House of Reps to stop public display of suspects

The House of Representatives is currently reviewing a constitutional amendment that aims to ban the public parade of suspects by the police and other law enforcement agencies.

This move comes after decades of criticism from human rights organizations, civil society groups, and members of the judiciary, who have long condemned the practice as humiliating and a violation of fundamental rights.

At the centre of the bill is a proposed alteration to Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which guarantees the right to dignity of the human person.

The existing provision states, “Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person and according (a) no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment; (b) no person shall be held in slavery or servitude.”

The proposed amendment seeks to expand and clarify what constitutes torture, inhuman or degrading treatment. A new subsection is to be inserted to explicitly outlaw the public parade of arrested persons.

The new provision reads, “For the purpose of Sub-section (1), torture, inhuman or degrading treatment includes parading persons arrested by the police or any other law enforcement agency in the public.”

For years, the public display of suspects—often labelled as criminals before trial—has been a common feature of police operations across the country.

Individuals arrested for various offences are routinely lined up before journalists, photographed, and sometimes forced to reenact alleged crimes, even though investigations and court proceedings have not commenced.

Several court decisions have also frowned on the practice, with judges holding that the parade of suspects amounts to a violation of fundamental rights and an abuse of power by law enforcement agencies.

Despite the rulings, the practice has persisted, prompting renewed calls for stronger constitutional and legal safeguards.

Reacting to the proposed amendment, pro-democracy advocate and founder of Women Arise, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, commended the House for taking steps to align Nigeria’s constitutional framework with international human rights standards.

She said, “There is an existing absolute ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of persons, which undermines personal dignity under International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.

“The prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment derives from the Geneva Conventions of 1949, their Additional Protocols of 1977, the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984, and other international instruments.

“The IHL and IHRL converge and complement each other in establishing a comprehensive legal framework for the prevention and punishment of acts of torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

“The House of Representatives is therefore in order in amending the 1999 Constitution to reflect such global best practices.”