Nigeria’s criminal justice system is facing mounting scrutiny after a prominent legal practitioner issued a blistering call for reform, warning that pre-trial detention and remand practices are being “weaponized” to punish citizens before any determination of guilt.
In a strongly worded petition addressed to the The National Assembly and President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), a constitutional lawyer Maduabuchi O. Idam alleges that the current framework allows powerful individuals and malicious complainants to exploit law enforcement and the courts to detain innocent people—often indefinitely and without consequence.
At the heart of the criticism is a system that, according to Idam, enables accusers to trigger arrests and secure remand orders on the basis of weak, exaggerated, or entirely fabricated claims. Once detained, suspects can languish in custody for extended periods while prosecutions stall or quietly collapse.
“The system now serves oppressors,” Idam wrote, arguing that it has drifted far from its constitutional duty to guarantee fair hearing and due process.
A System Prone to Abuse
Legal analysts say the concerns reflect a broader structural weakness: the ease with which civil disputes and personal vendettas can be converted into criminal cases.
Idam detailed multiple cases, including one involving traditional rulers and local officials allegedly arrested at the direction of a state governor despite “no known offence.” According to the petition, the individuals were held beyond lawful limits, arraigned on questionable charges, and effectively left in prolonged detention without meaningful prosecution.
In another case, a retail fraud incident reportedly spiralled into wrongful detention when a suspect, after being caught using a fake payment alert, allegedly manipulated police into arresting the shop owner instead.
Such cases, Idam argues, are not anomalies but symptoms of a deeper institutional failure—one that incentivizes arrest first and investigation later.
“Punishment Without Trial”
Critics say the most troubling aspect is the absence of accountability when cases fall apart. Detainees are often released without compensation, apology, or any immediate remedy for time lost behind bars.
While legal avenues such as fundamental rights enforcement or civil suits for malicious prosecution technically exist, they are widely seen as slow, expensive, and inaccessible to many victims.
“The damage is already done,” a Lagos-based legal analyst told reporters, noting that even short-term detention can carry lasting social and economic consequences.
Proposed Reforms: Pay for False Accusations
In a bid to curb abuse, Idam is proposing a controversial reform: requiring complainants to post a financial bond when filing criminal complaints. If allegations are later found to be frivolous—or if the complainant fails to substantiate them—the bond would be forfeited to the accused.
He also called for a more liberal and evidence-based approach to bail, particularly in cases where charges appear weak or unsupported.
Supporters say such measures could deter malicious complaints and restore balance to a system critics argue has tilted heavily against the accused.
A Growing Debate
The petition is likely to intensify debate within Nigeria’s legal community, particularly as concerns grow over prison overcrowding, prolonged trials, and systemic inefficiencies.
For now, the Nigerian Bar Association has yet to issue a formal response. But with pressure mounting and stories of wrongful detention increasingly surfacing, the call for reform may be difficult to ignore.
As Idam’s letter puts it starkly: without urgent intervention, Nigeria risks normalizing a system where detention is not the consequence of guilt—but a tool of accusation.
The full text of the letter reads:
4th April 2026
The National Assembly
Three Arms Zone
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory
Nigeria
The President
Nigerian Bar Association
29 Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse Zone 5
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory
Nigeria
Dear sir,
Urgent Reform of Nigeria’s Criminal Justice System: Addressing Pre-Trial Detention and Remand Practices
- The pretrial detention of suspects, or the remand of accused/defendants upon arraignment, appears to have weaponized the justice system to serve the interests of oppressors. It currently fails to uphold justice or the principles of a fair trial and fair hearing. Oppressors exploit the system as a tool to secure the abduction or incarceration of their victims, even in cases where no genuine wrongdoing has occurred.
- The system effectively enables oppressors to masquerade as complainants, securing the hasty confinement or imprisonment of potentially innocent individuals at the preliminary stage, even before the merits of their cases are examined. Yet, it provides no mechanism for compensating such remandees in the form of damages, whether they are ultimately adjudged innocent at trial or if the prosecution abandons the case after achieving imprisonment without trial.
- Cases that underscores the urgent need for this review involves two traditional rulers from my community, a development centre coordinator, and several others, who were arrested despite the absence of any known offence but at the behest of the governor of Ebonyi State. They were held in police custody beyond the permissible period and subsequently arraigned on spurious, fabricated charges designed to prolong their detention without bail, effectively legitimizing their incarceration. To date, the prosecution has shown no diligence in pursuing the matter, resulting in de facto imprisonment without trial, seemingly for the personal interests of the governor rather than for justice.
- A similar instance occurred in a matter I came in contact with, where a fraudulent customer purchased goods with a fake alert, and when she was caught and forced to pay, she rushed to the nearest police station to instigate the arrest and detention of her supposed victim—the owner of the shop, claiming criminal intimidation and others. The police officers, eager to satisfy the complaint, initially detained the shop owner before later realizing that she was, in fact, the actual victim. Numerous other such instances abound.
- Sadly, in such cases, the detainees are often eventually released and sent home, with no provision for immediate compensation to mitigate the effects of their needless imprisonment.
- While one may argue that remedies for wrongful detention and prosecution exist—such as enforcement of fundamental rights or a civil action for malicious prosecution, depending on which is appropriate—I do not disagree. However, an immediate remedy administered through the criminal justice system would more effectively discourage vindictive and malicious use of criminal procedures in Nigeria.
- Notably, the system, in its current form, permits oppressors disguised as complainants to transform civil transactions, personal malice, or trivial misunderstandings into criminal complaints, often supported by falsehoods or misrepresentations. These complaints are then processed by compromised law enforcement agencies, inclined to frame charges upon inducement, while the courts—whether acting innocently or otherwise—hastily remand the accused/defendant to a correctional facility, thereby satisfying the complainant’s objective.
- I therefore recommend that the criminal justice system be reformed to adopt a more liberal approach to administrative bail and bail pending trial, particularly in cases where a complaint or charge is manifestly unsupported by evidence. In addition, I propose that complainants, upon filing their complaints, be required to enter into a bond of reasonable monetary value, forfeitable to the accused/defendant if the complaint is ultimately found to be frivolous or if the complainant fails to substantiate their allegations after arrest and pre or awaiting trial detention.
- May the above recommendation be considered in the overriding interest of justice, as it would discourage frivolous complaints, malicious arrests and detention, or needless remand pending trial—without requiring the victim to separately pursue a cause of action for damages arising from unwarranted detention or trial, or in addition to such an action.
Yours faithfully,
Maduabuchi O. Idam,Esq.
Notary Public
PP: M.O.Idam Attorneys
