For a very long time now, it has become the practice nay, the norm for police officers to parade persons suspected of committing one offence or the other before the public. Usually, in a bid by the police to convince the public that they are alive to their responsibilities, they are quick to showcase arrested suspects as trophies of war before newsmen and journalists. The latest in this series of bizarre parade of suspect is the one involving the arrest of members of a group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra, led by one Onwuka in Anambra State. The members of the group were arrested on the grounds of breaching the peace while agitating for the actualisation of a sovereign state of Biafra. In a manner that was apparently calculated to humiliate the suspects, they were paraded half-naked before newsmen who in turn featured their pictures in their tabloids with nationwide circulation.

Without really mincing words, it is important to situate this practice by law enforcement agents and newsmen within the context of Nigerian law, most especially the laws regulating the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria. Based on the adjectival nature of Nigerian justice system, every accused person is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the law courts after a full trial. The implication flowing from this is that both in the course of arrest, investigation and prosecution, an accused person is to be accorded the same treatment that a law enforcement agent will give to every other law-abiding citizen. Thus, it will be a negation of this age-old principle for an accused person to be treated in a manner which is prejudicial to his rights as a citizen, except on the grounds of derogations permitted by the law.

In a similar vein, the African Charter on Human and People’s Right, which is enforceable as Nigerian law by virtue of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, provides in Article 5 that, “Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation and degradation of man particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman of degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited.”

The right to the dignity of human person, unlike other fundamental rights, is so sacrosanct that no permissible ground is allowed for its violation. A citizen’s right to life may be denied if convicted of a criminal offence involving the death penalty. A citizen’s right to freedom of movement may be curtailed in times of emergency. A person’s right to freedom of association may be denied, if the association is one that is manifestly dangerous to public safety. However, the right to the dignity of human person does not permit of any derogation. The importance attached to this right forms the basis for the various laws, both local and international, which prohibit torture, and other forms of dehumanising treatment to a fellow human being.

When one situates the concept of inviolability of the right to dignity of human person within the context of the presumption of innocence, which operates in the realm of Nigerian Criminal justice system, then one can only wonder in utter consternation why law enforcement agents often treat suspects and accused persons the way they do. According to reports in the newspapers, after the public parade of the suspects mentioned earlier in this article, the police eventually released them with the admonition not to disturb public peace again.

That singular act of releasing the suspects after parading them in such despicable manner, clearly betrayed the intention of the police to shame and bring opprobrium to the persons of the accused persons. One then begins to wonder when self-help through shaming of suspects became a means of law enforcement. Also, one is left to wonders why politicians and influential members of the society who are accused of stealing billions are not paraded in such manner with the stolen billions stashed around them. This discrepancy in the manner in which law enforcement agents treats the rich and the poor has made many to wonder if the laws protecting the rights of citizens in Nigeria are only meant for the rich while for the poor it is a state of anything goes.

The concept of the rule of law, which is the lifeblood of every democratic setting, suggests that every person is equal before the law and is equally subject to the law. This necessarily means that even law enforcement agents who are custodians of the law are equally subject to the laws which establish them and which regulates their mode of operation. From my little knowledge and experience as a lawyer, I am yet to come across the law which grants the police the power to treat suspects in such a dehumanising manner as parading them half-naked or as prisoners of war. For many years now, Amnesty International has consistently raised the alarm on human rights violations by law enforcement agents in Nigeria. Those who are directly affected by these indictments are usually quick to dismiss them as mere imperialist propaganda of the West. An average citizen on the street in Nigeria however knows that these indictments by Amnesty International are closer to the truth.

Regardless of how felonious the activities of the agitators for Biafra might seem, or how heinous any crime allegedly committed by an accused person might appear, it is no justification for the undignified manner in which they were paraded and ridiculed before the public. What is most unfortunate is that most of the accused persons, who the police are quick to parade with much fanfare, end up being acquitted of the alleged offence for lack of cogent evidence. In any case, guilty or not, the law does not permit such high-handed practice in dealing with accused persons. So far, it seems no one has been courageous enough to sue the law enforcement agents over this practice of media trial, a factor which might be responsible for the impunity with which the act is carried out. However, beyond suing the police, it is a collective shame of everyone as a Nigerian if the ordinary rights of citizens cannot be protected by the same agency that is tasked with the protection of their rights.

The public might have the right to be informed of the activities and operations of the law enforcement agents. This does not translate to the trampling of the rights of accused persons all in a bid to show that the police is working. If anything at all, such acts as parading suspects, or such other forms of media trial by the police only serve to alienate them from the public whose interest they serve, and whose cooperation they need in order to effectively carry out their duties.

If the police have become inured to its Gestapo manner of law enforcement, and find it difficult to correct themselves, then the government of the day should do the needful by issuing strong policy statements that will open the eyes of the police to their high-handedness. The security and welfare of the citizen is the primary purpose of the government, and as such the government must, at all times, be alive to its duties of protecting the rights, security and well-being of its citizens.

Aileru, a legal practitioner, writes from Lagos.

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