The foremost Human Rights Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana SAN has said that it is no longer permissible for the police to arrest or detain a suspect for weeks in their custody without contacting his or her relations to notify them about their whereabouts.
Falana who stated this while speaking during a 3-day capacity building workshop organized for prosecutors in Kano State on effective administration of criminal justice, said the era of such practice is gone
The senior learned Silk said the police must contact the family to notify them that the suspect is in police custody so that the family won’t be looking for him, thinking that maybe he’s been kidnapped.
He also said Nigerians are entitled to demand legal representation right from the point they are in a police station before they are being interrogated.
According to him, “Our people, because of ignorance, are made to suffer daily in all police stations in Nigeria. For instance, if a Nigerian gets to the police station, a Nigerian is arrested, wherever, and you are taken to the police station, under the law, it is the duty of the police to contact the family that Mr so-so-so-and-so of this suspect is here so that the family won’t be looking for him, thinking that maybe he’s been kidnapped.
“You could be locked up for one week or more and there’s no contact with your family. That is no longer permissible under the law. If you have no lawyer and you are going to be interrogated by the police, you have the right as a Nigerian to demand legal representation and the police must contact the legal aid council to give you a lawyer.
“So from the police station, legal representation begins. It’s allowed. So by the time you are taken to court, that same body must also provide a lawyer for you if you don’t have the means to access justice.
“The rich can take care of themselves. The rich can have lawyers. They will have lawyers and if you find a big man or a big rich woman, you say, you meet me in court.
“I will instruct my lawyers to sue you. But for the poor, they say, God will judge. But God is saying, take advantage of the provisions made by the government to ask for justice,” he said.
He pointed out the need for more public defenders and lawyers across the 44 LGAs to stand for the rights and justice of the people.
Of course, the poor continue to be denied access to justice. It’s not only the fault of the government, it has to do with the economic conditions in our country.
“To complain to a police station is problematic for the majority of our people because they may be asked to drop money to carry out investigations by the police officers. So the government will have to intervene by empowering the office of the public defender to assist the poor. You have the office of the public defender in Kano state.
“From the information at my disposal, it has just a few lawyers. I expect that office to operate in every local government in Kano state. That is the practice in legal.
“The office of the public defender is located in every local government in legal. And I’m saying the entire 44 local governments in Kano must have the office of the public defender so that the poor can have access to justice. And they must employ lawyers in the office of the public defender to take on the cases of the poor, just like you have the legal aid council at the federal level.
“The Legal Aid Council has offices in all the 36 states of the federation. In that manner, the office of the public defender must operate in every local government so that the poor who are denied justice, and access to justice, and the poor who want to fight cases in court but lack economic well-being, can complain to the office of the public defender. And that office will assign lawyers to take on the case,” the human rights lawyer however noted.
