Why is it that the Abuja judiciary will not do anything about police atrocities?

The answer to the captioned question is very simple. It is because the Chief Judge and the Chief Magistrate are indirectly responsible for those atrocities. Ask me how.

If the Chief Judge and the Chief Magistrate had performed their statutory functions as provided in Section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, (ACJA) there would be virtually no atrocities in Abattoir or other police detention centers in Abuja. I have attached a screenshot of Section 34 of ACJA for you to read through.

Section 34 provides that the Chief Magistrate is to visit the police stations every month. It further provides that during such visit, the Chief Magistrate may call for and inspect the record of arrests; direct the arraignment of the suspect, grant bail to suspects. That section also provides that the officers in charge of a police station shall make available to the visiting Chief Magistrate the full record of arrest and record of bail, etc. And any officer who fails to do so will be punished.

This is the function the Chief Judge and the Chief Magistrate, particularly the Chief Magistrate, failed to perform all these years. They waited until DPA wrote petitions before they started performing their duties. By then, thousands of Nigerians have died in police custody.

DPA is considering suing the Chief Judge and Chief Magistrate and the police for this. We just can’t take it quietly.