Nine years without trial: the case of Sikuru Alade

Sikuru Alade was arrested on 9 March 2003 and remanded on a “holding charge”. He was held at Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison for more than nine years and never returned to court.

In 2012 the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice found his detention arbitrary, in violation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He was released on 18 September 2012 after a review by the Chief Judge of Lagos State.

His case is extreme, but the waiting is not: two in three people in custody in Nigeria today are awaiting trial. Read more about the issue. [Verify citation and dates before publishing.]