But for the huge respect that I have for the organisers of this programme, I would have declined the invitation of the Nigerian Bar Association to be a panelist in this Summit. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act is 10 years. Even though the ACJA has been adopted and enacted into law by all the states of the Federation, the provisions of the law that have challenged illegal arrest and detention of criminal suspects have been ignored by the ruling class with the connivance of Nigerian lawyers.

While the rich people in the society have the resources to hire and pay senior lawyers to prevent unlawful arrest and detention, poor people are routinely arrested and detained without trial. Hence the human rights community and other stakeholders successfully campaigned for inclusion of section 34 in the ACJA. As we shall show anon, the provision has been observed in breach by the Government.

COMPULSORY VISITATION TO DETENTION FACILITIES BY MAGISTRATES AND JUDGES

Section 34 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 provides that the Chief Magistrate, or where there is no Chief Magistrate within the police division, any Magistrate designated by the Chief Judge for that purpose, shall, at least every month, conduct an inspection of police stations or other places of detention within his territorial jurisdiction other than the prison.

(2) During a visit, the Magistrate may:

(a) call for, and inspect, the record of arrests;

(b) direct the arraignment of a suspect;

(c) where bail has been refused, grant bail to any suspect where appropriate if the offence for which the suspect is held is within the jurisdiction of the Magistrate.

(3) An officer in charge of a police station or official in charge of an agency authorised to make an arrest shall make available to the visiting Chief Magistrate or designated Magistrate exercising his powers under subsection (1) of this section:

(a) the full record of arrest and record of bail;

(b) applications and decisions on bail made within the period; and

(c) any other facility the Magistrate requires to exercise his powers under that subsection.

(4) With respect to other Federal Government agencies authorised to make an arrests, the High Court having jurisdiction shall visit such detention facilities for the purpose provided in this section.

(5) Where there is default by an officer in charge of a police station or official in-charge of an agency authorised to make arrest to comply with the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, the default shall be treated as a misconduct and shall be dealt with in accordance with the relevant Police Regulation under the Police Act, or pursuant to any other disciplinary procedure prescribed by any provision regulating the conduct of the officer or official of the agency.

From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that visiting Chief Magistrates and Judges are empowered to order the release of detainees, or grant them bail or direct that they be arraigned in court. But since the Act was enacted in May 2015, Chief Magistrates and Judges have failed to enforce the provisions of section 34 of ACJA by visiting all police stations and other detention facilities at least once a month.

CAMPAIGN FOR ENFORCEMENT OF SECTION 34 OF ACJA

Sometime in May 2018, the human rights community drew the attention of the then Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chair of the National Judicial Council, Justice Walter Onnoghen to the refusal of Chief Magistrates and Judges to comply with section 34 of ACJA. About a month later, a the Chief Justice directed the Chief Judge of every state of the nation, including the FCT to direct Chief Magistrates, and, where there is no Chief Magistrate within the police division, designate any Magistrate for that purpose, to, at least, every month, conduct an inspection of Police Stations or other places of detention within his territorial jurisdiction other than prison in line with the provisions of the ACJA. 

His Lordship further directed the Chief Judges to put in place appropriate mechanisms to ensure compliance with the above provisions of the ACJA. But in spite of the clear provisions of the ACJA and Police Establishment Act, Chief Magistrates and Judges have failed to conduct monthly visits to police stations and other detention facilities in the country.

 Hence, the incessant arrest, detention and torture of poor citizens by the Police and other security agencies have since become the order of the day. The Nigerian Bar Association has not helped matters as the Human Rights Committtes in its 130 branches have failed to ensure that Chief Magistrates and Judges conduct visits to police stations and other detention facilities. I must not fail to commend a former Chairman of the Ikorodu Branch of the NBA, Mr. Bayo Akinlade for ensuring that visits are conducted by Magistrates in many states of the Federation.

Instead of appropriating funds for the provision of logistics for the monthly inspection of all detention facilities, the National Assembly decided to reproduce section 34 of ACJA in section 70 of the Police Establishment Act, 2020. It is public knowledge that the over 11,000 valued at about N7 trillion inserted in the 2025 Appropriation Act did not include the building of well equipped police stations in the country.

 To prevent further detention of suspects without legal justification, it is pertinent to examine the provisions of the law on other rights of suspects and detainees. By the combined effect of section 3(3) ACJA and section 6(2)(c) of the ACJA, suspects who lack the means to engage lawyers to defend them are entitled to free legal representation as the officers in every police station are mandatorily required to request the Legal Aid Council to assign lawyers to represent such indigent suspects. Since police officers are not aware of the miranda rights of criminal suspects the Inspector-General of Police should activate section 10 of ACJA without delay.

HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS IN POLICE STATIONS

Section 66(3) of the Police Act stipulates that there shall be assigned to every police division at least one police officer: (a) who is qualified to practise as legal practitioner in accordance with the Legal Practitioners Act; (b) whose responsibility is to promote human rights compliance by officers of the division.

A law lecturer, Sylvester Udemezue Esq has said that "Lawyers employed and posted to police stations across the country, pursuant to Section 66 (3) of the Np Act, 2020, are not put there to join regular investigations or to carry guns or to police join patrol teams or check-points or the operations section or to undertake other traditional work of the police, but solely to supervise and promote human rights observance by police officers serving in the police station. Thus, implementing Section 66 (3) is a special-purpose project aimed at promoting respect for human rights suspects and detainees, in line with international best practices and prevailing 21st-century benchmarks."

ILLEGALITY OF EX PARTE ORDER TO REMAND SUSPECTS

Section 293 of the ACJA empowers a Magistrate to order the remand of a suspect for a renewable period of 14 days. This provision should be reviewed as it has been grossly abused by detaining authorities and Magistrates. Since section 35(1) of the Comstituyion guarantees the fundamemtal right to personal liberty, the detention of a suspect on the basis of an ex parte applivation is illegal. It is suggested that section 293 of ACJA should be amended to provide for motion on notice for the detention of any suspect.

CONCCLUSION

No doubt, the provisions of section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and Nigeria Police Act, 2020 have confirmed the policy of the Federal Government to ensure that the fundamental right of every citizen to personal liberty is not infringed upon or abridged by law enforcement officers contrary to the procedure permitted by law. It is now left for the Judiciary to activate and implement the provisions of the law in order to end the incessant arrest and prolonged detention of the Nigerian people without any further delay.

We are of the strong view that if all detention facilities in the country are henceforth regularly inspected by Judges and Chief Magistrates as stipulated by the law, the people of Nigeria will no longer be subjected to illegal arrest and detention by the Police and other security agencies. If ACJA had been made to work since 2015, there would have been no #endsars protests in 2020. We are therefore compelled to call on Judges and Chief Magistrates to carry out their duties under section 34 of ACJA and section 70 of the Police Establishment Act.

However, to achieve the objective of the law we appeal to the respective Chief Judges to supervise the Visiting Judges and Chief Magistrates in the discharge of their statutory duties. Where there is no Chief Magistrate within the police division, the Chief Judge should designate a Magistrate for the purpose in accordance with section 70 (1) of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020.

Finally, we call on the members of the Human Rights Community including the human rights committees of the Nigerian Bar Association to assign their accredited representatives to accompany Judges and Chief Magistrates during the monthly inspection of police stations and other detention facilities in Nigeria.

(Being the Address delivered at the 1st NBA Western Zone Human Rights Summit on June 3, 2025 at Ibadan, Oyo State)