Felix Nwadioha, stressed the need for the people to be conversant with the Constitution of the country, with a view to knowing when the foundamental rights of suspects were breached and take proper legal action against such infraction.
Nwadioha, who is also a Journalist, stressed that,”people should know their rights as well and always make sure they were enforced when breached, so that illegal detention among other anomalies would be a thing of the past.
On the police,he called on them to act according to the dictate of the law.
“They should not act contrary to the law in the course of arresting persons for alleged one crime or the other. Even if somebody is wrong and needs to be arrested,there is always a legal way of doing that to avoid going contrary to the provision of the law of the land,” he said.
Another lawyer, Mohammed Alli,based in Abuja, described the judgment as a welcome developmnt in the judicial system of the country.
“It is a very good judgement, because it will deter other authorities from exercising actions beyond their power, or contrary to the provision of the law. The judgment is within the provision of the law,” he said.
Citing the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria,Alli said that no person is allowed to be detailed in cell beyond two days, adding that after that,the provision of the law is that, he or she should be charged to the court of law to answer charges against him or her.
“Anything outside this contradicts the provision of the law,” he stressed.
The belief of peace-loving citizens of any society, Nigeria inclusive, is that the imperative of fundamental rights to human existence and peace cannot be over emphasised.
Therefore, necessary step must be taken to ensure the enforcement of fundamental rights of every citizen, through the instrumentality of the law, to further stress the common saying that “the judiciary is the last hope of the common man”.
The citizens too have the responsibility to be conscious of being alert to their responsibility of ensuring they jealously, the enforcement of their fundamental rights for self satisfaction and for the good of the society at large.
Ahmed is a public affair analyst blogger and and a media consultant.
ahmeddada008@gmail.com.
