Former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikorodu branch, Mr. Bayo Akinlade, has accused policemen across Lagos of kidnapping citizens and detaining them in police stations without the knowledge of their families and the Judiciary.

According to him, his lamentation stems from what he experienced following the visit of a Chief Magistrate in Lagos to Police detention centres, in compliance with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, which mandates magistrates to visit such facilities.

He said lawyers who volunteer under the Duty Solicitors Network (DSN) were alerted to an extortion scheme going on at the Area C police command, where they discovered that people arrested around Lagos were secretly detained in cells within the premises of the command.

The report from the visit reads: “We arrived at the premises at exactly 2.45pm in company of the Chief Magistrate and her support staff. With His Honour, were also five learned counsels from NBA Lagos Branch and the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria.

“On reaching the cells, we found them mostly empty, contrary to earlier reports of overcrowding. Even the Detention board was wiped clean.

“His Honour enquired as to the whereabouts of the 19 suspects in brief custody as at her last visit on January 10, 2022, as well as eight others in prolonged custody since December 24, 2021, totaling 27 suspects in all.

“She was told that the suspects in custody had been released, to which she promptly demanded evidence of their release either in a letter, or their respective bail applications, or any other form of release records.”

According to the report, only one bail application covering two inmates was produced in respect of the eight, which were detained since December 24, which left 25 suspects unaccounted for.

Akinlade added that the Station Officer had no record of the suspects, nor any statements obtained at the time of their arrest, showing that nothing had been done.

“Further report from His Honour on her engagement, revealed that the arrests were randomly done on suspects of all ages, charged with no particular offence, without being informed of the reason for their arrest, and picked up while going about their normal private lives. Not even their IPOs were known to them.”

“After waiting indefinitely for the police records of release, which were not forth coming, our suspicions were raised as to the truth of the suspects’ release. Some of us then quietly conducted a surprise search of the premises and found a room where some of the missing suspects had been hidden,” he added.

The statement reads that other suspects were also discovered, having been transferred from Ikorodu, and still being held beyond time. “We were however able to gather the names and particulars of all the suspects we found in the Area C facility, for immediate action on their cases.

“In the end, and after several interrogations, we were able to come to the conclusion that all these anomalies result from the ‘directives of the CP,’ who gave orders for the suspects not to be released or formally charged in court and who is fully aware of the consequent situation, and that the officers at Area C command are only following orders.