CONUNDRUM IN EXERCISE OF RIGHT TO PERSONAL LIBERTY IN NIGERIA: NOT YET VICTORY FOR SUSPECTS

Abstract

The right to personal liberty of persons is a constitutional guaranteed right under section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999. This right include the right of a suspect to be arraigned in court or granted bail within twenty-four or forty-eight hours or more as the case may be. The CFRN 1999 provided that suspects may be detained for more than forty-eight hours without being arraigned in court or granted bail under certain circumstances exclusively reserved for the court to determine. The only caveat is that it must be reasonable to the court to so determine. The Constitution did not clearly define such circumstances, save and except that it must be reasonable to the court. The author therefore attempts to resolve the dilemma as to the adequacy or inadequacy of the said section 35 of the CFRN 1999. In order to achieve this, the paper undertakes a critical examination of section 35 of the CFRN 1999 and inherent interrelatedness with the concept of human right, fundamental rights and human rights’ violations. The author maintained that there are certain circumstances that are necessary to be considered in section 35 of the CFRN 1999 in order to improve the provisional potency of the said section, in order to act as a catalyst in protecting the rights of Nigerian citizens against illegal and prolonged detention. The author therefore assumed the position that section 35 of the CFRN 1999 is inadequate in the overall process of guaranteeing the protection of the rights of Nigerian citizens against prolonged detention.