Lawyer Seeks Abolition Of Withholding Charge

A Port Harcourt-
based legal practitioner, Barr. Jackson Assor, has called for the abolition of  ‘withholding charge’ in Rivers State Judiciary.
Barr. Assor, who stated this while speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Monday  said ‘withholding charge’ was unconstitutional and not part of the country’s legal code.
He said ‘withholding charge’ was a situation whereby an accused person was charged to a court without the jurisdiction to deal with the accused person’s suspected crime.  The court subsequently declines jurisdiction and the accused person is remanded in prison custody,”  he stated.
According to him,  ‘withholding charge’ has put so many accused persons in prison  custody without trial for the upward of five years’.
“It is regrettable, it is pathetic, withholding charge is bastardising our criminal justice administration system.
He said that section 36(4) of the constitution of the Federal Republic  of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) states that an accused person should be charged to court and tried within a reasonable time.
“It is unfortunate that some accused persons overstay the prison terms they would have had to serve upon conviction and sentencing, yet the road to freedom is still distant,’ he stated.
Barr. Assor stated that the prisons across the nation were populated by accused persons who had gone on trial for two years and above.
He, therefore called for a deliberate prisons decongestion efforts which he said was in line with the rule of law.

Chidi Enyie