Detained businessman and social media influencer, Kazeem Michael Afolabi, popularly known as KC Luxury, has asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to set aside an order permitting the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to keep him in custody for 30 days without charging him to court.
Mr Afolabi’s lawyer, Abdulakeem Labi-Lawal, who is, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told Judge Friday Ogazi on Wednesday that the detention order was inconsistent with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), which provides for an initial remand period of not more than 14 days.
The drugs suspect has been in NDLEA custody since his arrest on 13 August in connection with the agency’s seizure of 184.5 kilogrammes of cocaine in Lagos.
The NDLEA obtained the 30-day detention order from another judge, Akintayo Aluko, on 20 August, arguing that it needed more time to investigate the alleged drug trafficking offence.
But Mr Labi-Lawal argued that the order should be discharged because his client had not been charged with any offence.
Relying on Sections 293 to 299 of the ACJA, particularly Section 296(1), the lawyer said the law did not permit a court to order a suspect’s remand for more than 14 days in the first instance.
He drew the court’s attention to the words “shall”, “not exceeding” and “in the first instance” in the provision, arguing that the wording was clear.
According to him, if investigators needed more time after the initial period, they would have to return to court and give reasons for seeking a further remand.
“The jurisdiction to try a person charged with an offence under the NDLEA Act is fundamentally different from the jurisdiction to remand a suspect who has not yet been charged,” the lawyer submitted.
He also questioned whether the court could lawfully keep a suspect who is yet to be charged in custody simply to give investigators more time to complete their investigation.
He urged the court to abridge the time for hearing the application and bring forward the 17 September date earlier fixed for the review of the detention order.
