In the annals of Nigerian criminal jurisprudence, few practices have been as universally condemned as the infamous “holding charge.”

For decades, it was the preferred weapon of lazy investigators and vindictive politicians. Today, a disturbing trend is emerging in Ekiti State; the ghost of the holding charge has been resurrected, dressed in the seemingly legitimate robes of “Form K” remand proceedings.

This systematic weaponization of the law by corrupt police officers and a despotic government is rapidly eroding the fundamental rights of citizens, transforming Ekiti into a laboratory for authoritarianism.

The Historical Journey and the Constitutional Shield to understand the tragedy of the present, we must revisit the legal battles of the past.

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) is unequivocal in its defense of human liberty. Section 35 (4) and (5) mandates that any person arrested or detained must be brought before a court of competent jurisdiction within a reasonable time defined as 24 or 48 hours, depending on the proximity of a court.

Furthermore, Section 36 (5) guarantees the presumption of innocence. Historically, the Nigerian Police routinely flouted these provisions through the “holding charge”, a practice where a suspect is brought before a Magistrate Court lacking the jurisdiction to try the alleged offense (such as murder, treason, or armed robbery) solely to obtain a remand order to keep the suspect in prison indefinitely while “investigations continue.”

The Nigerian appellate courts fought valiantly to kill this draconian practice. In the landmark case of Anaekwe v. C.O.P. (1996) 3 NWLR (Pt. 436) 320, the Court of Appeal unequivocally declared the holding charge unconstitutional, illegal, and an aberration in our legal system.

This position was fortified in Enwere v. C.O.P. (1993) 6 NWLR (Pt. 299) 333 and Ogiesoba v. C.O.P. (1993), where the courts held that arraigning a citizen before a court that has no power to try them is a flagrant violation of their fundamental right.

To cure the mischief of the holding charge and provide a legal framework for pre-trial detention, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) and the various Administration of Criminal Justice Laws (ACJL) of the States introduced formal Remand Proceedings.
In Ekiti State, this is often operationalized through the issuance of a remand warrant, colloquially known in legal circles as Form K.

Though, the Supreme Court, in Lufadeju v. Johnson (2007) 8 NWLR (Pt. 1037) 535, validated the constitutionality of statutory remand proceedings, distinguishing them from the old holding charge.

The intention of the ACJL was noble, it is to ensure magistrates could strictly monitor and limit the time a suspect spends in custody pending the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) advice.

However, in the hands of corrupt police officers and a despotic state apparatus, Form K has become a tool of oppression. The procedure has been hijacked. The police now routinely arrest citizens without prior investigation, slap them with bogus, non-bailable capital offenses, and rush to a Magistrate to secure a Form K remand order. By the time the statutory time limits expire, the damage is done; the citizen has been unlawfully punished, their liberty stolen, and their spirit broken.

Ekiti State is now notorious for this procedural subterfuge. What was designed as a legal stopgap for genuine criminal investigations has been mutated into a political weapon. The government and its agents are systematically using Form K to cow the opposition, silence dissenting voices, and intimidate critics.

When a citizen speaks truth to power or challenges the status quo in Ekiti today, they are not met with democratic debate. Instead, they are met with trumped-up charges of cyberstalking, terrorism, or treasonable felony. They are dragged before a Magistrate who lacks jurisdiction to try the case, and through the instrumentality of Form K, they are thrown into the Ado-Ekiti correctional facility.

This is not law enforcement; it is executive lawlessness. It is a calculated erosion of the fundamental rights of citizens and a blatant subversion of the rule of law. It is authoritarianism hiding behind the gavel.

However,the silence of the righteous is the lifeblood of tyranny. The systematic abuse of Form K in Ekiti State must not go unchallenged.

The opinion leaders in Ekiti State must rise to the occasion. More importantly, the Legal Practitioners of conscience and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) particularly the Ado-Ekiti, Ikere, and Ikole branches must wake from their slumber. The Bar has a historical duty to stand as the bulwark against state-sponsored oppression.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) must Challenge these abuses in the High Court by Filing fundamental rights enforcement suits against the police and the state for malicious prosecution and unlawful detention; Engage the Judiciary to to ensure that the magistracy is reminded that they are not rubber stamps for the police. Magistrates must be emboldened to refuse Form K applications where there is no prima facie evidence linking the suspect to the alleged crime; and they should advocate for ACJL amendment by pushing for stricter sanctions against police officers and state prosecutors who abuse remand proceedings.

The use of Form K to resurrect the holding charge in Ekiti State is a mockery of our constitutional democracy. A government that relies on the arbitrary detention of its critics to maintain power has lost its moral legitimacy. It is time for the legal community and the good people of Ekiti to draw a line in the sand and declare that the fundamental rights of citizens are not privileges to be dispensed or withdrawn at the whim of a despotic government.

Justice delayed through procedural deceit is justice denied. The holding charge must remain dead, and its Form K ghost must be exorcised from Ekiti State.

Oluwagbenga.E Bababwibe,Esq. LLM-Unilag, MSc, MCIArb-UK, AICMC, Phd in View, writes from Lagos.

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