I have seen many senior lawyers, including President of the Nigeria Bar Association [NBA] Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN), condemning the reported arrest in Ibadan on Monday of the father of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, Director General of the fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). Policemen reportedly arrested Adeyemi’s father at his 3, Adeniyi Dynasty Ogbomoso, behind Technical College, Road Safety Area, Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
While the NBA President said “Nigerian law does not permit the arrest of relatives merely to compel a suspect to surrender or assist investigators,” other lawyers said the arrest would only be lawful if Adeyemi’s father was himself a suspect or a person of interest in the investigation. Prof. Sam Erugo, SAN, said Section 7 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, expressly prohibits arrest by proxy, while Isiaka Olagunju, SAN, said “criminal responsibility is personal and cannot be transferred to relatives.” Another SAN, Wolemi Esan, said “Arrest in lieu has no place in Nigeria’s legal system.”
Who told these SANs so? Let me tell you an old story. In October 1984, two friends, Yusuf Maikanti Yunusa and Tukur Umar Mohammed [now deceased] and I were on an adventurous trip to Onitsha in a borrowed Fiat car. Near Ubiaja town in Edo State, we fell into a deep pothole and the car’s plastic number plate broke. The “SO” part fell off and left only “8888 SD”. We were stopped at a police check point, arrested, taken to Ubiaja police station and accused of stealing the car and breaking the number plate in order to evade arrest.
That’s not the main story today. We were thrown behind bars. As we sat there awaiting our fate, policemen brought in a very old woman and threw her behind bars with us. She must be at least 80 years old, stooped, walking unsteadily with a cane. I wondered what offence such an old woman could have committed. About two hours later, a commercial Danfo bus speedily drove into the police station. The driver hurriedly alighted, banged the door, entered the station and identified himself. He was the guy the police were looking for, but when they heard that he loaded passengers and travelled out of town, they arrested his mother!
The man was then thrown behind bars to sit with us, while the old woman was released. The son dipped his hand into his pocket, brought out some money and gave to her to find her way home.
This arrest in lieu, as these SANs called it, is an old police practice. IG Disu, please bring it to an end.
