A youth, Nicholas, has spent 10 months in detention by the police in Abuja for allegedly committing “intentional insult” against his boss, the owner of a photo studio in the Federal Capital Territory.
Nicholas, a 26-year-old graduate, photographer, and keyboardist, reportedly enraged his boss when he texted him in October 2023 to announce his resignation as a photographer in the studio. His boss was angry at the content of the message and engaged the police, who promptly arrested him.
The young man was eventually charged with “intentional insult” and locked up in a room with 189 other cellmates at the Keffi correctional facility because he could not afford a bail sum initially put at N100,000 and later N50,000.
Nicholas was rescued by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Hope Behind Bars, after spending 10 months in custody, even after the boss withdrew the case.
According to Funke Adeoye, who supervises the NGO, it was a display of power by a man who has chosen to oppress a fellow Nigerian. He used the institutions of the state, the Nigeria Police Force and the court system to keep a fellow Nigerian in detention because he didn’t want them to work for him again.
Commenting on the issue in her X handle, Adeoye said: “Two weeks ago, someone hinted @hopebehindbars about Nicholas’ plight, and @thehassanian reached out to a friend of his who donated N50,000 anonymously.”
The incident has sparked widespread criticism, with many slamming the FCT police for abusing their powers and trampling on citizens’ fundamental rights.
One of those who condemned the police action, a journalist, Mr Senator Iroegbu, said: “This is simply another reflection of so many injustices across the country; a situation where it seems as if the law that was supposedly created to protect the poor, the weak and victims are now inversely designed against them and in favour of the rich and oppressors of the society.”
Another, who pleaded anonymity, said: “I hate how the police can be easily weaponised against the poor and helpless in this country by the rich. You can be locked up and forgotten just because you offended the ego of one rich idiot somewhere, and the police will willingly play accomplices to such injustice. It’s unfair.”
For the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, the case of Nicholas is not isolated because the police have the notoriety of arbitrary detention of individuals, particularly when such people are handed over to them by persons who can pay for their services.
He said: “The police are a very serious problem, and Nigeria has to do something about cleaning up the Force because if you must have efficient police, there shouldn’t be any place for torture and arbitrary arrest and detention.
“You don’t have to arrest somebody for this long because of the alleged offence of sending a text to an employer. It’s not a very good thing to say about the police, and we at HURIWA are particularly not impressed that successive Inspectors-General of Police announce that they will do some internal cleansing regarding the gross human rights violations their operatives commit.
“But as soon as they settle down in their offices, they don’t mind tolerating such widespread use of torture and extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and illegal detentions, and they use such things as bargaining chips and to raise funds for themselves. This is very, very sad.”
Reacting to questions on the incident, the FCT police boss, CP Benneth Igweh simply said: “I am not interested in your social media talk.” However, a senior police officer who spoke under anonymity, said intentional insult is an offence in the penal code.
