Police, lawyers, judges are the cause of Prison Congestion in Nigeria---Giwa Amu

The reason why Kirikiri Maximum Prisons and other prisons in Nigeria have continued to play host to so many inmates awaiting trails has been revealed.

In an exclusive interview with Daily Signpost  in Lagos, the head of Chacole, Darda, Ethan and Heman Chambers, Chief Igbono Giwa Amu, a solicitor, blame his colleagues in the legal profession, police and judges for taken up matter for pecuniary motives without having the freedom or liberty of their clients at heart.

Giwa who provides free legal aid to inmates under the “Stephen and Solomon Foundation” in conjunction with the Prison Ministry of the Knights of St. Mulumba, Lekki Sub-Council; a ministry devoted to ensuring that oppressed people who have been denied justice or their fundamental human right are set free, have so far succeeded in securing the release 3500 inmates from various prisons across the country.

“There are many reasons why so many inmates are awaiting trails. The blame must berth in the legal profession. My colleagues take up matter, where their primary interest is pecuniary gain. They are not interested in the freedom or liberty of their client. That is why we have people we call “charge and bail,” they are just interested in getting the defendant out on bail,” he said.

According to Daily Signpost investigation, about 1000 inmates are awaiting trails in Kirikiri maximum prisons with some of them serving between 3-24 years without being convicted. It was also gathered that about 78 inmates have been sentenced to life imprisonment; 80 people sentenced to death while 113 are convicted criminals.

Daily Signpost learnt that apart from the fact that the government is not sincere with the decongestion of the prisons. It is disappointing that all the fines payable upon conviction goes to the state government while the maintenance of prisons are bore by the federal government.

Due to paucity of money, most of the cases are so long as the maintenance of prisons are bore by a body that does not benefit from the fine payable, the state government does not care how many people are in custody because their interest is financial; economic.

It was also revealed that some Magistrates form the habit of absenting themselves from court on flimsy excuses when they supposed to have being seating.It was also gathered that some of the magistrates either engage in unnecessary travelabroad or they come to court complaining of headache. Some went on shopping spree or selling things instead of looking at some the cases they have at hand.

According to a reliable judicial source, there is the problem of the judiciary itself. Some of these judicial officers, particularly Magistrates, act capriciously in the daily administration of their own court thereby frustrating the trail of these detainees.

According to Giwa-Amu, some of the magistrates give too stringent bail conditions making it impossible for the victim to be bailed due to the inability to meet some of the conditions.

He said the only way to nib in the bud the incidences of prison congestion is for the Deputy Chief Registrar (DCR) to enunciate some proactive measures that would bring about DCR wedging is powers by using its supervisory power over the magistrate