Falana threatens court action

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has threatened to challenge in court an alleged pact reached by the Federal Government with British authorities to repartriate over 1,000 Nigerian citizens currently serving their sentences in the British prisons.Falana stated, in a letter, dated October 28, 2011 to the Senate President, David Mark, that the Federal Government has not been properly advised on the legal implication of the said agreement allegedly reached under the Prisoner Exchange Act.He therefore stated that he was compelled to draw the attention of members of the National Assembly to the agreement, urging them to resist the passage of any law to back it up.The letter read in part, In view of the Rule of Law Policy of the Federal Government it is hoped that the illegal agreement will be terminated without any further delay. Should the National Assembly proceed with the passage of a law to back up the illegal Agreement we shall not hesitate to challenge its constitutional validity at the Federal High Court.According to Falana, various authorities of Nigerian prisons have no powers to admit and keep persons who have not been committed to their custody by Nigerian courts or judges.Such legislations whose Falana said their provisions were against the agreement include the Constititution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Act, the Prisons Act and Criminal Procedure Act.He quoted Section 253 of the Criminal Procedure Act as A warrant under the hand of the judge or magistrate by whom any person shall have been sentenced or committed to prison for non-payment of a penalty or fine shall be full authority to the superintendent of any prison and to all other persons for carrying into effect the sentence described in such warrant not being a sentence of death.He added that terms Judge, Magistrate and Justice of Peace have been defined by Section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act to mean a Judge, Magistrate or Justice of the peace appointed in accordance with any law of a State in Nigeria.
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