Sept 4 for ruling on man detained for 9 yrs without charge

By Onozure Dania

Lagos—A Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere has adjourned to September 4 for a ruling on an application seeking for the release of a 34-year-old man, Segun Odumeru, who has been in Kirikiri Prisons since 2009, without any charge filed against him.

The vacation judge, Justice Idowu Alakija, fixed the date after listening to the fundamental rights application brought by the applicant’s counsel, Mr. Tunji Abdulhameed.

He had filed an application in a way of motion on notice against the Lagos State Police and their privies as respondents.

Earlier, Abdulhameed told the court that the applicant was arrested by the Police in April 2009 and taken to a magistrate’s court on a holding charge of robbery.

He said the Police took Odumeru to the magistrate’s court and urged the court to remand Odumeru until a proper charge was drafted against him.

The counsel also said that Odumeru was then remanded at the Kirikiri Prison, pending when a charge would be brought against him.

According to him, since 2009 Odumeru, who was 25 years old in 2009, had been in custody without any charge brought against him.

The lawyer said the applicant had never been taken to court after the remand order.

Abdulhameed urged the judge to make an order releasing Odumeru from custody unconditionally.

He said the application seeking the release of the applicant from custody was brought pursuant to Order 2 Rules 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the fundamental rights enforcement procedural rules and Sections 34, 35, 36, 41 and 46 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

Abdulhameed argued that the application was seeking an order of the court declaring that the continuous detention of the applicant in Kirikiri Prisons since 2009 at the instance of the Police was unlawful and inconsistent to the provisions of the fundamental rights as enshrined in the constitution.

He also sought an order of the court for the applicant to be released from custody unconditionally.

The lawyer asked the court for an order restraining the respondent (the Police) or any of their privies from further detaining the applicant.
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