By James Ogunnaike
A Police Inspector, Mr. Orankan Balogun who has spent 22 years in the Nigeria Police Force has claimed ignorance of the existence of the Administrative Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) enacted since 2015, which stipulates that it is mandatory that a suspect makes his statement in the presence of his lawyer.
The law also provided that where a lawyer is not available, the process must be recorded with an audio-visual device to prevent suspects making statement under duress.
Officer Balogun made this claim while appearing before the Ogun Judicial Panel of Investigation on police brutality sitting in Abeokuta in respect of a petition submitted by one Mr. Gbenga Kehinde who was accused, arrested and detained unlawfully for 47 days alongside his friends, Messrs. Rafiu Bena, Emmanuel David and Saheed Adesanya for allegedly stealing fishes worth N63m at a fish farm in Imagbon area of Ijebu-Ode.
Kehinde, in his petition submitted to the panel, stated that “on the 7th of…
Source: Vanguard Newspaper
