The Chief Judge of Niger state, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, has ordered the arrest and removal of a police prosecutor from Magistrate Court in Izom, Gurara local government of Niger state for unlawful incarceration of an accused person, Suleiman Musa, at the Suleja Correctional Centre on a First Information Report (FIR) unknown by the presiding magistrate.
Justice Halima Abdulmalik, while examining cases of awaiting trial inmates, discovered that the FIR based on which an accused was detained was not signed by the presiding magistrate.
Further investigations by the Chief Judge on the issue revealed that the presiding magistrate had never arraigned the man in her court while the remand warrant was believed to have been forged.
The presiding magistrate of Izom, in his defence, told the CJ that she had never seen the accused in her court before, adding that, “I have not also seen this FIR. I did not sign it, I am not aware of it.”
Justice Halima Abdulmalik thereafter asked the police prosecutor, Inspector Mohammed of the Magistrate Court, to explain how the FIR was executed to detain the suspect for months at the Suleja Correctional custody.
The prosecuting policeman was unable to give a satisfactory explanation on the FIR saying that he could not identify the signature of the presiding magistrate, and this complicated his issue.
Narrating his ordeal, the suspect, Suleiman Musa, said he was arrested by the police along with some friends two months ago and dumped at the Correctional centre without being taken to court.
According to him, “all my friends have been granted bail by the court but I have not been taken to court.”
The Chief Judge expressed serious concern over the use of the apparent fake FIR by the police to incarcerate innocent people, saying the action was an infringement on the fundamental rights of individuals.
She ordered the arrest of the police prosecutor and directed the second- in- command of the Police Legal Department, Abdullahi Maiyaki, to “immediately” re-deploy the erring prosecutor from court appearances.