I will be visiting under disguise Nigeria Prisons to bring cases of those awaiting trial.

I won’t mention their real names but I will give the factual details as much as I can retrieve from the inmates.

First stop is Lagos State where I heard that an inmate have spent 14 yrs awaiting trial.

I also heard that most of the inmates there are held on holding charges and in a prison, of 1950 inmates, 1635 are awaiting trial.

New challenge. May God help me. Stay tuned.

I tweeted earlier today that I will do my best to bring the decay of our criminal justice system to limelight.

Today is the first day but I am already broken to the point that I doubt if I can do half of the job that I have envisaged.

Now let’s go.

It is a thread

OO (Not his real initial )born in 1994 was arrested by OPC in April 2015 at Badagry at about 1am when he left a hotel where he went to see a friend from church who work there, having arrived the hotel at 11pm from church together.

OO arrived Lagos from Aba, Abia State in February 2015 to spend time with a cousin who hawk reproduced CD before school resumes as a way to get away from his normal routine school environment.

OO’s farther is late and his mother is a petty trader in the village.

OPC then took OO to Badary Police Station, there he was tortured that night until he defecates on his body.

Surprisingly to OO, a complainant who he had not seen or heard of, arrived at the station the next morning to complain about an incident. He alleged that OO was one of those who rob him. He showed photographs of how suspects break into his house and stole his properties.

The complainant alleged that OO stole his laptop, chair, money and phone. He then instructed the Police to take OO to #SARS if he doesn’t returned the stollen properties and left the police station.

The Police at Badagry continue to torture OO, tried to extort money from him but he said he does not have any money, that he is a student that visited his cousin on holiday but those fell on deaf ears.

They wrote down statements for him. Later that day he was taken to SARS.

OO was detained in #SARS for 2 months under intense torture at their theatre having also tried to extort money from him but no avail.

In his word, he said at #SARS he was praying for death to take him as the torture was out of this world. He said his time at #SARS was hell.

OO was then taken to Magistrate Court 2 in Ikeja where he was remanded in Prison Custody pending DPP advise in June 2015 and he hasn’t been to court to date.

What worried me about this case is the way OO felt whilst I was with him. His shattered dream, being let down by the whole establishment .

He shed tears whilst I was leaving and I couldn’t hold my tears. It is so sad. I am so so broken.

OO need help

@AbdulMahmud01

@segalink @AMADICHIMA @ChidiOdinkalu @oluwaloninyo @DemolaRewaju @akaebube @henryshield

Retweet for help to get to him. He can’t be left there. The court let him down.

I wish there is something I can do but I am helpless.

Thank you all

KO(not his real initials) was arrested on a motorcycle at Ago Palace Way at Okota with some friends whilst going about their business but they were high on cannabis.

The police took them to Okota Police Station keeping them there for two days trying to extort money from them.

Tortured them and in realizing that they were unwilling to bribe their way out due to the fact that KO and his two friends did not have any money, the police joined them with another suspect in custody who was arrested with ammunition, and took them to #SARS as suspected robbers.

At #SARS they were detained and tortured for 1 month where they were disfigured. As usual no money was forth coming.

The men of #SARS even persuaded them to implicate any known person in their area so the can get money from that person and they would be released.

KO and his two friends were adamant of such ploy. You will recall that there were now four as suspects. They were severely tortured and in his word, they prayed to be charged to court or they believed that they will be killed by #SARS

He recalled an incidence where a suspect was brought into #SARS on suspicion of killing a member of their team. KO said it was his torture time in #SATS custody when they brought the suspect. A #SARS off requested the suspects to take off his cloth and when he did and sat down,

The #SARS said, he even have a big penis and immediately shot him at his penis and the suspect died instantly. KO said he was devastated and scared to death but he prayed and kept hope alive. For one month he wasn’t allowed to have an ordinary shower.

However news came that human rights were visiting #SARS in Ikeja There were quickly rushed and charged to court. He was taken to Ikeja court 3 where he was remanded in prison custody on 20 Dec. 2016.

He hasn’t been to court since then.

What worries me is that these defendant are quickly remanded by a court and mostly in magistrates courts for an offense of suspected armed robbery but continuous court appearance is elusive.

Is the judiciary of Lagos State complicit to this grave human right abuses?

If this cases prick your conscience as it does to me, retweet and like to enable the people in charge to act.

We can’t have a country where the less privileged rights are violated and abused.

Thank you all.

I have just come across this news and I am livid.

Why?

Because of what I have gathered so far as evidence of delay in our courts.

We have a situation where charges are wrongly brought by inv. authorities and at times people are wrongly convicted by the courts.

The delay in concluding a case is a big problem and the delay in the appeal is absolutely devastating

I heard of a case in Lagos where a charge was brought and the def. stayed 7 years on remand on was later discharged as the prosecution presented no tangible evidence in the case

The court offered him nothing. That is 7 years of a citizen’s life gone

I also heard of a court where the judge gives 1 years adjournment and the least a case has been in the judges’ court is 4 years

The worst part of all this is that charges are wrongly and maliciously filed

We can’t have a system where the criminal justice system is part of our problem.

We must do better and where the criminal justice system does not dispense justice speedily, the only loser is the common man.

When these cases drag on for careless reasons by the prosecution,

the court, the judge get paid his salary, the prosecuting officers get paid their salary, the investigation officials get their salary but the defendant losses money to get a lawyer, loses his business or work and loss his good will.

In cases where prosecuting authority play to the gallery, the defendant also loses his reputation before the eventual end of the case.

By this time, his life is so destroyed that it takes a supernatural force to get him back on track.

I am callin on all well meaning Nigerians on this street to give this problem an attention.

I personally do not have anyone in custody or standing trial but it can be me or you tomorrow. We shouldn’t only speak when it involves us, our friends, family or love ones.

Thanks you

Photo Credit @instablog9ja

@adeyanjudeji you have first hand experience on remand awaiting trial, what can you add to this call please?

Good evening fellow citizens on this street.

More update on our fellow citizens who have been let down by the whole Criminal Justice System.

Please stay tune on here and tag anyone you would like to know about it.

Thank you

MA(Not his real initial) was arrested by Police Patrol Team whilst driving his personal vehicle on 29 August 2015 at Oyibo where he went to buy motor spare parts to repair his vehicle.

They requested money and he said he doesn't have. They ordered him down from the vehicle,

put him in theirs and drove his vehicle and him to the Police Station.

He stated that at the station, they asked for his vehicle licence, he told them that there weren't with him as he sent them for renewal.

Upon arrival at the Police Station, the IPO requested that he bribe them with 50k so he would be released but he didn't have.

He contacted his Girlfriend who was willing to help but can't as it was on Saturday and she can only provide the money on Monday.

On Monday, she came with the 50k whilst MA was in detention.

The IPO rejected the money and asked for an increased amount of 70k because the DPO was then aware of the matter.

His girlfriend left to raise the extra amount but couldn't come back the next day as she was working.

The evening of the next day, the IPO contacted #SARS and handed him over to them.

On 2 September 2015, he was taken to #SARS office in Ikeja. At #SARS after preliminary torture, he was asked to provide 500k to settle his case and go and the amount was later reduced to 200k.

He said that he doesn't have any money and beside what has he done to pay such huge money.

He was beaten daily and both of his leg broken, he didn't have bath for a whole month, his vision severely affecte, can't see clearly

All effort to extort money from him proved abortive.

His girlfriend effort to assist him meant that the girl was sexually abused but that didn't make a difference in his release or his vehicle.

His girlfriend threatened to disclose what transpired between her and the officer in charge and the officer threatened to disclose to MA

that he had sex with his girlfriend as well as waste her.

On 7 October 2015, he was taken to court and charged with Armed Robbery at Court 1, Ikeja and was remanded in Prison Custody. He hasn't been to court since then until the day I saw him this month.

He is unable to reach his girlfriend on phone as her number is unreachable .

This case affected me personally because I cried the whole night after I left MA particularly because something in me tell me that the lady have been murdered.

May God help us all