Nigerian roads can be uninteresting for motorists
and pedestrians. The roads are flooded with countless government officials who,
rather than ensure sanity, harass the individuals.
They are also hard to overcome going by the
unnecessary bureaucracy involved in fighting for one’s right. As a result, no
longer do many people care to worry about their rights. On most occasions, they
simply give in to the corrupt tendency and save themselves of the stress of
being pushed back and forth unnecessarily.
But the fact remains that most people that have
been exploited on Nigerian roads have rights. It is imperative for them to know
them so that they will know where they have gone wrong or a just victims of
exploitation.
The Principal Counsel of a law firm located in
Ikeja, Lagos State, Jiti Ogunye Chambers, Barrister Jiti Ogunye, spoke to The
Next Edition on the need for people to know their rights. Here are some of the
highlights:
Police checking people’s phones
The Police have the power to conduct searches.
Under Section 4 of the Police Act which is the general section, they have the
power to detect crimes when they are yet to be committed, to foil an attack and
apprehend accordingly.
However under the Criminal Justice Act, there are
specific commissions covering searches. They have to obtain warrants. There are
offences where no arrest can be made without a warrant, but in some cases
arrests can be carried out without a warrant. In the event a cursory search
turns up anything, they can carry out an arrest. It is the arbitrary nature of
how this is done that poses a problem as it infringes on rights.
Searching phones without proper intelligence is
the height of illegality as it infringes on the privacy rights of citizens. It
is illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional. They have no right to do this.
Unless there is specific Intel that states a particular crime has occurred or
is in progress, based on this they can intercept and carry out search. Such
searches must be based on reasonable intelligence.
Different law enforcement agents and their
excesses
The public officials that manage our roads are
many – They include the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Police. Policemen,
even when the inspector says that is not their duty post they still patrol. We
have SARS as well. Sometimes, Customs patrol the roads claiming to check
smuggled goods including cars; NDLEA as well claim to check for drugs and so
on. They all have a right to carry out their duties within their mandates as
they do not necessarily need to sit in their offices to detect crime.
LASTMA can intercept you if you beat the traffic
light as doing so poses a traffic offence. It is within their mandate.
If the phone is not held to your ear and your
hands are on the steering you are not committing a crime. Most cars are now
enabled to receive calls via the car speakers, your phone could also be on
speaker and on your dash or passenger’s seat. Then, violation is driving with
one hand with the phone in the other hand. They have the right to regulate conduct
and enforce the law. Where the problem arises is when they become arbitrary in
exercising this authority and when they become out rightly corrupt. If your
vehicle is at a standstill in traffic and you flip through your phone to check
the map on where you are headed or even check a text, you are well within your
rights. You are not allowed to use your phone while your car is in motion
according to the law. For them to detain you for this is arbitrary and
unlawful.
Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, as their name
implies, their duties should be on federal roads not on inner city roads and
corners. Their duty is not to ‘hide’ in inner city roads to extort and make
revenue.
However while they are on duty even ‘illegally’
on inner city roads, their duty is to determine if a person is trained to
drive, that’s why they ask for the driver’s license. They don’t have the right
to check particulars as that is not safety issue, unless there is a document
they need to see that relates to a safety issue. They are authorised to check
your fire extinguisher and caution sign as that relates to road safety. The
Federal Road Safety Corp is the proper authority to check all motorists on
adhering to road safety as the name implies.
Soliciting prostitutes
As prostitution has not been legalised in
Nigeria, the law allows for both the solicitor and the prostitute to be
arrested.
Doing legitimate business at night
As long as there is no curfew, the police are not
allowed to arrest citizens doing legal businesses at night. The vagrancy law
was abolished way back in the military era. As long as you have identification
card and are going about your business, you are not committing a crime. However
the police can question a solitary figure with suspicious equipment at night.
It is their duty to not only apprehend after a crime but also to prevent it.
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