Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has urged the Nigerian police to charge FIJ reporter, Daniel Ojukwu, to court if he fails to meet the administrative bail conditions.
In a post on his official X account @InibeheEffiong, said the Inspector General of Police has no right to detain Ojukwu beyond 24 hours if he fails to meet the bail conditions.
He said: “The courts have held repeatedly that the failure by a ‘suspect’ to meet conditions of administrative bail imposed by the police does not justify detention beyond the constitutional timeline of 24 hours.
“If Daniel Ojukwu is unable to meet your arbitrary and onerous bail conditions, which by the way offends the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and the Police Act, 2020 that frowns at imposition of stringent bail conditions, the right course of action is for the police to arraign him before a court of competent jurisdiction if he has committed an offence.
“Also, it’s not correct that the IGP has no hand in the case. All police officers and police departments in Nigeria are under the control and supervision of the IGP.
“It is a sad commentary that as a country, we have a police institution that has no respect for the rights of citizens.”
