By Bulus Y. Atsen, fsi, Esq.
Preamble
It was the best of times and the worst of times. Two Nigerians living in the same Republic, under the same Constitution, stand before the law, one enjoys the best of rights, while the other suffers the worst of wrongs. Our Constitution, in Sections 35 and 36, guarantees the right to liberty and the presumption of innocence. Yet, the cases of Yahaya Bello and Chinedu Agu remind us that these guarantees are not evenly distributed. The difference between them is not law, it is treatment.
A Tale of Two Citizens
Yahaya Bello, a former Governor accused of grand corruption, enjoys judicial safeguards that stalled his arrest and secured his bail. The courts, in his case, acted swiftly, and rightly so, citing Constitutional Rights and Due Process.
Meanwhile, Chinedu Agu, a lawyer in Imo State, remains in detention at a Correctional facility without a formal charge. His ordeal stems from the order of a Magistrate who openly confessed to lacking jurisdiction to determine the offence Chinedu is being investigated for. His bail application, unopposed, was denied on the astonishing ground that no charge had been filed. And I ask, if a citizen charged with an offence is presumed innocent and entitled to bail as a matter of course, how much more one who has not even been charged?
Section 35(4) of the 1999 Constitution is unambiguous: any person arrested must be brought before a court within a reasonable time, and where no charge is preferred, must be released, either conditionally or unconditionally.
The Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Imo State echoes the provision of Section 62, Administration of Criminal Justice Act, requiring that arrests be based on reasonable suspicion and investigation, not whim, vendetta, or political convenience. Yet, in Nigeria, the sequence is often reversed: arrest first, investigate later. Cells across the country are filled with citizens waiting for files that never move.
According to the Nigerian Correctional Service, as of October, 2025, 66% of the 80,619 inmates in its custody are awaiting trial, a staggering indictment of our criminal justice machinery. The Anti-Torture Act (2017) goes further. Section 8 criminalises secret detention and unlawful confinement, while Section 2 condemns any form of coercion to extract confessions. Still, such practices persist in defiance of the law and in contempt of human dignity.
When the State Hunts Goats
An old fable tells of an elephant and an antelope seen running across the savannah.
“Why are you running?” the Antelope asked.
“The Police are arresting goats,” said the Elephant.
“But you’re not a goat,” the Antelope replied.
“I know,” said the elephant, “but in this country, you would be arrested, charged and convicted before you can explain that you are not a goat.”
It would be humorous if it weren’t true.
In today’s Nigeria, arbitrary arrests have become so normalized that even the innocent live in quiet fear. When police stations become warehouses for pre-trial detainees, and magistrates sign detention orders for cases they admit they cannot hear, justice is not being served.
Law enforcement exists to protect citizens, not to intimidate them. Under the ACJA and the equivalent state laws, state resources are meant to pursue genuine crime prevention and investigation, not to settle political scores or display administrative power. Every unlawful detention diverts manpower, time, and money away from actual policing.
The judiciary remains the conscience of the Republic, but a conscience that sometimes whispers when it should thunder. Courts have the constitutional and moral duty to resist executive overreach and protect citizens from unlawful deprivation of liberty.
As Justice Oputa once reminded us, the court is the last hope of the common man, but only if it remains open to him.
In recent years, the Bar has stood by the Bench through executive intimidation, from midnight raids on judges’ homes to campaigns for judicial independence and improved welfare.
Yet when members of the public, like Agu, fall victim to the abuse of process, the Bench must also rise to his defense. Judicial silence in the face of blatant injustice is complicity by omission.
Nigeria’s criminal justice system is fraying, not because its laws are weak, but because its custodians often ignore the spirit behind them. Selective justice erodes public confidence. When citizens believe the system serves power rather than fairness, they turn elsewhere, social media trials, mob justice, or informal grievance platforms like Brekete Family.
Every unlawful detention is not only a violation of rights, but an assault on public trust. And, a justice system without trust is like a body without blood: still standing, but no longer alive.
True reform must begin with accountability. The police must end the practice of arrest-before-investigation. Prosecutors must ensure that charges are filed only when evidence justifies them. Judges must enforce the Constitution’s promise of liberty with courage, not caution.
Efficiency in justice administration is not about how many are arrested, it is about how many are lawfully arrested, fairly tried, and justly convicted or released in accordance with law. Nigeria’s resources should be mobilised towards fighting crime, not fighting citizens.
Postamble
Every nation’s justice system tells a story about its soul. Ours, at present, reads like a tale of two justices: one to protect the strong, another to imprison the weak. The growing discontent in Nigeria’s justice system is exacerbated by this uneven application of judicial powers and public misunderstanding of bail pending trial. The judiciary must rise above fear, intimidation and executive influence, taking its indispensable position in Nigeria’s democracy as the last hope of the common man and not the first refuge of the political elite.
Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to run, walk and stand with the people. Because if even the elephant has to flee when the police are arresting goats, then the forest of our democracy is already on fire.
Bulus Y. Atsen, fsi, Esq.
Legal Practitioner and Fellow of the Security Institute (fsi) writes on law, security, and governance.
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