The court adjourned to enable the Inspector General of Police and the other respondents to react to the suit filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Olusegun Akanbi, on behalf of the four suspects.
The suspects ─ Agbojule Bright, Promise Abiwa, Monday Omoboye and Monday Ikuesan ─ had, on July 6, 2015, been paraded by the police in connection with the robbery of the Ipakodo branches of First Bank and Zenith Bank in Ikorodu, where the gang, which they allegedly belonged to, carted away about N80m on June 24, 2015.
The four suspects had reportedly confessed to playing different roles in the robbery while three Sport Utility Vehicles allegedly bought from the proceeds of the robbery were recovered from them.
But in their suit filed before Justice Mohammed Yunusa, their lawyer, Akanbi, claimed that the police violated the right of the suspects to remain silent or to avoid answering any questions until after consultation with a legal practitioner or any person of their choice as stipulated by Section 35(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
Akanbi claimed that the suspects “made confessional statements to the members of the press under duress”, contending that the police had no right to parade the suspects to be interviewed by the press “unless such a suspect wishes to give interview after the matter has been charged to a court of competent jurisdiction.”
According to the lawyer, the suspects might not be able to get fair trial in court since they have “already suffered prejudice in the eye of the public due to unfair publicity and unprofessional acts of the defendants.”
He claimed that the police had neither allowed him nor the family members of the suspects to see them since their arrest.
He said, “The applicants’ counsel were not allowed to see the applicants even to have a brief interview when they visited the defendants on July 15, 2015.”
He claimed that the suspects were entitled to damages, urging the court to award N5m against the defendants in the suspects’ favour.
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