Lagos State’s House of Assembly has passed an amended version of the Criminal Justice Law of the State barring the police from parading suspects before journalists henceforth. The bill was passed at a sitting presided over by Deputy Speaker, Wasiu Eshilokun-Sanni.
Section 9(A) of the newly passed law states: “As from the commencement of this law, the police shall refrain from parading any suspect before the media.” The law stipulates conditions under which a policeman can make an arrest without warrant, one of which is that a person must be reasonably suspected to unlawfully be in possession of firearms or other such dangerous instruments.
A subsection of the law also bars the police or any other agency from arresting a person “in lieu of any other person in a criminal matter”. It adds that a person who is arrested “shall be given reasonable facilities for obtaining legal advice, bail or making arrangements for defence or release. “A suspect should also be ‘accorded humane treatment, with the right to dignity of person; not subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment; be brought before the court as prescribed by this law or any other written law; or be released conditionally or unconditionally.”
After a voice vote, the Deputy Speaker directed the acting Clerk of the House, Olalekan Onafeko, to transmit the bill to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for assent. He may either give his assent or veto the draft law. If he does the latter, the House may choose to over ride the veto, setting off a constitutional crisis. However, given that both the governor and a majority of the lawmakers are from the same All Progressives Congress (APC), no such conflict is envisaged.
Now to the goodness of the law. The Constitution of 1999, which is the nation’s ground norm, says a suspect is innocent until a court of law proves him guilty. Parading him in public is an infringement of the constitution. It portrays the suspect as a criminal even before he has appeared in court.
The police may argue that it is for the common good that suspects are paraded openly to frighten or deter would-be criminals. However, it is not for them to interpret the way it suits them. That is the job of the courts. Supposing the suspect is eventually freed during trial, what happens? He or she would have been humiliated and dehumanized. Yes, he or she may go to court to claim damages. But enforcement is a big problem. Meanwhile the stigma sticks. This is why we welcome what the Lagos legislature has done. We implore other state houses of assembly to do so too.
