Commissioner of Police V. Adamu Bello
WHETHER AN ACCUSED PERSON CAN BE KEPT INDEFINITELY IN A DETENTION FACILITY WITHOUT TRIAL.
Mr. Adamu Bello was a gateman serving at an estate in Abuja. He was arrested by men of the Nigeria Police upon suspicion of armed robbery in the year 2016. He was accused of stealing cables from a nearby house. Following his arrest, Mr. AB was arraigned in court and subsequently remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service facility in Kuje, Abuja, Nigeria until the year 2018 where Lawyers Alert met him on one of its visits to the facility. In view of the fact that his trial was stalled for that long, Lawyers Alert followed up the matter and ensured it appeared in the cause list of the High Court of the Federal capital Territory where the matter was being tried. The proof of evidence shows that the prosecution has four witnesses to prove its case. Even then, not even one witness had been called before the intervention.
OUTCOME
After some adjournments and seriously argued applications for a strike out of the matter pending when the prosecution witnesses would be available, the court struck out the matter on the 11th day of March 2021, thereby discharging Mr. AB.