By Chiangi Avese, Makurdi
The Senior Legal Advisor, Lawyers Alert, Barr Victor Eboh, disclosed that the Benue Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) has permitted women to stand as sureties to bail a suspect.
Barr. Eboh disclosed this at a dialogue organised by Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Network Cluster with support from USAID-Scale Project on the ACJL and Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law (VAPPL) implementation across project states on Tuesday in Makurdi.
“Section 171 subsection three empowered women to stand as sureties against the old practice where women were not permitted to stand as sureties. The law also empowered the Monitoring Committee of ACJL to ensure that criminal matters were speedily dealt with in order to drastically decongest the criminal cases in courts”.
“Persons awaiting trial should as far as possible not to be detained in prison, adding that the law prohibits the police to arrest by proxy according to section nine of the law. Section 10 subsection two of the law prohibits the police to arrest in civil matters or matters of breach of contract,” Eboh said.
According to Barr. Eboh, “that the law encouraged police officers to ensure that statements were written, audio recording was made and video coverage done in line with section 17 subsection four to avoid trial within trial in case a suspect denied or distanced self from the initial statement”.
The Senior Legal Officer, Barr. Solumtochukwu Ozobulu in her address of welcome, said that they want the administration of criminal justice law of Benue to be effectively implemented in the state, emphasizing that they want the law to achieve its purpose of enactment.
Ozobulu stated that the objective of the meeting was to share and dialogue with ACJ law monitoring committees to ensure the discharge of their mandate towards the efficacy of the law and improve justice outcomes for survivors of abuse.
The Benue Chairperson, Nigeria League of Women Voters (NILOWV), Mrs Irene Awunah-Ikyegh who was represented by the Coordinator of NILOWV in Guma local government, Mrs Ruth Kpengwa, stated the resolve of the association to contribute to all the concerns of the female gender especially SGBV.
The Controller of Nigeria Correctional Service in Benue, Mary Oche, encourage speedy dispensation of cases in order to decongest the correctional centres across the country.
The North Central Focal Person of lawyers alert, Dr Victoria Daaor, disclosed that section 40 of the VAPPL provided that victims of SGBV were entitled to comprehensive, psychological, social and legal services by government agencies.
