By Aderogba George
Abuja – Rule of Law and Anti-corruption (RoLAC), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) on Tuesday commissioned and donated a modern statement taking and interrogation room with audio and visual facities to enhance the work of the police in the FCT.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first phase of the project in the FCT is situated and commissioned at the Wuse Zone 3 Police Station.
Speaking during the commissioning, the component Manager for RoLAC, Mr Oluwatoyin Badejogbin, said that the room will create a conducive environment for the interrogation of suspects.
“It is to discoursge beating of suspects, torture and other I’ll-treatment of suspect.
“As we implement this particular provision of the law, we are actually aiming at building police capacity to comply and implement the anti torture act.
“The act was enacted in 2017 and it domesticate the United Nations Convention on torture which essentially prohibit the use of torture in crime investigation, inhuman degrading crime investigation.
“A police who commit torture has actually commit crime going by the provision of that law. We want to be sure that whatever the police do is comply with what the law says when the are interrogating suspect,” Badejogbin said.
Mr Joshua Dada, a Legal officer with the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee (ACJMC) stated that the equipment would ensure cases does not get into trial within trial stage if put to proper use.
He said that lack of modern facilities like audio and visual equipment for the police has really hinder it to take proper and accurate statement from a crime suspect and implementation of the provision of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
Mrs Akanni Idayat, Chief Magistrate 1, Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates’ Court stressed that the device installed in the room would ease the work of the court as some defendants have complained to the court that their statement were made under duress.
“Some defendants have complained that they have been tortured by the police.
“With this recording device, the court will be able to ascertain whether they were actually induce and tortured while giving their statement, ” Idayat said.
The FCT Commissioner of Police (CP) Mr Bala Ciroma, thanked RoLAC for the project adding that the police would ensure the equipment was put to proper use that RoLAC would not be disappointed.
Ciroma who was represented by Mr Sola Okediji, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) incharge of Administration called on all police division in the FCT and government at all level to replicate the installation of the equipment in their various jurisdiction.
He also called on the FCT police officers who participated in the recent training organised by RoLAC on the ACJA to make use of the knowledge they gathered from the training.
Ciroma also used the medium to appeal to the National Assembly to increase the budget of the police.
(NAN)