IBRAHIM AISHA ABBA, UNIABUJA LAW CLINIC: REFLECTION

April, 2018. The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), in partnership with the Network of Universities Legal Aid Institute (NULAI) kick-started a Prison Pre-trial Detainee Project for Law Clinics across Nigerian Universities, with Clinicians being the direct participants in the Project. The Pre-trial Project was aimed at providing access to justice for pre-trial detainees in Nigeria from Kuje and Suleja Prisons.

My name is Aisha Ibrahim Abba, a 400 level clinician from the University of Abuja Law Clinic who was privileged to be amongst those who visited the Kuje Prison. Established by the Federal Government in 1989, the Kuje Prison is a Medium Security Prison located at the Kuje Area Council of the F.C.T. It has an original capacity of 560 inmates. However, the Kuje Prison currently houses an approximate number of 900 inmates, and approximately, 650 are awaiting trial.

Before the Prison visitation, a workshop was organized for all Uniabuja Clinicians on the 4th of April, 2018. This workshop was aimed at exposing the Clinicians to the basics of the Project, and especially, Prison Visits. Various lecturers taught the Clinicians on the laws which provide for Arrest, Detention, Bails, and even Trials for Suspects; how to interview inmates, what to expect, the do's and don’ts amongst others. And I must confess, what I learnt from the workshop proved invaluable, especially when we went for the Prison Visit.

At the Team level- of which every Team consisted of 5-6 members, we were made to do a quick summary of our Aims, Objectives, and Goals as a Team; select officers of the Team such as a Secretary, Research officer, etc.; couch questions we would be asking our clients (in this case, the inmates), etc. Thereafter, we practiced mock client-interviewing sessions severally. These meetings prepared us effectively for Prisons, and later Court Visits in that, it bonded us as Team members and enabled us to imbibe Team Work. It helped our work easier because everyone had a duty to perform at a point in time. With all preparations done, we got ready for the D-day, i.e. the Prison Visit.

Amidst all the preparations for the Prison Visits, I was lost somewhere between the borders of excitement and anxiety. Excitement, because I love Advocacy and philanthropism, and the whole idea of 'doing something for others' made me look forward to the Project with such vigour zeal. And anxiety, because not even the workshop could have eased my nervousness because whenever I imagined myself sitting with, and even interacting with a prison inmate made my heart tug. Growing up, I always had this notion that all prisoners are 'bad people' who harm others, and so, had to be locked in prisons. As such you can imagine what I felt- having have to talk to potential 'bad persons'.

On the 16th of April 2018, we set out to Kuje Prison with the aim of interviewing as much inmates as possible. That was our goal- to help gain access to justice to as much detainees as possible. Unfortunately, however, each team was able to interview one inmate. Or at most, two. This was because of some hitches with the application to visit, as such, the officials had to make 'quick arrangements' so each Team could at least interview an inmate each.

Nothing, however, could have prepared me for what I encountered, there at the prison. The strict procedure of walking down to the Visiting Area made me all the more nervous- from the thorough search by the prison officials, to the narrow walks in-between tiny, poorly ventilated rooms before finally arriving at the Visiting Area. For a moment, it took me back to the horrifying images of slave pens packed like sardines in my History textbook.

We sat there, at the Visiting Area, as we waited for the prisoners to be led in. When they finally did, however, I shuddered. First, as a woman, it was the intimidation that came with coming face-to-face with tall, intimidating men. While some of them had a thuggish outlook with tattoos and weird hairstyles, the most of them appeared as 'normal' as any other young man outside the prison walls.

Our client was a twenty-five year old young man who was charged with Homicide and Robbery. He was tall, agile, and visibly broken. His tattered clothes did little to hide the sore marks of wounds which decorated his skin. His eyes had sunk deep into his sockets. And when I listened to his story, I suppressed the urge to cry. With great difficulty, I acted professional and actively wrote as I was required to take records of the interview. Here I was, talking one-on-one with someone charged with Homicide and Robbery. Yet, what I felt at the moment was far from loathe or disdain. I felt empathetic.

This experience, perhaps, as insignificant as it seems, is one I will always remember till my last days. From our client's story, he's a carpenter who was arrested at his place of work, in place of a friend who has murdered a young man- a friend whom he'd not seen in the last six months preceding his arrest. He spent three months in detention in the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) where he was continually tortured before he was brought to Kuje Prison.

In addition, three strange men were brought in by SARS, whom he was forced to affirm to the fact that they committed the offence together. This indeed is really disturbing; for one, the police officers who arrested him, had, according to him, affirmed that they were aware of the fact that he did not commit the crime, and secondly, he is currently charged with the three strange men, in the same suit, for Homicide and Robbery.

Amongst many other issues like Prison Congestion and Poor Welfare of prisoners which I've observed from the prison visit, the issue of Arbitrary Arrests and Detention, Torture, and Arrest in Lieu are ones I find really difficult to wrap my head around, being ones which our client was majorly affected with. And this is sadly, the current reality of Nigeria's Criminal Justice System. There are several cases to this regard.

In its 2017/2018 Reports on Nigeria, Amnesty International observed that 'By April 2017, the military detention facility at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri held more than 4,900 people in extremely crammed cells. Disease, dehydration and starvation were rife and at least 340 detainees died. At least 200 children as young as four were detained in an overcrowded and unhygienic children's cell. Some children were born in detention.' Again, by an online publication dated 2nd September 2017, The Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade (FHRACC), Delta State confirmed the report of Amnesty International on the Federal Government's caging of numerous unlucky Nigerians without trial and information of their whereabouts by their families.

Furthermore, in a report published on 21st September, 2016, Amnesty International stated the torture and inhuman treatments which victims undergo in the hands of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. ‘Our research has covered a pattern of ruthless human rights violations where victims are arrested and tortured until they make a 'confession' or pay officers a bribe to be released.’ An ex-detainee was reported to have said that ‘In Nigeria, it seems torture is a lucrative business.’

More than five other Teams which I'd interacted with do affirm to the fact that their clients were; at a point in time, brutally tortured. My heart broke, when, after the interview, our client asked, 'is it by force that when they arrest you, they must beat you?'

Perhaps at this juncture, the question that begs for an answer is whether there aren't laws guiding Arrests and detentions in Nigeria, aren't there Laws prohibiting Torture, Arrest in Lieu, and the likes of them?

Section 7 of the celebrated Administration and Criminal Justice Act, 2015 provides that 'a person shall not be arrested in place of a suspect'. Thus it is prohibited to arrest another person in place of a suspect. Under Section 8(2) of the same Act, 'A suspect shall not be subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment.'

Is it safe to say then, that Security Officers in Nigeria are the gross violators of these laws? My take is, the ignorance and recklessness of the Nigerian Police and other security officials contribute greatly to Pre-trial issues. In an article titled 'Everyone's on the Game" Corruption and Human Rights Abuses by the Nigerian Police Force, Human Rights Watch reported that the myriads of abuses the Nigerian Police subject citizens 'ranges from arbitrary arrest and detention to threats and acts of violence including physical and sexual assault, torture, and even extra-judicial killings.'

We cannot deny the fact that the Police is one of the key role players in the Criminal Justice System. Most of the time, the Police inadvertently determine the fate of an Accused person. From Arrest, to detention, to Bail, down to Trial. So any inaction on their part can grossly affect the fate of a suspect.

Let’s take the provisions of the ACJA for example that provides for the Arrest of a suspect. S.14 (1) of the Act provides that a Police officer must inform a Suspect of the reason for his arrest in a language he understands. Sub (2) of the same section provides that 'a suspect shall be given adequate facilities for obtaining legal advice, access to communications for taking steps to furnish bail and otherwise making arrangements for his bail or release.'

This is hardly ever the case in Nigeria. The police arrest people en masse, most of the times, and throw them in crammed prison cells. Most of these people are only victims of circumstance, maybe a wrong person at the wrong time. And then they spend weeks on end in cells from where they may be taken to Prisons and before you know it, they'd spent years in Prison without even knowing why they are in prison.

Section 15 makes provisions for Recording of Arrest and confessional statements. Here, the Act provides that the Suspect’s information and basic data shall be recorded within 24 hours, and where he volunteers to make a Confessional Statement, it should be recorded in writing or other electronically retrievable device. Again, this is hardly ever implemented. Nowadays we have poor or no records of suspects and where confessional statements exist, 90 percent of the time, the suspects claim they were forced or tortured to write it.

As regards Taking of Statements of Suspects, the ACJA in section 17 has laid down an adequate procedure for taking statements of suspects that it even covered for where the suspect does not understand English or cannot write in which case an interpreter should do the needful. I mean, we can go on and on. The Police are doing a poor job, really and it is high time this is addressed lest we keep having congested prisons filled with innocent people who have to pay the price for our Police Force’s ignorance and recklessness!

It is pertinent, at this juncture, to state that my participation in the Pre-trial project has influenced my attitude and behaviours in more ways than one. It shaped and changed my outlook and perspective on prison detainees. It would be recalled that at the beginning of this paper, I stated that growing up, I had a rather twisted mentality on prisoners in that I saw them as villains. Not anymore. For having come in contact with prison detainees who are, and have been in prison for all the wrong reasons has made me learn that not all prisoners or detainees are guilty of the offences for which they were charged.

More so, I got to learn in depth, the Nature of Nigeria's Criminal Justice System and the laws which provide for the Rights, Arrest, Detention, Bail, and Trials of Accused Persons especially as contained in Nigeria's Constitution (1999) as Amended and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015. It is therefore, safe to say, that in as much as our laws are clear, they are not necessarily followed in practice.

Day in day out, Police officers in Nigeria arrest persons en masse, torture them, and fling them to crammed cells. Worse, they are even made to affirm to the commission of a crime they did not even do! Lamenting on this current situation, Justice Mohammed Garba of the Court of Appeal Lagos Division, while speaking on the topic, Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015: Innovations, Challenges, and the Way Forward, urged operatives of the Nigerian Police Force to do more investigation rather than waiting for a confessional statement to unravel a crime.

All these, and more, continue to be the horrifying reality of our Criminal Justice System- the role of the police, the poor prison condition, and even unnecessary adjournment of cases by courts make some pre-trial detainees stay longer than the terms they are even supposed to serve had they been guilty of the crime(s) they are charged with!

It's crazy, but the pre-trial Project has made me learn more things than I've ever learnt in my four years as a law student! One of the things the Pre-trial project has exposed me to is that, it more or less enhanced my writing skills, and where I practically had zero-knowledge of how to come about a write-up, it forced me have to ask or learn on the spot. An interesting example is that the first day my team had its meeting, I was made the Secretary in that I had to take minutes of meetings, record all the decisions which the team reached, write on reports at the end of the day, and record our client’s statement on the day we visited the prison. I was practically learning on the job! But in due time I adjusted and got used to it.

More so, I learnt how to deduct and write the facts of a case from a whole bunch of stories from clients. When my team leader asked me to write the facts of the case from our client’s story, I practically had no idea how to go about it. But then again he guided me through it and when I did write it, it felt surreal!

Another thing the Project has exposed me to is Team work. I’d learnt how to effectively and professionally work with people from different backgrounds and with different ideologies. At first, it felt a little awkward, having have to work with 500Level students! But after a few meetings, everything felt balanced. We shared ideas and knowledge, from our interactions, going to court etc., I learnt what wonderful set of people they are!

Although we were not to come in contact with Client-interviewing until this semester, the pre trial project, has, in a way prepared and equipped me with Client-interviewing even before I met it. We’d practiced client-interviewing a few times, and displayed it when we went to interview the inmates. So yes, I got to equip my mind and get ready for client-interviewing in that, when I was first taught in class, it didn’t sound something entirely bizarre.

At the end of the day, I am a new person! Yes, I am. Because I have a deeper, broader and flexible perspective on the Prisons, Prisoners, as well as Nigeria's Criminal Justice System! It feels absolutely amazing, and surreal, to feel this empathetic towards persons I had absolutely no connection with, prior to the commencement of the project.  Perhaps it was this new found knowledge experience that prepared me for a Radio talk on Pro-bono Chambers, Human Rights FM, on 4th July, 2018 where I spoke on the Provisions of the ACJA 2015 with regards to the procedure for Arrest, Detention, and Confessional Statements of Accused persons. It was a first-time experience, and I must confess, really eye-opening.

With the Pre-trial Project, I dream of a reformed Nigeria's Criminal Justice System and proper implementations of the Provisions of the Police Act and the ACJA 2015. With the Pre-trial Project, I've had the opportunity of doing something, solely and absolutely for others, and feeling amazingly glad that I have, in one way or the other, touched someone's

The Pre-trial project experience is one I will neither forget nor regret participating on, for it has shaped me in more ways than I could ever imagine.