BY PAUL IYOGHOJIE
Aggrieved surties rendering services to defendants granted bail at the Igbosere Magistrate’s Court, Lagos Island and other Courts in Lagos to perfect their bail and released from correctional facilities have appealed to the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba to come to their rescue and direct the head of the Igbosere Magistrate’s to lift the restrictions impose on them for the past one month.
The aggrieved surties also plead to the CJ to stop the move to bar them from further accessing the Igbosere Magistrate’s Court to help defendants from poor homes or help them connect their relations living outside Lagos to come and perfect the bail conditions granted their sons and daughters by a Court for an offence levelled against them by the Police.
The surties stated that they had been discharging their duties responsibly with due process for years in helping remanded defendants at correctional facilities whose immediate family or relations are not living within the jurisdiction of the court to secure the bail granted them by a court with credible and trustworthy surties and that since then there had not been any complainants about their services from anyone, but that they are still wondering why the head of the Igbosere Magistrate’s Court suddenly stop them from accessing the Court for the past one month to help the poor defendants granted bail and remanded at Ikoyi correctional facility but do not have anyone to help them perfect their bail.
They further stated that their services had been rescuing detained defendants from poor families from languishing in correctional facilities in Lagos and preventing congestions at the correctional facilities and that there had not been any complainants against them from any family or relations of all the defendants they had secured their release from correctional facility to enable them continue their court cases any time their matter comes up at the court and more importantly none of the defendants had jumped bail to warrant the restrictions.
They are now appealing to Mr CJ Alogba to intervene and lift the restrictions impose on them to save the defendants granted bail and remanded at the Ikoyi correctional facility or any other correctional facility in Lagos pending the perfection of their bail from needless suffering, saying their investigation since they were restricted from entry the Igbosere Magistrate’s to assist defendants, revealed that correctional facilities have started recording congestions as the detained defendants could not have access to reach their families or for help from anyone.
Speaking on behalf of others, Mr Olusegun Philips stated, “we are law abiding citizens rendering critical humanitarian services to save our soul defendants granted bail by a court but remanded at correctional facilities pending when they are able to perfect the bail conditions.
“That is why we are now appealing to the Lagos CJ, Mr Kazeem Alogba to come to our rescue and direct the head of the Igbosere Magistrate’s Court to lift the restrictions impose on us from accessing the court to prevent detained defendants from languishing or dying inside correctional facilities due to prolong detention and to prevent tarnishing the good name and image CJ Kazeem Alogba have created as the best CJ Lagos has ever produced, Philips stated.
