Muhammad Kabir 
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has initiated moves aimed at ensuring that persons detained in Police stations across the Country quickly receive legal assistance by facilitating contact with their families to inform them of their whereabouts.
Falana SAN said that he is already in discussions with the Attorney General of the Federation to ensure that every Police station across the Country has a legal aid desk that would provide poor Nigerians with quick access to legal aid before even going to Court.
Speaking during a Capacity Building Workshop on the Training of Prosecutors on the Effective Administration of Criminal Justice in Kano State, organized by Kurwa Hussaini in collaboration with the State Ministry of Justice, Falana remarked, “Many gullible Nigerians continue to suffer in detention without knowing their rights or their whereabouts, with their families left in the dark.”
He explained, “What we are going to discuss with the Attorney General is under the criminal justice law as well as the Criminal Justice Act. Our people, due to ignorance, are made to suffer daily in Police stations across Nigeria.
“For instance, if a Nigerian is arrested and taken to a Police station, under the law, it is the duty of the Police to contact the family to inform them that the suspect is in their custody, so the family won’t be left wondering, thinking that perhaps the person has been kidnapped.”
He lamented, “You could be locked up for a week or more without any contact with your family. That is no longer permissible under the law.
“If you do not have a lawyer and are going to be interrogated by the police, you have the right as a Nigerian to demand legal representation, and the police must contact the Legal Aid Council to provide you with a Lawyer.
“So, legal representation begins at the Police station. It’s allowed. By the time you are taken to Court, that same body must also provide a lawyer for you if you cannot afford one,” he continued.
“The rich can take care of themselves. They can afford lawyers, and when you find a wealthy person, they will simply say, ‘Meet me in Court, I will instruct my lawyers to sue you.’ But for the poor, they say, ‘God will judge.’ However, God is saying, ‘Take advantage of the provisions made by the government to seek justice.'”
Falana SAN commended the Kano State government for adopting the Administration of Criminal Justice Act in 2019, noting that since then, Kano has led other States in implementing the act.
“Kano has gone ahead of other States in promoting the law. For instance, Kano has become the first State to abolish the prosecution of criminal cases by police officers. In other words, all criminal cases are now prosecuted in Kano by legal practitioners.”
He emphasized that in terms of training prosecutors, they must be equipped with modern tools, trained effectively, and have their conditions of service improved so that they can concentrate fully on their work.
“To lodge a complaint at a Police station is problematic for most people because they may be asked to pay money for investigations by the police officers.
“Therefore, the government must intervene by empowering the Office of the Public Defender to assist the poor. Kano State has an Office of the Public Defender,” he said.
He called for the establishment of a Public Defender’s Office in all 44 Local Governments in Kano, where lawyers would be employed to take on the cases of the poor, similar to the Legal Aid Council at the Federal level.
Falana added that the Legal Aid Council has offices in all 36 states of the federation. He stressed that the Office of the Public Defender should operate in every Local Government so that the poor, who are denied access to justice, can seek help. These offices would assign Lawyers to take on their cases.
The organizer of the event, Sadiq Sabo Kurawa, explained that the program was organized to equip Lawyers with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively handle criminal justice matters in Nigeria.
He said, “During the workshop, we lined up legal experts, including Auwalu Yadudu, Senior Advocate Femi Falana, Senior Advocate AB Mahamoud, Attahiru Jega, and many others, to educate Lawyers on aspects of criminal justice that were not covered in their formal education, to enhance their ability to effectively discharge their duties.”
