- Complainants give up on cases over unbearable illegal charges
- We need to buy diesel – Prison warden
- Experts seek reform of institutions, say ‘justice now for sale’
- No complainant is expected to pay a dime to Police – FPRO
Victims of various crimes in Nigeria have cried out over the huge burden associated with illegal charges and alleged extortion by the Police, court clerks and other law enforcement agencies in their bid to seek justice.
Many victims, who spoke to our correspondent in separate interviews, narrated their ordeals in the hands of government officials while trying to get justice, noting that some of them had to give up on such crime cases over unbearable extortion.
Suspects, who are remanded pending the outcome of their cases, also face extortion, with prison personnel demanding money from their relatives before they can be received, investigations have revealed.
It was also gathered that prison wardens, like the Police and the judicial officers, also weave an illegal extortion racket around the inmates they were employed to protect.
For instance, the poor family of a 20-year-old undergraduate of one of the tertiary institutions in Osun State, who was allegedly raped by a pastor of a Celestial Church of Christ, narrated how they eventually abandoned the case after the defiler was taken to court.
Yemisi’s parents narrated how they had to pay for the transport of the policemen who were to effect the suspect’s arrest, pay for him to be taken to court and were also asked to provide logistics for wardens who were present in court.
“We had no choice than to part with the sum of N10, 000 before the so-called Pastor Kayode was arrested. We thought that was enough, but we had to spend more before the suspect was brought to court. The IPO collected the sum of N15, 000 for transportation of the suspect to court. At that point, I was already regretting reporting the rape case to the police because I never knew victims and their relations had to spend so much just to get justice,” Yemisi’s poor father, simply identified as Gboyega, told The Point.
After the arrest and arraignment of the suspect, Gboyega said he had to leave the court premises in anger after the suspect was remanded and the IPO told him that prison wardens who were present in court with their official vehicle would have to be ‘settled’ before the order of the court would be carried out.
“The IPO collected the sum of N15, 000 for transportation of the suspect to court. At that point, I was already regretting reporting the rape case to the police because I never knew victims and their relations had to spend so much just to get justice.”
“I had to leave the suspect there with the Police. They expected me to pay another N20,000 just to take the suspect to prison even when prison officials were present in court with their official van. As I am speaking with you, I don’t know what later happened to the suspect, whether he was eventually taken to the prison or they allowed him to go,” he said.
The Point’s investigation revealed that the ordeals of Yemisi’s parents were the same as the experiences of victims of criminalities in Nigeria and those of their family members in the course of getting justice.
At various courts of law visited by The Point, officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service extorted litigants before suspects who had been remanded would be taken to court, even when that is one of their constitutional roles.
These prison wardens charge victims and their family members, mostly poor Nigerians who cannot afford three square meals, between N10, 000 and N20, 000 before a suspect who had been remanded by the court would be taken to custody.
In a situation whereby the victims or their family members do not have money to offer, victims are left with Investigation Police Officers who would pressurise them to part with the money being demanded.
WE NEED TO BUY DIESEL – PRISON WARDEN
“We have to buy diesel before we can drive our van to court and take suspects back to custody. I can only collect N5, 000 from them, if not, they should take the suspect to the prison themselves,” an official of Ilesa Correctional Centre was telling The Point’s correspondent who presented himself as a relation of a rape survivor at the premises of a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ikirun, Osun State, after the court ordered the remand of a suspected rapist.
These illegal service charges by prison officials and policemen persist despite huge budgetary allocations by the Federal Government to the institutions.
The Defence budget for 2024 is N1. 647 trillion, about 5.7 per cent of the entire 2024 budget. Similarly, in 2021, N455 billion was budgeted for the Police, N559 billion in 2022 and N838 billion in 2023. In 2024, the Police budget stands at N969 billion.
Notwithstanding these huge allocations, policemen continue to complain of lack of functional vehicles to arrest suspects and criminals, and where vehicles are available; they demand money for fuel from victims of crimes and litigants, according to findings.
The budgetary breakdown reveals that N567.41 billion was allocated to the Correctional Service over the past six years, with personnel costs taking 60 per cent (N339.3 billion), Overhead costs (for provision of utilities, including transportation of inmates) getting 24 per cent (N137.08 billion) and capital taking 16 per cent (N91.02 billion) of the total amount.
Despite these substantial allocations, stakeholders are worried that men of the Correctional Service still fail to carry out their constitutional duties unless they are tipped by those who cry for justice.
COURT CLERKS NOT EXCLUDED
Even before the Lady Justice in various court premises, court clerks and bailiffs are also in the habit of demanding illegal charges from victims of crimes and litigants before rendering the services they are being paid for by government.
In cases whereby these clerks need to fill bail bonds or remand warrant, they approach complainants for money, ranging between N2, 000 and N5, 000, it was gathered.
“If a complainant hesitates, they tend to apply delay tactics to compel payment,” a victim said.
‘JUSTICE NOW FOR SALE’
Some legal practitioners and human rights activists who spoke with The Point on the alarming incidents said many victims of crimes, especially rape and other sexual assault survivors, had been withdrawing from pursuing justice while lamenting the commercialisation of justice in the country.
A human rights activist, Citizen Lola Wey, said the rights of Nigerians to seek justice was being threatened, lamenting that “justice now goes for a cost.”
She said, “There are great hurdles on the way of survivors, victims of rape and other crimes and their family members in getting justice. And justice, I am told, is a right of every Nigerian and this right is threatened by the cost of getting that justice.
“For rape victims and survivors, the cost starts with the cost of getting the case reported, the cost of getting to the nearest police station, the cost of undergoing medical examination to confirm that something happened, the cost of buying drugs to take care of issues that may arise as a result of the sexual abuse. It might be sexually transmitted diseases, it might be injuries as it was in the case of a 17-year-old girl that was sexually abused in 2020, her head was smashed against the rock.
“Apart from getting treated from the sexual abuse, she also needed treatment for her head that was smashed because the intention of her abuser then was to also kill her and harvest part of her organs for God knows why.
“Then, apart from buying drugs to take care of the consequences of the sexual abuse, victims, survivors and their family members also have to bear the cost of bringing the perpetrator of such heinous crimes to the police station. And, on the day the matter will be arraigned in court, the victim or the survivor and their family members also have to bear the cost of transporting the perpetrators of the heinous crimes to court.
“This can discourage the ordinary citizens and most of the times, the victims and survivors are usually vulnerable members of the society who do not even have the means to seek justice. So, putting that additional trauma discourages them from demanding justice for themselves and their family members because they will have to bear the cost of transporting the perpetrators to courts and sometimes, bear the cost of feeding the perpetrator while in police custody.”
Wey, the Executive Director of Eco Centre for Transformation and Empowerment Initiative, added that these illegalities thrive “because government has not made adequate provisions for transportation and feeding of suspects while in custody,” adding, “And then, when the case has come to court, and the judge or Magistrate of the courts whom the suspect is arraigned asks that the suspect be remanded, the victim or the survivor, as the case maybe, also still has to bear the cost of transporting the perpetrator from the court premises to the Correctional Centre and this also does not come at a very cheap cost.”
A lawyer, J. P. Jones, said the illegal charges being collected by prison and police operatives were because the government and authorities had failed to provide adequately for utilities that would enhance arrests and transportation of suspects.
He said, “Everything revolves around the government. It is the government that should make all these mechanisms available to ensure smooth sailing of the criminal justice system in Nigeria. Now, the law is there and it states that the police are to prosecute, and the law does not say that the litigants, the nominant complainant should be the ones that will now foot the bill of transporting the suspect to court or prison, it is not supposed to be.
“Despite these substantial allocations, stakeholders are worried that men of the Correctional Service still fail to carry out their constitutional duties unless they are tipped by those who cry for justice.”
“Now, the question is, at the end of the day, if the suspects are not being taken to prison, they cannot return the suspect back to the police. Now, is it the police that is underfunded? A common Sergeant acting as a prosecutor who is earning below par that will now use from his own money to be transporting suspects to remand? It is not done. This issue needs to be addressed so that there will be special funding to that effect.”
The lawyer, added, “Nigerians call the police and they will tell them that they cannot come to the scene of crime because they don’t have fuel or that their vehicle is not in order. These are the things that the government needs to address, if not, let there be State Police so that the state will be able to handle some of these lacuna.
“As far as the Nigeria Police is concerned, the Federal Government should ensure that the needful is done to the last letter. Most of the time, even the money earmarked for all this transport of inmates is nothing to write home about. The prison official will not come and stay in court and be transporting accused persons. It is not done. There should be a synergy between all security agencies that investigate and prosecute so that this issue will be resolved.”
NO COMPLAINANT IS EXPECTED TO PAY A DIME TO POLICE – FPRO
When The Point reached out to the Force Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on the alleged corruption against policemen, he said, “This matter has been addressed before now. We even made an official statement in respect to this. No complainant is expected to pay a dime to the police before we commence investigation into his or her matter. We don’t condone that, and it’s not part of policing traditions and Standard Operating Procedure.
“We have cautioned complainants who report cases to the Police to desist from such. However, in most cases, some legal officers (lawyers) and/agents encourage such a payment for reasons known to them. Many who claim to represent their clients or complainants at the station lie on the Police, extort complainants, and live fat on this deal.”
“We are not encouraging this at all, and it must be discouraged by all means. Those affected should report to us via our platforms,” he added.
However, the National Public Relations Officer of the NCoS, Chief Superintendent of Corrections, Abubakar Umar, said he was at an event and promised to call back. His call did not come in as of the time of filing this report.
