The Chief Justice of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Bello, has cautioned police officers, particularly Investigating Police Officers against writing statements for crime suspects.
Bello said it was not proper for policemen to write statements on behalf of suspects in criminal cases, and warned them to desist from doing so.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of a 2-day workshop for Nigeria Police on Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015 on Monday in Abuja, the CJ stated that police officers who are not lawyers can no longer prosecute criminal cases in FCT courts.
He said, “One issue that we must check is the issue of IPO writing statements for suspects. Please, IPO, be wary of taking certain decision to write statement for somebody. This has been constituting a lot of bottlenecks in proceedings.”
The CJ stated that the passage of the Criminal Justice Act 2015 and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, stand out as resounding leap forward in the reform of the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
The Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, noted that the two laws would advance professionalism and efficiency in the trial of criminal cases, reduce congestion in the prisons as well as promote protection of human rights.
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