Mr. Babatunde Oke a staff of
Ecobank Plc, ogba branch, a bank in Nigeria was alleged to have defrauded the
bank of the sum of N1.2 Million Naira, he was arrested by the Nigeria police
based on a report from his employers , he was taken into custody while in
custody he was interrogated and tortured which eventually led to his death.
Babatunde Oke is survived by
wife, two years and five months old children. May his soul Rest in Peace
(AMEN).
The Nigerian police is expected
to serve as an unbiased empire by handling each matter diplomatically
irrespective of who reports a case following the provision of the
Constitution Federal Republic of
Nigeria, the Criminal and Civil procedure Acts and its own Act which is the
Police Act.
The issues for determination in
respect of Babatunde Oke are ;
(i)
Whether the offence alleged of is so grievous to
deny him bail
(ii)
What is the time frame for arraigning an accused
in the law court
(iii)
How liable is the Nigeria police in this case
(iv)
How liable is Ecobank as the complainant in this
case
(v)
Remedies available to the family of the deceased
On whether the accused can be
granted bail, Section 17 of the Criminal procedure Acts provides that when any
person has been taken into custody without a warrant for an offense other than
an offense punishable with death, any officer in charge of police station may
bring such person before a magistrate within 24 hours after he was taken into
custody to inquire the case and unless the offense within appears to be a
serious nature discharging the person upon his entering into recognizance with or without sureties for reasonable
amount to appear before a court as soon as possible.
Section 484 of the criminal
procedure Act define as soon as possible as practicable whether or not the
police inquiries are completed. Section 27 of the Police Act authorizes the
police to grant bail pending the trial of the accused person.
Section 35 of the constitution
FRN guarantees the right t personal
liberty its subsection (4) however demand that person denied personal liberty
in this regard shall be brought before the court of law within time otherwise
the person shall be released on bail, reasonable time is further defined as by
the court as 24 hours in case of an arrest in any place where there is a court
of competent jurisdiction within a radius of 40 km or 48 hours or any longer
period that the court considers i.e. in case of arrest after 4pm on Friday.
On whether the management of
Ecobank is liable,it is no longer news that in Nigeria where it is discovered
that the set the law in motion against the deceased they shall be liable for
malicious detention BALOGUN V. AMUBIKHAU (1989) 3NWLR (pt 107) 18
Every officer in charge of the
matter popularly referred to as IPO shall be liable if (i) bail was
unnecessarily denied which is contrary to the provision of the criminal
procedure Act, their own Police Act and above all the constitution .
On whether there is remedy for
the family of the deceased their son, husband died in the cause of exercising
his duty plus they were the ones who set the law in motion against him by
subjecting him to unnecessary torture while investigation is ongoing.
Conclusively, I hereby appeal to
the Inspector General Of Police, the Assistant Inspector General of police Zone
2 Lagos, the commissioner of police Lagos state, Minister for police Affairs,
the disciplinary committee of the CBN, All human Rights lawyers across the
federation to intervene in this matter.
JUSTICE FOR BABATUNDE OKE!
JUSTICE FOR ALL!!
Thank you.
Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi
LLB(hons)BL
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