 When one glances at her picture, Oluchi Adanna Akosile, appears to be much like any other young Nigerian woman. That is, of course, until you look into her eyes.
The eyes cannot help but to betray the intense suffering that Oluchi haswitnessed since February 15, 2003 when her mother-in-law, Mrs. Beatrice Oreoluwa Balogun Akosile, was killed by an unknown assailant. As Oluchi appeared to be the only adult family member present in the home at the time of the fatal attack on the seventy-two year old, she was accused of murdering her deceased in-law.
Ironically, the chief accuser at the time was Evangelist John Niyi Akosile, the Shepherd-in- Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) (Gbagada Estate, Lagos State) and the young Oluchi’s aged husband. The husband filed charges against Oluchi at the Pedro Police Station (Bariga, Lagos State), declaring that his wife was responsible for his late mother’s demise. Despite her insistent claims of innocence and assertion that her estranged husband framed her for the murder in order to get rid of her, the police detained Oluchi for more than two years without formally charging her until an arraignment in October 2005.
The Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) first learned of the matter after Oluchi had been languishing in jail for many months without a formal charge. The organization agreed to represent her without fee (i.e. on a pro bono basis) on several grounds in the case, State vs. Oluchi Adanna Akosile (Suit No – LCD/5/05).
Under the SERAC’s Legal Action Program (LAP), the organization is serving as Oluchi’s criminal defense attorneys in line with its commitment to promote and protect the social and economic rights of women to be free from discrimination and to enjoy the right to family life. Pursuant to Article 2(c) of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (which Nigeria ratified on June 13, 1985 without reservation), State parties undertake to establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men and to ensure through competent national tribunals the effective protection of women against any act of discrimination.
Arguably, Oluchi’s three years of confinement without bail (following more than two-and-a-half years of detention without arraignment) would not have happened if she were not such a young woman and had firmer access to the corridors of justice. The remotest link between the accused and the offence is that she was purportedly the only one at home with the deceased at the time the incident took place. In law, in order to secure a conviction based upon such circumstantial evidence, it must be cogent, complete and unequivocal. Such evidence too must be compelling and must lead to the irresistible conclusion that the accused and no one else must have committed the crime. The facts must be incompatible with the innocence of the accused and incapable of any explanation upon any reasonable hypotheses than that of guilt.
Moreover, SERAC is deeply concerned that Oluchi’s right to family life has been violated by her extended detention without trial and prolonged detention without bail during a trial where the prosecution has yet to produce any in-court witnesses. When Oluchi was taken into police custody in February 2003, she was taken away from her six-month-old baby that she was breastfeeding. She has not seen the baby since. All of SERAC’s efforts to find the whereabouts of her child is have proven unsuccessful. To this very day, Oluchi has no idea where her child is.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has clarified in its General Comment Number 28 that, “in giving full effect to the recognition of family in the context of (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) article 23, it is important to … ensure the equal treatment of women ... “ As a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) since 1993, Nigeria bears non-derogable core obligations with respect to the right to family life. One non-derogable, minimum core obligation is realizing the right of family to protection of society and state. In SERAC’s view, this includes, at minimum, protecting an innocent-until-proven-guilty, young wife’s right to have equal knowledge about the whereabouts of her infant as her husband.
A primary guiding text on the right to family life is article 10 of the ICESCR that provides in pertinent part in that, “the widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded to the family, which is the natural and fundamental group unit of society, particularly …while it is responsible for the care and education of dependent children.” Under the covenant, special protection should be accorded “to mothers during a reasonable period before and after childbirth.” However, in Oluchi’s case, she was stripped away from her suckling infant more than three years ago, thereby forcefully weaning the baby and abruptly terminating the period that she had intended to nurse the child).
Instead, Oluchi was charged with a capital offense based upon circumstantial evidence. SERAC is presently arguing that Oluchi should be granted bail given, in part, the fact that the State’s case is based on circumstantial evidence and the prosecution has yet to produce any witnesses in court since February 2003.
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