By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja

This is not fiction, it is a real-life story of two lawyers who went undercover inside the most notorious police jail cell in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.

For the safety of the lawyers their names are withheld.

For the reputation of some of the kind-hearted and professional minded police officers, the name of the said police station would be withheld.

The lesson that comes out from this experience is that Nigerians possess an incredible ability and capacity to survive (and even triumph) the most terrible of circumstances.

Let me begin with the positive aspects of the said Nigerian police jail cell.

On paper, Nigeria has some of the best laws relating to how police officers and police jail cells should be run.

For example, Section 66(3) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 provides that “There shall be assigned to every police station at least one police officer: (a) Who is a legal practitioner in accordance with the legal practitioners Act; and (b) Whose responsibility is to promote human rights compliance by officers of the division.”

In actual practice, this prescription is not complied with at the majority of Nigerian Police stations.

This is the reason why there are a plethora of lawsuits against the Nigerian Police for illegal detention and violation of fundamental rights of citizens that occur at the Nigerian Police stations.

Both the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) can view this as an opportunity to supply lawyers to serve as pro bono human rights desk officers for all the Nigerian Police stations.

Another positive thing that the two lawyers noticed was that there was not a single mosquito inside the said police station. We were informed that the reason was because of regular fumigation.

Another positive observation is that the toilets are immaculately clean and there are refuse receptacles.

The sleeping blankets were also very neat and not smelling or infested with bedbugs or lice.

The police men in charge are more friendlier and cordial, as far as assisting detainees to make telephone calls to their investigating police officers (IPO).

Every morning by around 8am, the police officer in charge begins with an inspirational and motivational speech and roll-call for all detainees. In a summary, He tells them not to give up hope, even if their release doesn’t happen today, it could happen another day. This is quite innovative, it displays an understanding of modern policing techniques.

There is a mosque inside the said police jail cell, as well as a cell that is reserved for prayers for Christendom.

Each person makes arrangements for their own feeding, as caterers are permitted to come to the gate and take orders from detainees.

Speaking of the survival instincts of Nigerians, the general mood and morale of the detainees is very high and in good spirits, there is an air of camaraderie amongst them. They are busy playing ludo and card games all day long and engage each other in conversation.

In addition, the detainees have created a magnificent chain of command within themselves. There is a person whom they all refer to as “Presido”, every new detainee is summoned into the jail cell of the Presido wherein the newbie is briefed about the rules and regulations, then issued with a pair of slippers. There are other detainees that have their job titles such as the “Minister of Food”, his duty is to arrange for food to be delivered to each detainee according to their respective orders which he writes inside an exercise book and takes to the food vendors, morning, afternoon and evening.

There are also sanitation officers, who are also detainees, their duty is to wheel out the garbage receptacles when they are filled.

The ingenuity is evident in how the detainees have managed to turn what would have been a despondent environment into a thriving one wherein they use all legitimate means to keep in communication with the outside world and others, while actively engaging the services of lawyers to seek their release.