The Police and Lagos state police command have been asked to either charge musician, Azeez Fashola, popularly known as Naira Marley, to court if he has any case to answer regarding the death of Nigerian singer, Mohbad, or free him unconditionally.
Civil society organisation- Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), made the call in a statement on Sunday.
The group carpeted the police for violation of the constitutional rights of some detainees arbitrarily arrested and thrown into cells without trial.
HURIWA, in the statement made available to PlatinumPost by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said that under no circumstances should law enforcement authorities work with unsubstantiated tissues of gossip but must base their actions on facts and the positions of the Nigerian laws.
“HURIWA condemns the security agencies such as the Department of State Services (DSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the most notorious of these unprofessional security bodies-the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) for their penchant to pick up Nigerians and throw them into their detention facilities indefinitely with no regards to the clear pronouncements of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 as amended,” the statement said.
HURIWA stated that the detention of such top profile citizens such as Abdulrasheed Bawa, erstwhile EFCC’s Chairman, Godwin Emefiele the erstwhile CBN governor by the DSS, who was later transfered to the EFCC which subsequently detained him without charge, amount to violations of the constitutional provisions on personal liberty.
The rghts group noted that hundreds of thousands of Nigerian detainees are languishing in police detention facilities across the country for long periods of time without being charged officially for any crimes.
HURIWA which said it is deeply concerned about how Naira Marley is going through unlawful ordeals in the hands of the Lagos state police command, called on the police authority and the relevant prosecutorial authority in Lagos state’s ministry of justice to either charge the Musician to court or free him immediately rather than detain him arbitrarily and indefinitely in clear and unambiguous breach of constitutional norms and provisions.
HURIWA noted significantly, that the 1999 Nigerian constitution clearly states that persons arrested or detained shall be brought before a court within a “reasonable time”.
“According to the constitution, the reasonable time means a period of 24 hours when a court of competent jurisdiction is within a radius of 40 kilometres to the police station or a period of two days in any other case.
” Section 35(4) of the 1999 constitution states that: “Any person who is arrested or detained in accordance with subsection (1) (c) of this section shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time, and if he is not tried within a period of – (a) two months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a person who is in custody or is not entitled to bail; or (b) three months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a person who has been released on bail, he shall (without prejudice to any further proceedings that may be brought against him) be released either unconditionally or upon such conditions as are reasonably necessary to ensure that he appears for trial at a later date.”
“Subsection 5 states that: “In subsection (4) of this section, the expression “a reasonable time” means – (a) in the case of an arrest or detention in any place where there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of forty kilometres, a period of one day; and (b) in any other case, a period of two days or such longer period as in the circumstances may be considered by the court to be reasonable.”
“This implies that the detention of arrested suspects for more than 48 hours without being charged to court is against the provisions of the constitution.
” Section 61 (1) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 agrees with the provisions of the constitution while stating that a suspect arrested without a court warrant, other than a capital offence, should be granted bail, where it is impracticable to charge to court within 24 hours.”
HURIWA therefore endorsed the position of Miss. Shubomi, the sister of Naira Marley, who had expressed outrage over her brother’s detention, describing it as a human rights violation.
HURIWA recalled that the Magistrate Court sitting in the Yaba area of Lagos State ordered that Sam Larry and Naira Marley be remanded in custody earlier this month while they continue the probe into the circumstances surrounding Mohbad’s death.
HURIWA condemned what it calls a growing penchant since President Bola Tinubu assumed office on May 29th 2023, for security agencies to behave as if the vountry is under a military dictatorship by arresting and clamping Nigerians arbitrarily into derelict detention centres without charge which the Rights group affirmed is a gross abuse of the Constitution which is a bedrock of constitutional freedoms and democracy.
HURIWA also called on the security agencies to respect the constitutional freedoms of Nigerians since the country is under a civilian government put into office by the mandate of Nigerians.