On behalf of all Katsina State youths, we hereby petition President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Aminu Masari and Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba Usman, to intervene and facilitate the release of our brothers and friends: Khalifa Sardaunan and El Zaharaddeen Umar from Illegal detention as the presumption of innocence is a legal principle that any person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proved otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction.

It is becoming more common in Katsina state to find civil disputes having Police participation in contravention of the provisions of the existing applicable Laws like Section 32 (2) of the Police Act 2020 l and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

There is no gainsaying that in practice, the police, as agents of the state are empowered to achieve a saner, regulated and orderly society through their duty of prevention and detection of crime, apprehension of offenders and preservation of law but what occurs in a lot of cases are infringements of the fundamental rights of suspects while carrying their duties.

Protection from Illegal Arrest and Detention in Katsina State
In its ordinary meaning, detention has a similar consequence with arrest; the deprivation of liberty of the detained or arrested person. Arrest without detention is a contradiction in terms, in that; arrest restricts the motion or action of a person(s) affected by it. Consequently, the person arrested is detained.

Illegal arrest and detention of an individual by the police is now a daily occurrence which the average Katsina State citizen encounters in the course of going about their daily business. This attitude stems from the ignorance of; the scope of police powers; and the nature of the individual right to liberty.

By Section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, and Article 3 of the African Charter on Human Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap (A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 the police have no power to detain anyone, save for as provided by the law. However, Section 38 of the Police Act 2020 permits the Police to arrest with conditions, and arrest as we now know is the beginning of detention.

It is worthy of note that nowhere in our criminal law is the police empowered to arrest citizens unconditionally and it is a known fact that most police officers in the course of carrying out their duties often abuse the powers of arrest provided in section 38 of the Police Act 2020 by arresting and detaining citizens even in matters which are civil matters.

Legal Rights Against Unlawful Arrest and Detention in Katsina State
The Nigerian Constitution and other International Human Rights provisions frowns seriously on illegal arrest and detention of any citizen without sufficient evidence upon which a charge can be preferred against him.

In the constitutional context, personal liberty connotes right to freedom from wrongful or false imprisonment, arrest, or any physical restraint whether in any common prison, or even in the open street without legal justification.

The personal liberty of a person may be restricted only by the exceptions in section 35(1)(a-f) of the 1999 Constitution as it is the law that right to personal liberty is suspended once there is reasonable suspicion of having committed a criminal offence.

It is noteworthy that an arrest and detention lawfully made within the confines of the law cannot constitute a breach of a citizen's right to liberty as encapsulated in Section 35 (1)(a-f) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.

That is to say that a police officer who while legitimately performing his duty and on grounds of reasonable suspicion of the commission of an offence, arrests a person cannot be faulted, but the suspect must be brought to court within a reasonable time.

It is however, correct to hold that detention, no matter how short, can lie as a breach of fundamental right. But that can only be so, if the detention is adjudged wrongful and unlawful in the first place; that is, if there is no legal foundation to base the arrest and/or detention of the Applicant. Furthermore, Section 5(1) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 also gives legal backing by providing as follows:

"The Police Force is responsible for protecting the fundamental rights of persons in custody as guaranteed by the Constitution"

This simply means that the police have the duty to protect the fundamental rights of a suspect which includes the right to liberty of a person, right to remain silent, right to be informed of the facts and ground of arrest and right to be brought before a court within a reasonable time.

These rights are captured in Section 35(2) (3) (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended and Section 35 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 and a breach of these rights leads to illegal detention with or without trial.

A brief examination of some of the existing Statutes regarding Human Rights and the powers of the Police to arrest a person with or without a Warrant are provided in the following paragraphs.

Human Rights Protection from illegal Arrest and Detention in Katsina State
Nigeria is a signatory to both the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and the African Charter on Human Rights. Nigeria has also domesticated both Charters in her local Laws.

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) reiterates the above provisions of the United Nations Charter on Human Rights when it guarantees in Section 35 the right of every person to his or her personal liberty except where such liberty is encumbered or restrained or controlled by the due process of the Law; i.e. the execution of a Court Order or Judgment.

The personal liberty of every person is further enshrined in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 ("ACJA") by among other things, guarantee to every person the right to remain silent and not answer any questions until a Lawyer or such other person of the person or suspect's choice is present.

We appeal to you to use your good offices to release our brothers/friends and ensure that rule of law prevails in this matter. We appeal that the detainees should be granted bail, pending when the police is ready to prove the allegations of wrong doing against them, as the presumption of innocence is a legal principle that any person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proved otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction.

JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED!