The Director of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, has reacted to the case of two young men who recently regained freedom from prison.

According to Citizens Gazel, one of them was arrested because he was wearing slippers similar to those of the complainant, and the other was arrested by the police during a raid while he was hawking.

The predicament came to light in January 2024 when Citizens Gazel visited the Medium Security Correctional Centre and discovered that, despite having been arrested since 2022, they had never been taken to court.

The organisation said, "Immediately, our legal team took up their cases and began tracking the matter at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), eventually tracing the case to the court of Justice Coker.

"It was not until March 2024 that we made our first appearance in the matter. From then on, we continued appearing before Justice Coker on more than seven occasions for trial and filed several applications urging the court to strike out the case despite all the adjournments and the prosecution failing to produce a single witness.

"Early in 2025, we were informed that Justice Coker was on official assignment and that the matter would be transferred to another court. Once again, our legal team began the painstaking process of tracking the case to determine where it had been transferred. We eventually discovered that the matter had been transferred to the court of Justice Oshodi.

"We appeared before Justice Oshodi for the first time in March 2025. The charges were read to the defendants, and both men pleaded NOT GUILTY.

"At the close of the prosecution's case, we filed a No Case Submission, arguing that the prosecution had failed to establish a case requiring the defendants to answer and the case was subsequently adjourned for ruling.

"Today, the wait is finally over!

"The Court delivered its ruling in our favour, upheld our No Case Submission, and consequently discharged and acquitted both men."

When MyNigeria contacted HURIWA's director, he said the young men deserve to be compensated for the ordeal they faced.

He, however, lamented that the court in Nigeria is very lenient on the police in cases like this, meaning the boys may not get the compensation they deserve.

He said, "Of course, it is actionable. It is a matter that their lawyers should take up in the state high court and sue for heavy compensation.

"The problem we have in Nigeria is that judges are often too soft on the police. When somebody is detained for over a week, a month or a year, and he goes to court to seek compensation of 100 million, you see the court awarding just one or two million. That's too lenient on the offenders.

"If you go to other countries like the UK, courts hit the sledgehammer on the police. When you request compensation of $100 million, the court will award it to you.

"The police institution should be made up of professionals. If you recruit individuals who are not professionally trained, you will have so many violations of the rights of citizens. That's why Nigeria is living in a vicious cycle of abuses of human rights. A lot of people don't bother to go to court because the legal process in Nigeria is so time-consuming, cumbersome and resource-demanding. At the end of the day, the court may not be willing to award appropriate damages.

"The individuals involved in this case, if they get a very good lawyer who is willing to take their case, the person will prosecute their case and get compensation for them."

ASA