DPA calls on the police to charge to court the men arrested for armed robbery at Mpape, Abuja

On Saturday, December 28, 2019, the police from the FCT Abuja Command arrested four men at the scene of robbing a bank in Mpape, Abuja. That was the proper thing to do, and we commend the police for the arrests.

On Tuesday, December 31, 2019, the police paraded the four men before the press and the public. Also, the police obtained confessional statements from the men. Having observed the pictures, DPA has noticed that there is no evidence that the men were tortured. Again, we commend the police for not using torture to extract information from the suspects. The world shall recall that the reason DPA criticized the police as regards the parading of Paul Jekwu Ezeugwu and Emmanuel Adogah in the case of Charity Aiyedegbon was because the two men were tortured and there was visible evidence of torture at the time they were paraded.

Even without any evidence of the use of torture in the instant case, DPA maintains that the use of torture by the Nigerian police in other cases is against the law and against international practice. We had in the past criticized the police for the use of torture. DPA is pleased to think that Police Commissioner Bala Ciroma is beginning to listen to voices like DPA’s by not using torture in the instant case. A police officer well trained in the art of interrogation should be able to obtain information and investigate a crime without resorting to torture. And this appears to have been the case here.

However, DPA has one reservation as regards the police handling of this case since the men were arrested. How come that the men were paraded and confession obtained without any indication that the men had the services of lawyers? The men ought to have lawyers in order for the confessions they gave to withstand any challenge from their lawyers in court.

If these men had no lawyers and confessional statements were obtained from them and they have been paraded, then the police have shown incompetence because they run the risk of having the entire confession thrown out of court and the men may not be convicted in the end. That is why it is important that the police should follow the procedure set out for handling of suspects.

The Nigerian police, particularly the FCT Command, have notoriously ignored proper procedure in the handling of suspects. As a result, the conviction rate achieved by the police is less than 10%. That is to say, out of every ten suspects they charge to court, they are able to convict less than one. Unfortunately, the police blame this on the judges and they resort to extra judicial killings to compensate for their incompetence.

DPA therefore calls upon CP Bala Ciroma to promptly charge these men to court. We are concerned that increasingly, Nigerian police treat the parading of suspects as an equivalent to proper prosecution. They quickly parade suspects and then detain them and not take them to trial. There is something particularly disturbing about the parading of these men. Why parade them and disclose their confessional statement when you had not arrested all those involved in the crime? It raises questions about the purpose of the parading. It seems to be more for cheap publicity for the police than for a genuine or proper law enforcement effort.

In any event, since these men have been paraded, the police have no reason not to charge them to court immediately. Any claim that investigation has not been completed is not a valid reason not to charge them to court. Besides, if it was okay to parade them (even when their arrest was highly publicized) and to disclose their confessional statements, the police should be ready to charge them to court.

We are concerned that if the police don’t handle this case well, they will compromise it and it will become like other cases that never went to court despite public parading. Example is the case of those who confessed to killing Air Marshal Alex Badeh. Those men confessed and were paraded twelve months ago, but have not been charged to court.