AGF bans Nigerian police from parading suspects
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has officially banned the Nigeria Police Force from parading criminal suspects before the public.
A suspect parade is a common practice where individuals accused of crimes are displayed publicly before legal proceedings begin.
The AGF’s decision aims to uphold the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” and prevent human rights violations.
Senior police officers in both the Federal Capital Territory and Lagos State have confirmed receiving directives regarding the new policy.
One of them according to PUNCH said, “I am aware of it. I think the directive was given by the AGF earlier this month or thereabouts and the information was passed down to us. You would have noticed some level of compliance.“
Another top police officer in the FCT said, “ Yes, we have been asked to stop parading suspects.”
Meanwhile, speaking on the new development, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), said the practice of parading suspects was illegal.
He said, “The practice of parading suspects is illegal as it constitutes a gross violation of the fundamental right of criminal suspects to the presumption of innocence guaranteed by Section 36 of the Constitution and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
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“It is equally discriminatory as only lowly placed criminal suspects are exposed to media parade by the police and other law enforcement agencies.
“While poor suspects are paraded for allegedly stealing tubers of yam or telephone handsets valued at N10,000 or less, politically-exposed persons accused of looting the public treasury to the tune of N10 billion or more are never paraded before the media.”
Falana stated that over five judgments had declared that the parading of suspects is illegal.
He said, “Even though the incriminating statements procured from criminal suspects during media parade are not admissible during trial in criminal courts, they are used by law enforcement agencies to compel members of the public to participate in mob justice.
“There are five judgments of the ECOWAS Court and Federal High Courts which have declared the parade of suspects illegal.
“I have sued all law enforcement and security agencies to justify the illegal parade of suspects.”
