Wrong Practice: Police Arraign Suspects Before Getting Evidence

Justice Mariam Mukhtar, Is the Chief Justice of Nigeria, she has stressed an important issue and challenge in our beloved Nigeria. She said security agencies in the country take suspects to court before looking for evidence to prosecute them.

She has identified the practice as one of the reasons for undue delays in the criminal justice administration system in the country.

The CJN spoke at a special session organized by the Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 2013/2014 Legal Year, as well as the inauguration of 17 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday.

She said “It is common knowledge that our security agencies usually rush to the courts with suspects, before looking for evidence to prosecute them.

she said.“The persistent use of the ‘Holden Charge’ by these agencies to detain awaiting trial suspects, is a major contributor to the high number of cases pending in our courts,”.

The CJN advised the security agencies to emulate the practice in other parts of the world, where adequate evidences were obtained before suspects were arrested and charged to court.

She said “In Nigeria, suspects are promptly arrested and often times arraigned in court, even when no evidence for prosecution has been gathered.

“The backlash from such failure of proper investigation by our security agencies is the resultant hike in the number of cases pending in the courts.”

She admonished the security agencies to adopt a more effective approach, she said, “This procedure is a far cry from what obtains in other democracies, where discrete surveillance is placed on crime suspects who are painstakingly stalked by security agents, until such a time when enough evidence would have been obtained for their arrest, arraignment and prosecution.

Source: Punch