In Kurmawa Custodial Center in Kano, a place where people are kept in custody, there are many inmates who have not been to court for a long time.Â
One of them, Ibrahim Dala, said he was accused of doing something bad called culpable homicide, but he hasn’t been taken to court since 2009.
A group called the Solicitors Scheme Advisory Committee, which was set up by Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, found out that there are over 300 inmates in Kurmawa Custodial Center who are waiting for their trial. They found this out during a surprise visit they made to the center.
This committee’s job is to look into cases where people’s rights might have been violated because of criminal or civil cases.
The head of this group is Muhammad-Hussaini Gumel, who is the Commissioner of Police in Kano State.
He said their job is to find these cases, write them down, and send them to the right authorities so that something can be done about them.
After visiting the Kurmawa Custodial Center, Gumel spoke to reporters and said that they found out that many inmates have been waiting for their trial for a long time.
Some of them don’t even have records of their cases or know which court they are supposed to go to. Some have been in custody for many years without any progress in their cases.
One reason why some inmates are still in custody is because they can’t afford to pay for a lawyer to represent them.
Ibrahim Dala, one of the inmates, said he hasn’t been to court since 2009. Another inmate, Yahya Usman, said the last time he went to court was in 2017, and now he doesn’t know what will happen to him.
Gumel said that they will make sure that these inmates get justice soon.
