By Solomon Runsewe & Damilola Akinmolayan

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What is illegal detention? Under which condition can a suspect be detained beyond normal stipulated time by the law? How can a suspect know his/her right while in detention? These questions are generating controversy in Nigeria today. Experts speak on the issue, Excerpt:

Illegal detention cannot come alone. It is a corollary to illegal arrest. The two move paripasu.
They are to me inseparable wrongs. Detention is illegal or unlawful when a suspect is detained following an unlawful arrest.
In another way, unlawful detention can also come from lawful arrest but beyond the time permitted by law.
For example, arrest by proxy which means arresting another person in lieu of the actual offender will definitely lead to illegal or unlawful detention because arrest by proxy itself is illegal. Somebody may be arrested lawfully.
The law prescribes that such a person should be charged to court within 24 hours or within reasonable time depending on the availability of a court within the vicinity.
So keeping the person lawfully arrested behind the bar in perpetuity without charging him to court or releasing him amounts to unlawful detention. Whenever anybody is arrested, let him contact his lawyer.
Section 34 of the Constitution guarantees our rights to individual liberty. Detaining any suspect at the police station without taking his statement amounts to illegal detention.
Section 46 of the Constitution makes provision for how to seek redress in Federal or State High Courts whenever any of our fundamental rights as guaranteed by Chapter IV of the Constitution is breached.

Illegal detention is when an innocent person or a suspected criminal is detained contrary to the provisions of our extant law.
You need to obtain a court order for you to detain a suspect beyond the law stipulated time, that’s the general rule.
The first person to educate a person under detention is the security agency putting such person in detention but Nigeria of nowadays, things are not working well.

I can simply say illegal detention is when a suspect or defendant is being detained beyond the normal stipulated time by the law, before being arraigned before the Court of Law or released on bail.
When we talk of illegal detention, it is of different types. In a civil matter and a police officer investigating a case and you now find out that the officer in charge detained the defendant is totally illegal.
But there are some cases that are very sensitive and you must look beyond. The right thing to do is to write to the Court of Law to give you enough time to detain such suspect in your custody till you conclude your investigation, before the suspect or defendant can be finally arraigned in court.
On this note, there are some overzealous officers, because of what they want to get, when the case is being presented to them at the station, they may decide to keep suspect in the case and be expecting somebody to come for their bail, before the arraignment, it is illegal.
But the issue is this, if you look at the “scenario” going on in Nigeria today, everybody is getting involved in one crime or the other, thinking that Nigeria is a lawless country and therefore getting themselves involved in illegal things.
Therefore, when you are detaining a suspect involved in a crime that can be a threat to the society and you want to carry out proper investigation on the matter, you have the right to write the court and the court will definitely grant your application.
In Nigeria of today, there are series of crimes and when police are not giving enough time to investigate, it may jeopardize the proper investigation and it will give court problem in terms of trials.
Finally, I can say that, a suspect or defendant also has his own right while in detention.
There are many NGOs fighting for human rights, they are out there sensitizing people on how to know their rights. They can also fight for such persons.
But the major issue is that government does not make any provision for any arrested suspects to be catered for in the police custody and all the expenses will be on the officer in charge of the case.
The suspects have the right to be fed, right to their personal lawyers and others but who pays their bills while in detention?

Illegal detention means when someone is being detained without justification or a detention not permitted by law. i. e. where someone is arrested and detained in lieu of a particular suspect.
The law allows a suspect to be detained for not more than 48hours after which such suspect is to be arraigned before a Court of competent jurisdiction.
Any detention that falls short of the provision of the Constitution may make the arresting officer/agency to be liable for breach of the suspect’s fundamental rights.
The law doesn’t allow a suspect to be detained beyond the stipulated time under the constitution.
However, where investigation is yet to be concluded and it is discovered that the suspect might be detained beyond the stipulated time, the suspect may be given an administrative bail.
A suspect in detention can know his right by demanding an access to his or her a lawyer.