In this report, AJIBADE OMAPE writes on how the indiscriminate arrest of citizens have led to their unwanted and oftentimes illegal detention in police cells
On July 20, 2013, Olaniyi Ibrahim, a catfish farmer who had just finished his National Diploma and was planning on enrolling for his Higher National Diploma, was walking home from his fish farm, hoping to break his fast for the day.
The then 27-year-old was fatigued as he was observing the Ramadan fast. He decided to take a commercial tricycle when suddenly unknown men stopped him and accused him of theft.
The fish farmer, who resides at Ajasa, Ipaja, in Lagos, had no idea who those men were, and almost immediately, they descended on him and took him to the Meiran Police Station.
He alleged that some police officers tried to persuade him to accept the accusation of theft levied against him and that while in custody, he was not allowed many visitors.
He explained, “I was coming from my fish farm on Saturday. I own a farm in Meiran. I was at a bus stop called Ile Eja, and at that time everywhere was still very bushy; I stopped a commercial tricycle and as I was about to board it, some guys told the rider not to pick me up, I didn’t respond to them but as I boarded the commercial tricycle, they pulled me out and started beating me and calling me a thief. I called my friends in the area, but they were outnumbered, so they beat me and took me to the police station in Meiran.
“At the station, the accusers ganged up against me and accused me of theft; my parents were not allowed to see me, and I wasn’t allowed any visitor until Sunday, which was the second day when a neighbour close to my fish farm came to visit me bringing bread and other items, then I was transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Ikeja on Monday.
“I was taken to a place called ‘theatre’ where they torture and kill people who refuse to confess in SARS custody. I wasn’t tortured but I was told to write a statement; an officer tried to persuade me to accept the accusation against me, stating that I could be pardoned if I admitted; I told them I didn’t know the people accusing me and after writing the statement, I was returned to the cell.
“On Tuesday, I was taken to the IPO SARS known as Gbenga, who asked me to accept the accusation against me, after which I was taken to one of their top officers, OC SARS, who also tried to make me confess to a crime I didn’t commit. I was not scared because it was during the fasting period and I had prayed.”
Ibrahim added, “The accusers came from Meiran to SARS in Ikeja just to make sure that I wasn’t released. I was then taken to the court on Thursday, 25th of July, 2013, where I wasn’t allowed to contact family; that was my first time in court, and then I was told that since I didn’t have a lawyer, the case would be transferred to a body that would handle the investigation; it was shortly that after I saw my parents. I was then taken to the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison.
“It was very intense when I first got in, but along the line, I was able to find good people who helped me settle in. Some inmates were allowed to work and there were many activities from learning skills to attending classes; there is a mosque and a church there also. I worked for a Hausa man as a sales boy in jail; he sold provisions and foodstuffs inside the prison. The food we eat in that place, a dog must not eat it outside as it could get infected or even die, but in the cell, it’s not a new thing, that’s what everybody eats, the kitchen staff members add a drug used to suppress sexual feelings towards other inmates”
Case dismissed
On November 11, 2018, Ibrahim finally heaved a sigh of relief; he was so elated that his years of undeserved detention had come to an end as he was released, after spending five years and four months in the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison.
He said regretfully, “I didn’t make a court appearance for over a year; I was just in custody doing nothing; lawyers were just taking money but were not doing anything reasonable; the case was then taken to the Ikeja High Court after I had spent two years in Kirikiri. I made several court appearances and the case was adjourned several times and was later transferred from Ikeja High Court to a Lagos Island court where it was later accepted and the proceedings began. I presented my witnesses and evidence to the court; the accuser swore with a Bible and a Quran that everything he would say would be nothing but the truth.
“The accuser made a lot of statements but he was the only one in court as his counterparts were nowhere to be seen. After testifying against me, the judge engaged the accuser in a series of questions requiring a ‘yes or no’ answer. During this session, the judge observed that his responses to some questions didn’t match up to his previous testimonies and statements; my father and brother were available as my witnesses to testify that on the day of the alleged incident, I was at home and I didn’t go anywhere, but the accuser tried to disrupt the proceedings but he was overpowered.
“The judgement day at the Lagos Island High Court was November 11, 2018, and that was when I was released to go home. The court reviewed the case with all the evidence and granted me freedom; I went home with my family and that was the last time I saw those people who tried to set me up.”
Wrongful arrest
Wisdom Oke, a secondary school leaver and admission seeker into a higher institution, narrated to our correspondent how he and a friend were arrested at a hotel where they went to charge their phones.
He said, “My friend and I went to a hotel around the area around 9am last year to charge our phones; there were many customers and people around in the hotel.
“There was a police informant in the area who gave information about the people they were after at the hotel, and the police came in and searched for their suspects.
“They didn’t see the suspects so they angrily approached the table where we sat and started questioning us; they asked for important information like where we lived among other things, and what we were doing; we told them that we came to charge our phones, and the police didn’t believe us so they asked us to follow them to Abeokuta.
“The third person, who sat among us, was allowed to leave and we were taken to Abeokuta;the police handcuffed us, took our phones, chargers and power banks, and then we were taken to Sango Ota and waited there till dawn; we left Sango Ota for Abeokuta around 5am. While on the way to Abeokuta, they kept slapping and beating us in the car; we questioned why they were maltreating us for doing nothing, and they kept on beating us.”
Oke narrated further, “We were not put in the same cell as criminals, but we were put in a separate cell. When we woke up in the morning around 10 O’clock, I was allowed to contact my family; my mother had been worried that I didn’t sleep at home and that she called me but it was to no avail; my brother and uncle also called. When we were asked about our bail, we were told to bring N200,000 each at first, which my family opposed, saying we didn’t commit any crimes. We pleaded with them and they reduced it to N100,000 each; we eventually pleaded and got to pay a total of N100,000 and we were later released to go home.”
Osatohamhen Ebhohon, a software engineer and political activist serving as the Public Relations Officer of the African Action Congress, Lagos State, who had yet to go for his National Youth Service Corps programme at the time of his arrest, narrated how he was detained and charged to court for participating in a peaceful protest that had yet to start.
Ebhohon stated, “Just one year and a month after the #RevolutionNow uprising,(Omoyele) Sowore called for an Independent Day protest in 2020 – a protest which wasn’t tagged #RevolutionNow, it was just a protest to voice out our frustration after 60 years of independence. I was standing at Freedom Park, Ojota, and holding up my placard, which contained all the basic things for survival that Nigerians still lacked after 60 years of independence.
“We hadn’t started when over 10 police pickup vans surrounded us, threatening to shoot if we ran. I and 15 others stood in solidarity holding hands until we were packed into the pickup vans; we thought at that moment that if we obeyed the order and followed them to the station, we would be released in less than an hour or two. By 6pm that day, our lawyer informed us that we would be taken to court the next day. That was when we realised that we weren’t going home, and we were to be transferred to the Panti cell before our hearing at the magistrates’ court.”
The software engineer narrated how distraught he was on his way from the police station to the Yaba Magistrates’ Court after being rejected at Panti due to the COVID-19 restrictions at the time; he was perplexed as to why they were being charged to court for being part of a protest.
“The 16 of us slept in a cell; it was surreal and even more so the next day as all 16 of us together with the African Action Congress national PRO, Femi Adeyeye; the Lagos woman leader and three others, who were also arrested on October 1 and held at the Anthony Police Station, were transport conveyed to Panti, where we were rejected because of COVID-19 restrictions, before being taken to the Yaba Magistrates’ Court.
“The ride to the court left me perplexed as to why we were charged for a protest that had not started. I was already preparing to be remanded in Kirikiri as that was the norm, according to what they did to all the comrades that they arrested; I did not know for how long, but I had set my mind on at least two years.”
He added, “The only thing I could do at the moment was to join Femi Adeyeye, the national PRO of the AAC, and Omolara, the former woman’s leader of the AAC, to chant ‘Revolution eh, Revolution eh, we must do something before go, Revolution eh’, the chant filled me with strength at the time as I thought the system had failed me.”
The legal battle
Ebhohon narrated, “At the court hearing, all the charges that were brought before the magistrate, from disturbance of peace to intent to cause violence and destruction of government properties, were all trumped-up charges. I thought to myself that these people wanted to ruin our lives for no reason because we came out to protest about what was hurting us as a people.
“We were eventually released on bail with stringent conditions for all 21 of us. It took six days to pervert the bail with the help of the Take It Back Movement and the African Action Congress’ dogged comrades, who even protested against the bail conditions at the magistrates’ court. Those six days would have been spent in the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison if not for COVID-19.
“I remember that all 16 of us who were arrested were kept in one cell that was not bigger than a half room at the Alausa Police Station. A lot of us were students and fresh graduates, who had yet to go for national service. The first night at the station, none of us could sleep as we were in shock that protesters could be treated like hardened criminals.
“It got worse when we realised that the police institution that was tasked with upholding the law was the same institution that falsified charges against us. It made me wonder how many people were in prison on trumped-up charges and did not have the help of someone like Sowore. It was at that moment it clicked for me; I realised the problem wasn’t the Nigerian people; rather, it was the system that allowed impunity, oppression and repression, fascism, jingoism and corruption of the judiciary.
“Those six days were some of the worst days of my life, but it also helped to lift the veil and reveal what it means to Nigerians under this current neo-liberal oppressive and repressive system. It also revealed to me that no matter what you protest about as long as it is injustice and people resonate with it, the ruling elite will always feel threatened and move to crack down because, at the end of the day, the state exists to protect the interests of the ruling class no matter the political-economy system that is practised.”
‘I was arrested thrice’
Ismail Olusola was arrested by the police on three different occasions. Olusola claimed that his first arrest was pointless because he was never caught committing a crime, but only exercising his civic rights as a Nigerian citizen.
Olusola described the arrest as illegal and uncalled for; adding that the system always tried to deter patriotic citizens from exercising their fundamental human rights.
He stated, “The first time I was arrested, it was for no reason because I did not commit a crime; I was simply exercising my rights as a patriotic citizen of the country. This incident occurred during the first #RevolutionNow protest, which took place in Ikeja on August 5, 2019.
“It was a peaceful protest but we were told that we had disturbed the peace of the public and some of us were arrested because the state tried to stop us from protesting. We were taken to the Alausa Police Station in Ikeja.”
Olusola added that his second arrest was baseless and illegal, and only a ploy to destabilise the peaceful protest that was to take place.
He said, “The second one was on October 1, 2020, and it was the protest that led to the big #EndSARS protest; I was arrested alongside many other people, and there was no reason basically because that was just the state doing what they know how to do best; if they see people protesting, they just want to stop it; so they asked us to stop protesting, which we declined because it’s a part of our civic rights and that was how our peaceful protest was disrupted.
“We were locked up eventually at the Maroko Police Station for about a week from when the #EndSARS protest started on October 1 till October 7. We were charged to the Yaba Magistrates’ Court; the first appearance was on October 2, and we were charged with disturbing public peace and vandalising government property, which of course were all lies and at the end of the day, the case couldn’t progress at the court, and that was the end of it. The case died a natural death because there was no evidence to support such claims.”
Olusola also narrated his third arrest, describing it as a peaceful walk to remember the fallen heroes of the Lekki tollgate incident, which occurred on October 20, 2020, which was met with unprecedented arrests by the police.
“In 2021 again, I was arrested again. At the time of this arrest, I was at the #EndSARS memorial, which took place in Lekki. This was not even a protest, it was rather a peaceful walk at the Lekki tollgate, to remember all the fallen heroes of the #EndSARS massacre on October 20, 2020, although I was released later that day, popular skit maker, Mr Macaroni, and the other guys who were arrested were taken into police custody.”
Illegal detention causes mental problems – Clinical Psychologist
A clinical psychologist at the Imo State University, Prof Nkwam Uwaoma, described unwanted and illegal detention as an infringement on the human rights of the victims, which in turn affects their mental health state.
Uwaoma said, “All these cases mentioned have to do with human rights and the citizens’ ability to express rights. It is the right of an individual to express his view when he feels like his rights are infringed upon, so if somebody is participating in a peaceful demonstration, it boils down to a demonstration of freedom of right, freedom of speech, freedom of movement, and freedom of exercising individual rights.
“If it is infringed upon and the person is arrested and detained, and is asked to pay a certain amount for bail, which according to the constitution is free, no matter what the police are saying, now the person is made or forced to pay a certain amount of money, this is an infringement on a right.
“When a person is arrested because he was exercising his freedom of expression, the psychological impact there is that while being unlawfully detained, this individual will be psychologically helpless, and will feel that the constitution is not helpful, the nation is not helpful and there is nobody to speak on his behalf and there will be a loss of hope in the nation and loss of hope in the police that should protect him.”
He added, “At this time, disappointment will creep in, loss of national interest will creep in and there will be negative effects on rationality. While the person is going through this unlawful detention or arrest, there will be depression and anxiety, and the mental health of this individual will be messed up; when individual mental health or emotions are touched unlawfully, it can lead to many other psychological conditions that are negative.”
Nkwam advised victims of such unwanted circumstances to visit mental health experts to help rehabilitate and nurture their mental state back to normalcy.
“To help such individuals whose mental state and emotional state have been touched, there is something called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; I bet you, such individuals will go through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; there will be an urgent need for such an individual to contact a clinical psychologist, who may be of help, or go to their general legal practitioners, who have a link to psychiatrists to receive medical help in terms of mental health, because the individuals’ mental health has been distorted, hampered, destroyed or tortured, so there is a need for a psychotherapist; there is a need for rehabilitation or possible withdrawal from the society until their mental health is retouched so they can function properly in society,” he added.
‘Illegal arrests avoidable’
Human rights lawyer, Festus Ogun, who commented on the issue of illegal arrests and detention, stated that victims of such situations in most cases were the poor and were entitled to approach civil courts for redress.
Ogun said, “In my respectful view, these kinds of arrests are generally illegal and provocative. Painfully, the individuals who are victims of these illegal arrests are poor people. The arrests and wrongful detention are avoidable if we have an efficient policing system where human rights and the rule of law are respected.
“Victims of illegal arrests and detention are entitled to approach civil courts for redress being the last hope of the common man as provided for under Section 46 of the 1999 Constitution. Unfortunately, the inefficiency of the justice system, particularly the courts, has discouraged many litigants from pursuing their cases at our courts.”
The legal practitioner noted that the law was committed to putting an end to corrupt practices by justification, adding that even though bail was free, it was sadly not so as people were still being made to part with large sums for bail because the system accommodated corruption and impunity.
Ogun stated, “Indeed, bail ought to be free but as a legal practitioner, I can boldly albeit painfully state that bail is not free anywhere in Nigeria. People still pay large sums for bail because we have a system that accommodates corruption and impunity.
“One is likely to meet endless frustration and brick walls if one insists on not paying for bail. This is our sad reality. We are however committed to putting an end to these evil and corrupt practices by our advocacies.
“Things have gone really bad than we thought in this country. Bail could even be made in cash or kind. I hope someday the commercialisation and exploitation of bail processes in our police offices, including state headquarters, will stop.”
‘Illegal arrests eaten deep into police institution’
The National Coordinator, Youth Rights Campaign, Michael Adaramoye, commented on the issue of illegal arrests and how it undermined the democratic rights of citizens. He alleged that security operatives in connivance with politicians deliberately clamp down on protests and inflict havoc on innocent Nigerians illegally.
Adaramoye stated, “The act of illegal arrest and detention has eaten deep into the fabric of the police institution. The Youth Rights Campaign has been at the forefront of campaigning against illegal arrest and detention of people. Everyone must join hands to collectively condemn this and ensure that the victims of illegal arrest and detention are given justice.
“Importantly, such an act undermines the democratic rights of citizens to freely move and carry out their legitimate day-to-day activities. For instance, peaceful protesters have always been the target of police and security agencies, and we have seen many instances of illegal arrest of protesters, even to the point of subjecting them to torture and horrific conditions in detention.
“It is this that has given many individual officers of different security agencies the effrontery to inflict similar inhumane treatment on innocent Nigerians over flimsy and irrelevant reasons.”
He added, “Individuals who are victims of illegal arrest and detention must speak up. Correcting an anomaly requires the readiness of people to speak up. Victims must also be ready to approach organisations and associations like the Youth Rights Campaign, Nigerian Bar Association, etc., to aid the process of justice. It is, of course, advisable to seek legal help. However, building a political platform for youths and victims of different forms of police brutality is important. This will not only help to ensure justice for the victims but also help to prevent future occurrences.
“The law completely frowns on any form of illegal arrest and detention. There are procedures to arrest or detain suspects of crimes without infringing on their rights. Here, we have police officers attacking and arresting people for protesting or loitering, these are clear cases of illegality. Sadly, the court has not been convincingly up and doing so to help send a clear message to perpetrators of this inhumane and illegal act.”
Illegal arrests congest cells
The National Coordinator of the Take It Back movement, a human rights organisation, Juwon Sanyaolu, stated, “The law is clear about illegal arrests and bail, and what constitutes an illegal arrest; an arrest really can be deemed illegal if the victim is arrested on discriminatory grounds of his age, ethnic background, race, or some of the circumstances the police usually use to arrest people, like perhaps appearances, wearing of dreadlocks and tattoos”
“These are some discriminatory grounds that may constitute illegal arrest and as you know, it is one of the major circumstances that culminated into the #EndSARS protest of 2020, in which case young people were usually the primary targets of the violent police unit called SARS.
“Also, there is a thing regarding bail. It is also clear that the police have no right to detain anybody beyond 24 hours after which they must be immediately charged to court; everyone arrested is entitled to bail and they can’t spend 24 hours in custody without being charged to court, but what we have today is the reverse.
“One of the reasons why police cells are congested is the fact that the people arrested for petty offences like wandering, loitering, and street hawking are just dumped in the cell and left to rot, even underage victims.”
Sanyaolu added, “There are many families, especially in Lagos, who don’t even know where their children are; some have even been presumed dead, and unfortunately, most of these people are languishing in police cells. I was once detained at the abattoir in Abuja in January 2021, and there were about 74 persons in the cell, and I was informed by the cell president that before the #EndSARS, the cell accommodated over 700 detainees and that it was only decongested during the protest.
“The cell president told me that people died of horrible diseases, including suffocation, and several people got killed unjustly by SARS officers and no one asked what the reason was; that is the level of lawlessness that was going on before the cell was decongested by more than 90 per cent. It’s a serious challenge that must be responded to both with laws that are enforced and laws that hold the police accountable.”
We don’t detain beyond 48 hours – Police
The Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, explained the law’s stance on the arrest and detention of suspects, noting that investigations were necessary in helping to identify suspects and innocent citizens.
Hundeyin stated, “We don’t detain for more than 48 hours; if anyone is detained for more than 48 hours, it’s with a court order. For example, Naira Marley, during the Mohbad’s case, spent over 20 days in custody because we obtained a court order; so we don’t detain for more than 48 hours.
“So, if you are talking about people spending time for too long in police custody, it is not because we are abusing our powers or because we want to trample on their fundamental human rights, but because there are duly obtained court orders and that is because we have been able to convince the court that this person needs to be kept for longer to enable us to conclude our investigation.
“There is a law on public disturbance; if there is a protest, then it should be a protest, and if someone is arrested or caught causing a disturbance to public peace, or blocking the road, causing a hindrance to other road users and generally disturbing the peace, such a person will be arrested and if the person is taken to court and the court decides that the person be remanded till the next adjournment date, either in prison or with the police, that is beyond our powers; so once a court order says someone should be remanded till the next hearing, that is beyond our powers.
“The Nigerian law empowers the police to arrest anybody who is found in a suspicious environment at an odd time and cannot give a satisfactory account of himself or cannot explain why he is there at that time or what he is doing there, the law permits that we apprehend such people.
“Now when we take such people to our police stations and do further investigations and still the person cannot explain themselves, they will be kept for longer so that we can extend the investigation because some people are taken to the station and they can call somebody responsible who comes over to testify on their behalf, such people are left to go, but the ones who were not able to convince the police as to why they were at a suspicious scene will be kept longer for further investigation.”
Correctional service should be commended – Spokesman
The spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service, Umar Abubakar, added his voice to the issue of illegal detention.
“If not for criminal issues, a person is not supposed to be detained by the police for more than 24 hours; it is either the person is bailed or charged to court. And in a case where the person feels his rights have been infringed upon, he can go to human rights organisations or get a lawyer,” he stated.
He added that the Nigerian Correctional Service should be commended by the general public for its service towards the comfort of inmates.
Abubakar said, “The Nigerian Correctional Service should be commended by the public for managing the little resources provided for the feeding of inmates. As you know, we do not allocate money for the feeding of inmates, the service issues a proposal to the National Assembly and the service goes to defend whatever proposal is put forward.
“For many years now, we have not heard about any internal interruptions in custodial centres; we have not had jailbreaks, which are a result of agitation for proper feeding, medications, and basic amenities needed to keep the inmates comfortable; we’ve never had that, that is to say, we are doing well in the Nigerian Correctional Service.
“Recall that in 2020 when we had COVID-19, we never recorded an outbreak in the custodial centres; and for the morbidity rate, I can say that it is zero per cent, except through natural causes, but there have not been issues in the Nigerian Correctional Service. Also, the Nigerian Prison Services in 2018 emerged winners of the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy due to the education for prisoners’ programme being run by the National Open University of Nigeria as a result of our educational programme for inmates.”
