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NO GOING BACK ON OMO-AGEGE SUSPENDED ~ HON. ULEBOR

By Julius Akpos Following the crisis rocking the Delta State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, the State Executive  Comm...

Friday, May 14, 2021

THE LAW OF DETENTION AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF INDIVIDUAL TO FREEDOM

THE LAW OF DETENTION AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF INDIVIDUAL TO FREEDOM
In the case of OGHENETEJIRI who was MURDER in the Police custody: An Urhobo brilliant and illustrious son died in the custody of police officers attached to Delta State Police Command, as at the time of this report, no constituted panel has been set up to look into the circumstances that led to the untimely death of our own, #OGHENETEJIRI.

It's only in Delta an innocent suspect would died in police custody as a result of the IPO or the police men involved lackadaisical or conspiratorial acts and still be seeing them leaving their duty posts to embrace their children at home after sending an innocent person's to an untimely death. 
We browsed the internet and see how other State Governors reacts to issue like this but ours is a different ball game. Could it be that it was because of the fact that the victim, OGHETEJIRI came from Urhobo nation???

#THE_LAW_OF_DETENTION

The law of detention is provided for under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). The law aims at curing any mischief occasioned by the police or whosoever, against the fundamental rights of citizens, especially, the right to dignity of human person, the right to personal liberty, and the right to freedom of movement under sections 34(1)(a)(b)(c), 35(1)-(7) and 41(1)and(2) respectively. CFRN

Section 34(1)(b) CFRN states that every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly, no person shall be held in slavery or servitude. Also, Section 35(1) CFRN stipulates that every person shall be entitled to his respect to personal liberty and no person shall be deprived of such liberty except in accordance with a procedure permitted by law, as prescribed under paragraphs (a)(b)(c)(d)(e) and (f) of subsection (1) of section 35 (CFRN 1999).

On point of law, the police, or whosoever, do not and will not have any right to detain any person beyond one (1) day, or in some special circumstances beyond two (2) days depending on the nearness of a court of competent jurisdiction or as the case may be, without obtaining a court order to remand such a person in prison custody and not in a police cell or police station, otherwise such detention beyond one (1) or two (2) days as the case may be is illegal. See section 35 (1)(c), (4) $ (5) (a)$(b) CFRN 1999 and sections 293-299 ACJA.

In the event of obtaining a court order to remand such a person not entitled to bail in prison custody, if the person is not tried within a period of two(2) months from the date of his arrest, or three (3) months in the case of a person who has been released on bail, the court shall without prejudice to any further proceedings that may be brought against him, release him either unconditionally or upon such conditions as are reasonably necessary to ensure that he appears for trial at a later date. It is based on this fundamental grundnorm principle i.e section 35(4)(a)$(b) CFRN 1999, that criminal cases are struck out by the courts under S351 ACJA and S280 CPA for want of diligent prosecution.

The most assuring benefit of the law is that any person who is unlawfully arrested or detained, shall be entitled to damages in monetary compensation and public apology, from the person and/or authority that carried out the unlawful arrest, except where the "unlawful" arrest or detention was upon reasonable suspicion of having committed a capital offence. In this case, the test of "reasonable suspicion" shall be a case for the determination by the court. This legal mechanism, is a check against arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention by individuals and law enforcement agencies.

#These_i_so_submit_on_the_legal_mind

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