Falana seeks justice for 15 Nigerians detained by naval authority

Activist lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN) has urged the
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr.
Abubakar Malami (SAN), to charge the naval personnel, said to be
responsible for alleged violations of the rights of 15 detainees,
with contempt of court and acts of torture under the Criminal Code
Act and the Anti-Torture Act.

The eminent lawyer said this became necessary to curb what he
called the growing culture of official impunity in the country.

He said the 15 Nigerians, including Group Captain Dada Labinjo,
Lt.-Commander Sherifat Ibe Lambert (also known as Mrs Bola Labinjo)
and Benjamin Gold, have been in naval detention for an undisclosed
offence since last September, despite the orders of an Apapa
Magistrates’ Court and a Federal High Court, Abuja, for their
immediate release.

In a statement yesterday in Lagos, titled: “Seven-month
detention of civilians and military personnel without trial by
Nigerian Navy,” Falana recalled how the predicament of the
detainees started.

The frontline lawyer said sometime last September, the Nigerian
Navy arrested the detainees and dumped them in a military detention
facility at Apapa in Lagos.

He noted that in an attempt to legalise the arrest and detention
of the detainees, the naval authorities obtained a remand warrant
from a Magistrates’ Court at Apapa.

Falana added: “But as the detainees, who were incarcerated for
over three months, were not charged with any criminal offence, the
Magistrates’ Court reviewed their case on January 7, 2019, and
ordered the naval authorities to release them from illegal custody
forthwith.

“But in utter contempt of the valid order of the Magistrates’
Court, the authorities of the Nigerian Navy transferred the
detainees to another military detention facility in Abuja.

“Following the application by Lt.-Commander Bola Labinjo, filed
for the enforcement of her fundamental right to personal liberty,
the Federal High Court directed the naval authorities to release
her from illegal custody. But the valid order of the Federal High
Court has equally been ignored by the naval authorities without any
legal justification.

“Even though the civilians among the detainees are not subject
to service law, the naval authorities have continued to detain them
in military detention facilities.

“As if that is not enough, the detainees have been denied access
to their family members, medical doctors and lawyers.”

The eminent lawyer regretted that the fundamental rights of the
detainees to dignity have been violated as they are being held
incommunicado in solitary confinement while they are subjected to
physical, mental and psychological torture, in contravention of
Section 3(2) of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, which provides that
“secret detention places, solitary confinement, incommunicado or
other similar forms of detention where torture is carried out are
prohibited”.

He averred that since the prolonged incarceration of the
detainees can no longer be justified under the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, or the Armed Forces
Act, they should be released from custody or arraigned before a
competent court of law, if there is reasonable suspicion that they
have committed any criminal offence whatsoever.

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