Let us imagine someone owes you a certain amount of money and he has refused to pay. Infuriated, you decided to inform the Police to arrest him and recover the money. Is this act of yours justifiable?
The Nigeria Police Force does not establish itself. It is a creation of the law. The effect of this is that the law spells out the powers and functions of the Police. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as amended), and the Police Act serve as the laws which regulate the affairs of every policeman in Nigeria.
Section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which provides for the circumstances in which a person can be arrested and/or be detained does not recognize civil wrong as a ground for arrest and detention except on the order of Court. This has also been substantiated by the provision of Section 8(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.
Flowing from the same thought, Section 4 of the Police Act states that the primary duty of the police is the prevention of crime, investigation and detection of crime, and the prosecution of offenders. With this background, the Police has been restricted to dabble into any civil matters or act as agents to recover a debt. Owing to someone a debt is a civil matter and cannot within any stretch of imagination be regarded as a criminal matter.
Furthermore, the Courts have, in fact, persistently frowned upon the resort of persons to the Police and other Law Enforcement Agencies in order to recover a debt or to enforce a contract. In Oceanic Securities Int. Ltd. V. Balogun & Ors, the court opined that: “It has been stated many times that the police have no business in the enforcement of debt settlements or recovering of civil debts for banks or anybody”. This decision was also affirmed in the 2020 Supreme Court case of KURE v COP LPELR-49378(SC).
At this juncture, it is pertinent to note here that when a person engages Police officers in a civil matter, both the police officers involved and the person that invited the police officers can be sued for breach of fundamental human rights. This ultra vires act is not without its consequence as the court often charges the defendants jointly and severally to pay damages to the plaintiff whose rights have been breached. In Ozide & ors v. Ewuzie & ors (2015) LPELR-24482(CA), the court held: “The law is trite, that damages, in compensation, legally and naturally follow every act of violation of a citizen’s fundamental right.”
There are mechanisms in the law which could hasten an action for recovery of debt. The proper procedure to adopt in debt recovery cases is to first write a Letter of Demand requesting that the debt be repaid within a specified time. If at the expiration of the specified time, the debtor fails to repay the money, then it might be necessary to consult a lawyer.
Finally, the only institution that can entertain a debt recovery matter is the court of law.
Thank you for reading. See you next week.
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