US embassy cable - 05ABUJA1140

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001140 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KCRM, NI, HUMANRIGHTS 
SUBJECT: LAWYERS ACCUSE POLICE AUTHORITIES OF HUMAN 
RIGHTS ABUSES 
 
 
1.  Summary:  The uneasy relationship between the 
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Nigerian Police 
continues in Kogi State and Abuja.  In late March in 
Kogi State, the NBA accused the police force of 
committing "gross" Human Rights abuses, while the 
police responded that the lawyers were helping 
criminals escape justice.  Meanwhile, NBA members in 
Abuja asked the police to stop acting as prosecutors in 
court, a role the lawyers say is exclusively theirs. 
The national executive council of NBA called on the 
Justice Minister to immediately direct the Inspector 
General of Police and his police commissioners to 
"desist forthwith from engaging in the initiation and 
prosecution of criminal cases in the law courts."  End 
Summary. 
 
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Accusations Fly in Kogi State 
----------------------------- 
 
2.  On March 23, 2005, a dispute between members of the 
Nigerian Bar Association and Nigerian Police, erupted 
in Lokoja, capital of the Middle Belt state of Kogi. 
The NBA's Kogi State chairman, Salisu Umar, called a 
press conference at the auditorium of the Nigerian 
Union of Journalists (NUJ) to accuse the Kogi State 
Commissioner of Police (COP), Mr. Bamidele Thomas, of 
committing gross human rights abuses in the state.  He 
issued an ultimatum to the Police Headquarters for the 
removal of the COP within seven days.  Umar accused the 
COP of disregarding the rule of law, detaining suspects 
in police cells without charges for more than 24 hours, 
personally collecting money as a condition for granting 
bail, and refusing to release suspects even on court 
orders. 
 
3.  The lawyer accused the accused the Edo State-born 
COP of "terrorizing and clamping into unlawful 
detention at the CID cell and other detention centers 
scores of indigenes of Kogi State." He said, "in fact, 
the Kogi State police headquarters is now a 
concentration camp; innocent people are dying daily in 
their cells with no medical care and food, while even 
students between the ages of 16-20 are chained among 
hardened criminals."  According to Umar, the NBA is 
upset at the human rights violations committed by the 
Police.  "Every day," he alleged, the COP carries out 
unlawful arrests, and courts cannot stop him because 
"he has failed to even carry out court orders."  The 
Kogi state NBA called on all lawyers in the country to 
stand up against "police interference" and defend "the 
integrity and dignity of the courts by insisting that 
the police at all levels obey legitimate court orders." 
 
4.  In a swift reaction, the COP, Mr. Bamidele Thomas, 
himself a trained lawyer, held a press conference that 
day, claiming that the lawyers were being 
"uncharitable" to him.  He accused the lawyers in the 
state of abetting criminals and said the accusation of 
human rights violations was untrue.  "On different 
occasions, I have reported some judges to the state 
chief judge to caution them, on how they release 
confessed armed robbers," Thomas said.  "When we arrest 
armed robbers who even confessed to the crime, the same 
lawyers will run to the court to seek bail for [them], 
and the court will grant them bail because the lawyers 
have misled the judges."  He accused some politicians 
in the state of engineering the NBA call for his 
removal. 
 
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And the Quarrel Continues in Abuja 
----------------------------------- 
 
5.  On March 30, the Abuja NBA also protested the ill 
treatment lawyers receive when they come to police 
stations on their clients' behalf.  Mr. Jude Okeke, 
Abuja NBA chairman also questioned the propriety of 
police standing in as prosecutors in courts, a role Mr. 
Okeke said belongs exclusively to lawyers.  Okeke 
accused the police of "frustrating" lawyers by losing 
records of court proceedings and records of suspects in 
police custody.  He described "most embarrassing 
instances of reported cases of missing police records." 
 
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The NBA's Governing Body Enters the Fray 
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6.  In February 2005, the NBA national executive 
council held a conference in the northeast state of 
Adamawa to discuss, among other issues, police 
interference in the judicial process.  A communique 
signed by the NBA National Secretary, Mr. Nimi Walson- 
Jack, called on the Justice Minister and Federal 
Attorney-General, Chief Akin Olujimi, and his 
counterparts at the state level to "desist forthwith 
from engaging in the initiation and prosecution of 
criminal cases in the law courts either directly or 
through police prosecutors posted to the magistrate 
courts."  According to the communique, "NBA holds the 
position that the exercise by the police of the power 
of initiation and prosecution of criminal cases 
constitutes an unwholesome incursion into the exclusive 
rights and privileges of qualified legal practitioners, 
who alone should have the right to plead any person's 
cause in our law courts." 
 
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Comment 
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7.  Months later, accusations continue between lawyers 
and the police, and recent incidents continue to fuel 
the disputes.  Administration of justice is greatly 
delayed and quick dispensation of justice obviously 
denied. 
 
CAMPBELL