Ah, the Nigerian justice system! Where the Constitution promises you rights with one hand and the police, aided by some judicial decisions, snatch them away with the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aren\u2019t fundamental rights inherent anymore? Didn\u2019t we all agree that they are so important that they deserve a whole chapter in the Grundnorm? How do we interpret Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution? Did it not clearly state that no one should be detained for more than 24 or 48 hours without being charged, depending on the circumstances? It even accounts for remote areas, where a 40-kilometer journey could involve an unplanned safari. But apparently, this section has an unwritten footnote that says: \u201cExcept when the police decide otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because how do you explain where a person is detained for two weeks on a clearly bailable offense, denied bail throughout, and when he finally comes out and files an action to enforce his rights, is told by the court that the police had the \u201cright to investigate\u201d? No, your eyes aren\u2019t deceiving you. But the argument wasn\u2019t that they shouldn\u2019t investigate? The argument is simple, did they respect constitutional limits while investigating? Even Mi Lords now seem to think that \u201creasonable time\u201d is code for \u201cas long as the police feel like it.\u201d So, today, bringing an action to enforce a clear breach of the provisions of Section 35 for instance has also gone to the realm of uncertainties like many once settled issues of law. You now wonder what a person who alleges that he was detained for too long a time must prove. You are asking yourself whether the Constitution ever said these rights have to be enforced only when you have been tried and discharged? Because now, mi lords will have that evidence of long detention and still tell you; \u201cthe Applicant failed to establish that his right was infringed upon. The police have a right to investigate an allegation of crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps we have all not noticed yet, but some of mi lords are gradually rewriting fundamental rights. Gone are the days when people went to court to allege that \u201ctheir rights are likely to be infringed upon.\u201d If care is not taking, you will collect costs dear. Just go and have that right infringed upon and weigh your options even after the infringement. Sadly, this is where we are headed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why? Should we talk about the damages awarded when, by some divine intervention, a mi lord rules that rights have actually been violated? Those insulting damages awarded? Only you will sit down and begin to wonder whether you should just tell the lawyer to recover the damages and use as his professional fees or just forget it entirely and go home and frame your judgment and put it as a plaque in your living room. Because where do you want to start from to enforce a judgment sum of N500k or at most N1m against a government institution?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But you know the real masterstroke of police ingenuity presently? Remand orders! Need to detain someone for longer than the Constitution allows? Just pop over to a magistrate, whisper the magic words\u2014\u201congoing investigation\u201d\u2014and voil\u00e0, the Constitution gets temporarily suspended. It doesn\u2019t matter how flimsy the allegations are; the remand order is now the ultimate shield for trampling on rights. It does not take 15 minutes for that order to be rolled out! Snap! And you are in prison for the next two weeks on a purely commercial transaction, and when you end your vacation at the police station, My Lords will tell you that the police have a right to carry out an investigation. Never mind that in that entire two weeks, all that happened was a daily check on whether \u201cyour people don raise the money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ripple effects of this recklessness are everywhere: prisons overflowing with suspects who should be out on bail, a justice system losing credibility by the minute, and a populace increasingly disillusioned with the concept of fundamental rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are we really interpreting the Constitutional provision on fundamental rights, or are we playing Freestyle Friday with people\u2019s lives? Because if fundamental rights are only enforceable in theory, then we might as well rename Chapter 4 of the Constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ah, the Nigerian justice system! Where the Constitution promises you rights with one hand and the police, aided by some judicial decisions, snatch them away with the other. Aren\u2019t fundamental rights inherent anymore? Didn\u2019t we all agree that they are so important that they deserve a whole chapter in the Grundnorm? How do we interpret […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":87858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-my-grouse"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t