Niger Chief Judge orders arrest of Police Prosecutor for detaining a suspect with fake warrant

A dramatic scenario was played out at the Suleja Federal Custodial facility when the chief Judge of Niger state Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik ordered the arrest of a police prosecutor Inspector Mohammed Shaibu for faking arrest warrant.

Inspector Mohammed Shaibu who is police Prosecutor in- charge of Magistrate Court in Izom was ordered to be arrested by the Chief Judge when he failed to give a vivid explanation on unlawful detention of Suleiman Musa for over two months without any warrant.

The chief Judge was in the Custodial center as part of her annual visit to the facilities across the state to decongest the facilities.

Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik had paid a similar visit to the facilities in Suleja shortly after her assumption in office where she was disappointed to see only seventeen detention warrants without their inmates”

Suleiman was detained in the Suleja federal Correctional facility without any charge preferred against him but was in the custodial facility on a forged warrant with fake signature which drew the attention of the Chief judge.

When the chief judge demanded for some explanations on why the said Suleiman Musa was held in the Custodial center Inspector Shaibu could not give any explanation to convince the Chief Judge.

In the mild drama, Magistrate Evelyn Ibrahim distanced herself from the purported warrant that was used in the detention of the suspect in the Custodial center saying that the signature on the warrant does not belong to her.

“My Lord. I’m amazed with this scenario. I have never seen this accused person in my court. The signature on this warrant is not my signature. I don’t know how he was detained” she told the Chief Judge.

To worsen the matter for the prosecutor, Suleiman Musa told the Chief Judge that the prosecutor collected money from those that were brought to court along with him and the prosecutor granted them bail.

At this point, Justice Abdulmalik, flared up and took a swipe at the police Prosecutor and she ordered for his immediate arrest .

“You behave so stupid. For how long have you been a Prosecutor in this court? You are so stupid in your conducts” a visibly angered Chief Judge told the Prosecutor.

Earlier, in his welcome address the Controller of Correctional Service in-charge of the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) Alhaji Ibrahim Idris told the visiting chief judge that the facility was established in 1914 with the capacity to accommodate 242 inmates.

He said the present capacity of inmates is over 500 among them include 365 awaiting trial while 188 others are convicts.

The chief judge then released nine convicts who have already served part of their jail terms while 15 others were tried summarily after reviewing their cases and 10 were granted bail.

Equally the chief judge ordered those with capital offences of culpable homicide to be tried in high court within two weeks after which the head of the legal Aid Council (LAC) in Niger State Barrister Bolanle Jibogun was asked to apply for their bail in High court.