Posted by The Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Halima Abdulmalik, has deemed the inordinate delays and persistent refusal of the State Police Command’s Legal Unit to provide suspect case files to the Ministry of Justice for legal counsel as intolerable.
While touring various correctional facilities in the state, she made her presence known at the Minna Old Medium Security Custodial Centre.
The Chief Judge expressed grave concern over the fact that the State Police Command’s legal department permits prisoners to stay in detention centers pending trial.
By repeatedly using an unfinished investigation as the basis for case files, she said the police were acting on purpose to put these prisoners in prison.
Justice Abdulmalik urged the Niger State Police Command’s Legal Unit to collaborate with the Ministry of Justice’s Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) office in order to expedite the administration of justice.
It is “painful” and “will no longer be accepted” that the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department’s (SCIID) legal department is incompetent, says the Chief Judge.
Her order was to have the duplicated case files addressed as soon as possible by Barrister Mohammed Kutigi, the state’s Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) at the Ministry of Justice.