BY KELVIN OSEMENE ESQ
THERE is no doubt that section 35 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) guarantees every citizen the right to personal liberty and no citizen shall be deprived of such right unless such deprivation is excused by law.
It is, however, worrisome that not only are citizens unlawfully deprived of this right but such deprivation sometimes smacks of impunity, especially among security operatives, who have custody of the arrested citizens.
One of the commonest sources of deprivation or restriction of the citizen’s right to personal liberty is the arrest and detention by security operatives particularly the police for the purpose of bringing the suspect to court in respect of a criminal offence allegedly committed by the suspect.
Provided the suspects are brought to court or released from custody as provided by the constitution such detention remains justifiable.
More often than not, suspects are however kept in detention without either being charged to court or released from custody by the police.
Besides, attempts to secure bail most times are frustrated by the security operatives placing bail terms and conditions beyond the capacities of prospective sureties and this leads to the suspect languishing in detention because he or his relatives cannot cough out exorbitant amounts of money imposed from them by those detaining them.
To say the least, the demand for money or any form of gratification for the purpose of granting bail is unconstitutional, illegal and should be resisted. It is a clear violation of the citizens’ fundamental right to personal liberty guaranteed by the 1999 constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
Keeping arrested persons in detention beyond the constitutionally permitted period by neglecting, failing refusing to grant bail or bring the arrested for trial before a court of competent jurisdiction is highly reprehensible, barbaric and unconstitutional.
The proper thing to do is for any person arrested on reasonable suspicion of having committed a crime to be charged to court or released from detention within the constitutionally stipulated time.
Indeed, detention of a suspect beyond the constitutionally guaranteed time frame especially where there is a court within the jurisdiction where the suspect is kept, is unlawful except such detention is supported by law.
Section 35 (4) of the 1999 constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides that: “Any person who is arrested or detained …… shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time’’. Reasonable time is defined in paragraph (a) of the subsection as a period of one day where the arrest or detention occurs where there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of forty kilometres.
In any other case a suspect may be detained for a period of two or such longer period as in the circumstances considered by the court to be reasonable.
Thus, detention beyond 24 hours without lawful excuse such as an order of court extending the detention is barbaric, illegal, unconstitutional, null and void and the courts will not hesitate to deprecate such violation of the victims right to personal liberty and award damages to the victim.
This position of the law has been amplified in plethora of cases particularly Odogu v AG Federation &Ors (1996) 7DTLR Pt. 1 p.51 where the Appellant was arrested and detained for nearly eight years (between 4th August 1980 to 31st March 1988), without being brought to court. The Supreme Court wasted no time in awarding punitive and exemplary damages against the respondents for detaining the Appellant for nearly 8 years in prison custody without charging him to court of competent jurisdiction within reasonable time or at all as required by the constitution. Clearly, this should serve as a deterrent to others.
It is no news that today, many are languishing in police detention for days running into weeks, months and even years without being released from custody or charged to court. It Is also on record that this ugly scenario witnessed a worrisome upsurge during the reign of terror by the now disbanded special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS) During which many were not only detained indefinitely but were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatments and in some cases were alleged to have been extra- judicially killed.
Such act of impunity, rascality, and gross violation of citizens’ right to personal liberty is uncivilized and should not be condoned in a democratic society.
It is indeed a re- enactment of the Hobbesian state of nature where life is solitary, nasty, short and brutish.
Unfortunately, this brazen violation of right to personal liberty appears to be endless because many do not know their rights or are not willing to enforce or defend same.
Many citizens easily succumb to blackmail, intimidation and threats from their traducers by not challenging such violation of their fundamental rights.
