The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, has directed magistrates in the state to resume the granting of remand orders to the police to take suspects to the correctional centres in the state.
The Chief Judge had in October directed magistrates to stop granting remand orders to the police, citing the complaint by the Nigeria Correctional Service that their facilities were already overcrowded, and they could not take additional inmates.
In a circular dated October 23, 2023, the CJ directed that magistrates could only grant remand orders to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission but not to the police who bring “overnight” cases.
However, in a fresh circular dated November 7, 2023, the Chief Judge said the magistrates could now resume granting remand orders to the police.
The circular issued by the Deputy Chief Registrar, Administration, Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, Rasaq Davies, was titled, ‘Re: Circular on rejection of new inmates by the correctional service.’
It read in part, “Furtherance to the circular dated October 23, 2023, in respect of the foregoing, I have the directive of My Lord, the Honourable Chief Judge to inform Your Honours as follows:
“Defendants can now be remanded in the Correctional Service centres with effect from Monday, November 6, 2023.
“Constitutional provisions should always be taken into consideration in imposing conditions of bail.”
The DCR urged magistrates to exercise their judicial functions with discretion.
“Restrain from high handedness and imposition of stringent bail conditions and discretion should be exercised judicially and judiciously,” the circular added.
PUNCH
