World Human Rights Day Celebration; Bwari Branch Human Rights Committee Visits Bwari Police Division  

Mary Akanbi

11th December, 2022

In commemoration of the International Human Rights Day which held yesterday, the Bwari Branch(Cradle Bar) Human Rights Committee visited the Bwari Police Division Headquaters yesterday to mark this year's Celebration.

.                   Monday Adjeh Esq

Going by this year’s theme “Dignity, Freedom and Justice for All”, the Chairman of Bwari Branch(Cradle Bar), Monday Adjeh called on the government and it’s agencies to be more proactive in identifying those basic rights that are often violated.
He stated that the office of the Chairman is open to seek redress on behalf of citizens whose rights are breached.

To mark this year’s event, the Human Right Committee of the Branch visited the Bwari Division of the Nigerian Police Force in Bwari led by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Obinna Amorha, Mr. Peter Omenka who is the alternate Chairman of the Committee and Ms Yewande Mary Akanbi, a member of the Committee met with the Divisional Crime Officer 1 and other officers in the station, introduce themselves and thereafter lectured the officers on the need to protect the rights of the arrested detainees in the custody of the Police. 

The Committee also lectured the officers on the importance of some of the relevant provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act(ACJA)2015 such as Section 33(Report of Cases of Arrest by the Police to the Magistrate), Section 34(Magistrate monthly visitation to the Police Station), Section 8(Human Rights Treatment of Suspects by the Police), Section 17(Record of Statement of Suspect by the Police), that those sections must be strictly adhered to as stipulated in the ACJA.

The Committee also reminded the Officers that the recording of suspects statement must be done strictly according to the provisions stated in ACJA, video recording etc, that we have offices for such facilities, Lagos has one but Abuja has 2 of such office been the Capital. The offices are in Guzampe and Wuse Zone 3. And any Suspect arrested and detained by the Police must be taken to the court within 24hrs as stipulated in ACJA and must treat Suspects with dignity.

The officers replied that they have been complying with the provisions of ACJA and they do not torture any Suspects but they do face some challenges such as

1. Not transporting Suspects to such place for their recording, it's as a result of lack of logistics and transportation to transport the suspects there.

2. The Station does not have welfare packages and feeding packages for the detainees. Which is a major challenge for them. 

The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Obinna Amorha promise to look into those challenges. He also promised the officers that when next the Human Rights Committee visits the Station, they shall assists with welfare packages. 

The Committee commended the Officers for their good works and thanked them for their continuous cooperation with lawyers of the branch.

The Committee thereafter presented to the Police gazatted version of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act(ACJA) 2015 and other materials that will enhance the protection of Rights of Suspects.