On January 18, 2014, Mr. Hamani Tidjani, a
prison inmate, died at the Kirikiri Maximum Security prison in Lagos.
The deceased who was suffering from partial stroke was not given any
medical attention by the prison authorities. He was a citizen of Niger
Republic who was arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic and brought to
Nigeria in September 2003 for invstigation and trial for some
trans-border armed robberies and allied criminal offences. After a
prolonged trial he was convicted by an Ijebu Ode High Court in 2011 for
receiving stolen goods and sentenced to a 10-year jail term.
Although
the deceased completed the sentence he was however not released from
prison custody as he was standing trial for similar offences in the
Lagos High Court.
In the last one year or thereabout, four
other convicted prisoners of Nigerian nationality, namely Messrs Ganiyu
Adeniyi, Danda Akanbi, Thomas Odafe and Ariyo Osisanya had died in the
same prison on account of medical neglect. From the information at our
disposal, the killing of prison inmates through medical neglect is not
uncommon in all other prisons in the country.
For instance, a Mr. Toyese Kehinde who
had served a month jail term for his inability to pay a fine of
N5,000.00 for an environmental offence died at the Benin prison on
September 20, 2013. The said Mr. Kehinde was illegally detained after
the completion of his sentence. A week later, a 21-year old
undergraduate of the University of Benin, Ibrahim Momodu also died in
the Benin Prison. Another inmate, James Oglesby, had died last year
after he was beaten by two other prisoners inside the prison’s
recreation yard.
In a similar vein, Mr. Sunday Akinyemi,
who was standing trial for conspiracy and stealing of funds belonging to
his own company also died in December, 2012. In that case, the Justice
E.A Adebajo (now retired) of the Lagos High Court had refused to allow
the applicant who was standing trial before him to travel abroad at his
own expense to treat cancer of the colon which was diagnosed by the
military hospital, Ikoyi and confirmed by the Lagos University Teaching
Hospital while he was undergoing trial before the judge. When the health
condition of the defendant became critical our law firm requested the
Ikoyi prison management to either treat him or release him for
treatment.
As the request was turned down we applied
to the Federal High Court for the enforcement of the fundamental right
of the detainee to life. In granting the prayer of the detainee to
travel abroad for medical treatment at his own expense, Justice Mohammed
Idris rightly held that, “There is no doubt that life is the ultimate
measure of all things and for that reason the right to life is
unarguably the most fundamental of all liberties. Without the right to
life, no other right can be enjoyed, and it is for that reason that it
is guaranteed under section 33 of the Constitution, and Article 4 of the
African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.”
It is our submission that prisoners are
entitled to all the fundamental rights guaranteed to other citizens save
the right to personal liberty and freedom of movement. In Peter Nemi v.
The State (1996) 6 NWLR (PT 452) the Court of Appeal held that the life
of a convict on death row cannot be terminated without due process of
law. In Nasiru Bello v The State (198) 2 N.S.C.C. 1257 the Supreme Court
awarded reparation to the family of the deceased who was executed by
the Oyo State government while his appeal was pending at the Court of
Appeal.
