2 weeks Ago By Monday Eze
In Nigeria, prison congestion has become a perennial national challenge. The immediate and remote causes of this ugly situation is that the majority of the inmates of any given correctional center are people who are innocent for the fact that they are yet to be convicted of any crime and might not be convicted of any crime in the long run. Like a tradition, every prison holds more awaiting trial inmates than convicts! The question that agitates informed minds is: How did that situation evolve? Why has it continued, notwithstanding the huge cost of maintaining prison inmates and the bedlam against prison congestion? Beyond few suspects of non-bailable offences and some inmates who are unable to fulfil their respective bail conditions, the bulk of awaiting trial inmates of our correctional centres found themselves therein through remand orders of magistrates acting on holding charges.
Holding charges refer to the practice of detaining individuals without charge or trial, often for extended periods, in contravention of the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution. The right to fair hearing is enshrined in Section 36 of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees that: 1. Every person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.
2. Every person shall be entitled to notice of the charges against him and to the opportunity to defend himself by himself or with the assistance of a legal practitioner of his choice, et cetera. By its nature, holding charges which involve detaining individuals without charge or trial, thereby denying them the opportunity to defend themselves are unconstitutional for the fact that the practice is inconsistent with the above provisions of the constitution.
The Court of Appeal ruled in Oladipo v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2017) that holding charges are illegal and unconstitutional. The Supreme Court equally held in Akinfenwa v.
Federal Republic of Nigeria (2015) that detention without trial is a violation of the Constitution and international human rights instruments. It is a sad commentary on both the Nigeria Police Force and the judiciary that notwithstanding the preponderance of laws, judicial precedents or case law and constitutional provisions, the police in Nigeria and the judiciary have continued to use holding charges to deny many Nigerian citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed freedom. In fact, the police have upgraded holding charges to an instrument of oppression in the hands of the high and mighty in society.
In a grand conspiracy against the Nigerian constitution and the ordinary masses, police operatives involved in criminal investigations often prefer serious criminal charges which have no correlation with the case under investigation on the victims (suspects). The compromised police officers proceed to arraign their victims before magistrate courts which obviously lack jurisdiction in the matter. After the charge is read, the magistrate would usually deny jurisdiction.
At this point, one would expect the magistrate to order for the suspect’s arraignment before a court of competent jurisdiction, but such compromised magistrates would not. They would turn around to order for the detention of the accused person in correctional facilities pending the filing of information at the High Court! In 2020, an innocent Catholic priest, Rev. Fr.
Timothy Ngwuta was detained in Abakaliki prison for months without trial. The same thing happened to an Ebonyi-born social media influencer, Nwoba Chika Nwoba, in 2020 and in 2024 in Ebonyi State. One then wonders the propriety of making a remand order in a charge or matter that a judicial officer had pronounced that he/she lacked competent jurisdiction.
This reckless attitude usually works extreme hardship on the victims who are dumped and abandoned to languish in detention. The fact that correctional facilities across the length and breadth of the country are bursting at the seams with such innocent inmates as I write this piece is heart-breaking. In Ebonyi State, the Chairman of Human Rights Defenders, HURIDE, Dr.
Sampson Oko Nweke, is reportedly languishing in prison on account of his arraignment for murder before a magistrate court! As usual, the presiding magistrate denied jurisdiction and ordered for Dr. Nweke’s remand in Abakaliki Correctional Centre. Nweke, the rights activist, has been living in Abakaliki Correctional Centre without trial or conviction for months; and no hope is in sight that he would leave there very soon.
This article does not support criminal activities in any ramification, but it abhors the detention of any individual without trial under the guise of holding charges or any other guise which is contrary to the provisions of the 1999 CFRN. Some people think that Dr. Nweke is being punished for stepping on big toes in the course of his enthralling rights activism.
This piece seeks the immediate release or immediate commencement of proper trial of Dr. Sampson Oko Nweke. The congestion of Nigerian prisons with innocent people is worrisome and the National Judicial Council (NJC) is hereby charged to invoke her disciplinary powers against judicial officers who lend themselves or their offices to unconstitutional acts.
The NJC should also proscribe with severe consequences the practice of making remand orders by judicial officers, particularly magistrates, in matters outside their jurisdictional competence. The criminal justice system should be reformed to abrogate holding charges, ensure speedy and proper trial of suspects, monitor police actions and uphold the rights of detainees..
