Arrest database and legality of public parade of suspects
Abubakar Malami, AGF
The Federal Government recently secured an arrest database where records of arrests by all security agencies are to be henceforth stored in accordance with Section 29 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, which mandates the Inspector General of Police and Head of every arresting agency to remit quarterly to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) a record of all arrests made in relation to federal offences or arrests within Nigeria.
Apart from the police, other arresting agencies such as the Department of State Service (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences related Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps (NSCDC) and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are expected to turn in their harvests of those arrested.
While launching the database in Abuja, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), who spoke through the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Mrs Beatrice Jeddy-Agba hinted that the system will allow the AGF to see at a glance all current records of arrests at the federal level in line with Section 29(5) of the ACJA, 2015.
The sponsor of the project, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption British Council (RoLAC) who spoke through the Component Manager, Oluwatoyin Badejegbin, while handing over the database, said it would help keep track of crime and criminalities in the country.
The launch of the arrest database coincides with the time the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) boss, Tony Ojukwu condemned the practice of parading suspects for mere allegations without trial.
Ojukwu had at a media parley with journalists in the Commission’s headquarters declared as a violation of rights and unconstitutional, the parading of suspects by the police before trial. He said: “Parading suspects before they are charged to court is unconstitutional. It is a violation of the rights of suspects.
“Even the courts have decided that this is not proper, but the police especially keeps doing this. Unfortunately, we discovered that people, whose rights have been violated in such a manner, once they are released on bail, walk away and forget everything.
“Let me put it on record that anybody who has suffered that kind of treatment can approach the Commission and together, we will follow up the case till we get justice. However, if after someone has been paraded and the person walks away without pursuing the case, it becomes impossible to tackle the person’s case.
“Even if there will be a class action, there is still the need for evidence of the witness. We are therefore urging Nigerians whose rights have been violated to approach the Commission. We assure you that we will work hard to make sure that we get redress in court,” Ojukwu stated.
Legal analysts are divided on the arrest database and practice of public parade of suspects before trial. While some argued that there is a thin line between the publication of the arrested persons on the database and the parade of suspects, others insist that the arrest database is purely for administrative purposes and would not violate the rights of suspects.
Yet, there are those who fear that the data could be subjected to manipulation and abuse to blackmail suspects and view it as contradictory and contrary to the Constitution.
Oladimeji Felix Ekengba said the database as provided by the AGF is legal and is in accordance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015. He, however, said the practice of parading criminal suspects is illegal and contravenes the laws of the country.
According to Ekengba, there is no similarity between the arrest database and the practice of public parade. He explained that the database is entirely to aid the administration of justice in relation to provisions of record of an accused person, which is one of the factors in granting bail application.
On the fear that it could be dubiously used against the accused or suspects, the lawyer said it cannot as it was only expected to contain records of people who have been convicted and not otherwise.
An Abuja-based lawyer, Godwin Ogboji, said the Federal Government is backed by section 16(3) of ACJA, to transmit to the central criminal record registry the decisions of courts in criminal trials. He, however, said, at the arrest stage, no decision has been made in respect of a suspect by the court, so no record is required to be transmitted to the criminal registry.
Therefore, the lawyer contended that reliance cannot be placed on section 15 of ACJA to back the launch of the arrest database as the section only relates to records of arrested persons to be kept by the arresting agency to know who is in their custody and nothing more.
The lawyer feared that the database could be subjected to abuse by some rogue security personnel who would indiscriminately arrest innocent Nigerians and publish their names on the database to destroy their reputation and standing in society for the sole purpose of embarrassing them.
Another lawyer, Allen Sowore hailed the ministry of justice for the launch, which he said was in order. According to him, sections 15 and 16 of the ACJA, 2015 clearly provide for the taking of records of an arrested person(s) in a prescribed form: the alleged offence, the date and circumstances of his arrest, his full name, occupation and residential address. Also, for the purpose of identification: his height, his photograph, his full fingerprint impression, or such other means of his identification.
He, however, said arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until the otherwise is proven. So, parading suspects by arresting authority is an act of overzealousness. He regretted that some of the vital provisions of the criminal justice law are not strictly adhered to, orchestrating the haste to parade suspects so that the arresting authority is seen as working hard or effective.
According to him, while Section 16 says there shall be established at Nigeria Police Force a Central Criminal Records Registry, there are no clear provisions in the criminal justice system for public parades of suspects. What the law, explained, stipulates is arraignment. “Since arraignment is often done in an open court, the press can get news items from what happens in the Court,” he argued.
He allays the fears that the database could be used dubiously against individuals or suspects, since it is basically for internal use and would not be let out but classified.
For Isaac Attah Ogezi, a lawyer, criminal jurisprudence does not frown on establishing an arrest database, and if possible, one envisages in the future a more holistic database of inmates in the correctional centres all over the nation, which will help to nip in the bud the herculean task of re-arresting fleeing inmates after a jailbreak.
“Viewed from the perspective of administrative ease or convenience, it will be a laudable project to have arrest databases. The flipside to this is that, though our extant criminal laws do not prescribe it, but widely sanction it, it is prejudicial to the larger interest of the defendants like media trials of suspects standing trial or yet to be arraigned before courts of competent jurisdiction,” Ogezi argued.
He expressed worry over lack of proper enlightenment of citizens before policies are introduced. His words:” We live in a country where the average man or prospective employer of labour does not even know the difference between inmates standing trial and convicted prisoners.
“The fear is that the same treatment of discrimination and ostracisation may be meted out to both of them although the former is still constitutionally presumed innocent until proven otherwise.”
The legal practitioner is of the view that arrest and keeping of databases be restrictive in nature and only accessible to select people in the armed forces and other security agencies. That way, the chances of it being abused will be checked effectively, while at the same time, making it easier for administrative, statistical or sociological purposes.
On the public parade of suspects, the lawyer said, it is a violation of suspects’ fundamental right to dignity of the human person as provided by section 34 of the Constitution. “Fortunately, there is a remedy for any of such subjection to inhuman or degrading treatment, which is actionable in a civil suit for a breach of one’s constitutional right and the torts of false imprisonment and malicious prosecution after a discharge and acquittal by a court of competent jurisdiction,” he advised.
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