In response to the many complaints by families and lawyers regarding the indiscriminate arrests, detention and remand of suspected looters across Lagos, the Lagos State Co-ordinator of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACON) has written to the Commissioner of Police for Lagos State requesting for a list of all suspects in police custody so as to provide legal services for them.
This request comes after a strategic stakeholders’ meeting was held to discuss the unhealthy trend of indiscriminate arrest and the violation of the suspect’s constitutional right to a lawyer of his choice.
Recall that over 500 suspects were paraded by the Nigerian police and were remanded based on unfounded charges of arson, murder, armed robbery and other capital offences. Children as young as 15 years of age, women and girls and even senior citizens in their 70s have been charged and detained for these grave offences without access to legal aid or services. More reports are coming in that these suspects are not well fed and the environment they are staying and sleeping is dehumanizing.
The same police that where nowhere to be found during the post #Endsars violence are the same police now rounding up these suspects and charging them without doing any proper investigations. They have mixed up the likely guilty people with the innocent ones.
The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria has taken the bold step of making this request and if the police fails to produce the information requested then it goes without saying that there is indeed something more to this than meets the eye.
If anything the Government says is true regarding the reformation of the police then this is an opportunity for us to see the sincerity and transparency of the Government.
Until then, we remain optimistic that the Police will indeed start to follow due process and be the police we are proud of.
LEGAL AID COUNCIL OF NIGERIA WRITES TO THE CP FOR LAGOS STATE REQUESTING FOR A LIST OF ALL POST #ENDSARS ARRESTED SUSPECTS
