JUSTICE FOR SALE (II): Extortion, Injustice prevail in Lagos Courts

In the first part of this three-part investigative story, DAMILOLA BANJO exposed a string of extortion, bribery and intimidation by the agents and keepers of the law, especially the police.
In this second part she further followed the cases to the courts. Her probe revealed another extortion ring from the arm of government meant to be the last hope of the common man.

Various corruption indexes have rated the Nigeria Police Force, and the Nigerian judiciary among the top five most corrupt institutions in Nigeria.

The Transparency International (TI) in its 10th edition of Global Corruption Barometer Africa 2019, rated the police and judiciary 1st and 3rd most corrupt institutions in Nigeria. Also, in 2019, a public survey by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), ranked the police first, and the judiciary third.

In the report, 70 percent of Nigerians said they have been extorted by an official of the court at one time or the other.  Indeed, these two institutions are peas in the same pod; equally corrupt with one constantly trying to out do the other.

“Securing bail is more difficult when we charge suspects to court. It is better you negotiate at the station and get your person released than allowing them to be charged to court,” Saudi, one of the police officers at the anti-Cultism Unit told this reporter.

Saudi receiving money from another policeman

Sadly, Saudi was right. The fear of being locked up in prison, pending a prolonged process of perfecting the bail condition is one of the several reasons many Nigerians succumb to extortion at the police stations. The corrupt policemen know this and latch on it to milk citizens.

Paying the ransom demanded by the police or getting charged to court is a decision likened being stuck between the red sea and the devil itself for many Nigerians. Pay the ransom at the station, or get locked up in prison while being extorted to the last naira note by judicial clerks, prosecutors, and prison wardens.

“Within the court system, especially the magistrate which is closer [to the people], the level of rot is killing. It can even lead to a revolution overnight. The moment you’re charged to the court on any case, the magistrate does not have your time, they do not care if you committed the crime or not,” Awosanya said.

Shoddy investigation, languid prosecution

“This case is hereby dismissed for lack of diligent prosecution,” is a familiar verdict in any magistrate court in Nigeria. Of course, such pronouncement comes after months of protracted court hearings with no tangible evidence to prosecute the crime alleged.

The police prosecutors do not have detailed information beyond what is provided on the surface of the charge sheets. They appear before the court in lackluster attires, and with no enthusiasm. So disenchanted are many of them, they fail to see how incompetent they look in an open court, as they seek an adjournment, reciting the same reason as a pupil learning by rote in a kindergarten class.

In one case monitored by this reporter, Michael Unah, a prosecutor at the Lagos State Magistrate Court in Ogba, told the court –for the fifth time — that his witnesses were not in court. The magistrate nodded in agreement, adjourned the matter and the defendants were returned to prison.

Micheal Unah

Thousands of the inmates in Nigerian prisons experience this. They are remanded in prison custody as their cases get adjourned indefinitely.

Ideally, a case is thrown out after three appearances where the prosecutor presents no new evidence or witness before the court. Although, the discretionary power of the court could sway the judge otherwise.

The lack of diligent prosecution is one of the reasons for protracted legal battles and reason many defendants remain in prison for months, sometimes years.

Dolapo Agbaje, Usman Olamilekan, Chinma Ogbeeze were in prison for more than a year. They were raided and subsequently accused of stealing. The young men denied committing such an offence. They were each granted bail in the sum of N50,000 and two sureties in like sum. As the case dragged, the men, in their early 20s, could not perfect their bail. Ogbeeze said he has no relation in Lagos that could stand surety for him.

Dolapo Agbaje, Usman Olamilekan and Chinma Ogbeeze

Agbaje and his co-defendants appeared four times before Magistrate Fashola and all the while Unah did not produce a single witness or evidence against them.

After one year, Unah had not presented a shred of evidence before the court. He again asked the court for “more time”. In the end, the magistrate struck out the case and released the defendants.

In another case, Babajide Olosande, a 62-year-old bus driver, was charged to court to pacify a complainant who accused him of stealing his bus, the IPO, Ada, later owned up. Babajide’s traducer, Oladipupo Jacob, was becoming an irritating nag to Ada; so, she charged Babajide to court to save herself the trouble. Babajide was accused of theft without any shred of evidence to establish he stole the said bus.

“We do not want to charge you to court yet but Baba Ade [Oladipupo Jacob] was coming to the station every day to cry and saying we have collected money from you,” Ada said in the presence of this reporter while trying to pacify Babajide when he made it out of Kirikiri Prison three months later.

Olosande and co-defendant in the dock

While Babajide was in prison, unable to perfect his bail, the police found the alleged stolen bus parked at an army barracks in Yaba. The prosecutor, Unah, was informed of this development but he refused to follow it up or bring the new information to the attention of the magistrate.

A little investigation by the police could have saved Babajide from wrongful incarceration but for shoddiness on the part of the police, Babajide was unduly locked up for so long.

Lawyers as cogs in the wheel of Justice

The entrance of a typical court in Nigeria is always crowded with ‘legal’ merchants. These are the non-legal professionals making a business out of the ignorance of potential deponents to affidavits.

“Affidavit, affidavit, swear your affidavit here,” they call out to potential deponents.

On the other hand, there are professional sureties who stand for strangers in exchange for some money. Typically, they charge between N20,000 to N40,0000.

However, the leaders in this ecosystem are the lawyers. They loiter around the court, seeking clients. The slur; “charge and bail lawyer” must have roots anchored in this practice. These lawyers simply represent new suspects brought to court in securing their bail. Thereafter, the suspects can decide they no longer need their service.

But, while this is legal, some of these lawyers, most times, are accomplices in, and other times, facilitators of many extortions carried out daily in Nigerian courts.

When Babajide was arraigned before Magistrate Fashola, he was represented by a lawyer from A.A Adekunle & Co, a small chamber at Sango area of Lagos State.

Letter head of A.A Adekunle & Co

This lawyer was expected to facilitate the perfection of Babjide’s bail conditions but he did none of it, according to Bose, Babajide’s wife. Babajide would later spend over a month in prison with no attempt to get him out by his lawyer.

“The lawyer charged us N250,000 as his professional fee,” Bose disclosed. “We pleaded with him and he agreed to take the first installment of N50,000 which was given to him the night before he appeared in court.”

However, when Babjide was granted bail, it was Adekunle who informed the family members that the prosecutor had requested N40,000 each for verification of the two sureties requested as part of Babajide’s bail conditions.

The family paid the N80,000 hoping it would expedite the release of Babajide. Adekunle did not issue a receipt for this payment neither did he ensure the prompt release of Babajide. He left the family unattended while Babajide was held in Kirikiri prison.

After weeks of failed attempts at perfecting the bail, Bose went back to Adekunle’s chambers. The lawyer insisted he would get his complete legal fees before he released the bail bond to the family.

“When I went back to the lawyer, I told him we’ve been asked to bring [a bail bond],” Bose said. “He then requested he would get his balance before he released the [bond]. I then reminded him that our agreement was that he would get his balance once we have [Babajide’s] vehicle released from the police station.”

Babajide’s wife

She continued, “I took people to his chambers to beg him. He then requested for another N50,000 else he would not release the bail bond. He also told us he had used the N80,000 he said was for the prosecutor to pay for other expenses at the court.”

Adekunle is required to raise a bail bond for Babajide as the legal representative. A bail bond is a legal agreement that guarantees the appearance of a criminal defendant for trial, failure with which a sum of money would be paid to the court. The bail bond is co-signed by a bail bondsman, who charges the defendant a fee in return for guaranteeing the payment.

At the next court hearing, by which time Babajide had been in prison for about 30 days, Adekunle sent a young lawyer who came to court without the case file, nor the bail bond. Babajide’scase was again adjourned and he was returned, again, to the prison.

Fraudulent prosecutors

Seeing that her husband might again spend months in prison, Bose gave the young lawyer from Adekunle’s chambers some money for transport back to the office to retrieve the case file.

About 3 hours later, the young lawyer, Kehinde, brought the case file. At this time, the prison warden had taken Babajide into custody.

Kehinde met with the prosecutor Unah, who by duty would verify the residence of the sureties before the document is sent to the magistrate for his signature.

The reason for verification is for the court to ensure the sureties can be traced in the event that suspect jumps bail.