Please don’t stand surety!

In the Nigerian legal system, an accused is hardly granted bail without a surety in criminal proceedings due to the high tendency of accused persons jumping bail. By the provision of Section 345 of the Criminal Procedure Code, before any person is released on bail, he shall execute a bond for the sum of money […]

In the Nigerian legal system, an accused is hardly granted bail without a surety in criminal proceedings due to the high tendency of accused persons jumping bail. By the provision of Section 345 of the Criminal Procedure Code, before any person is released on bail, he shall execute a bond for the sum of money as the officer in charge of the police station or court thinks sufficient on condition that such person shall attend at the time and place mentioned in the bond and shall continue so to attend until otherwise directed by the court and if he is released on bail, the sureties shall execute the same or another bond or other bonds containing conditions to the same effect i.e assuring the court that the accused shall always be present for his trial.
Section 355 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that, “when a person is bound by any bond to appear before a court does not so appear, the court may issue a warrant for his arrest”. A careful perusal of the definition of surety viz-a-vis the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code would show that were an accused person released on bail does not appear at his trial, the next person the court would look at is his/her surety, who would come to court and explain the whereabouts of the accused or forfeit his bond and were the court deems fit, be committed to prison if he cannot explain the whereabouts of the accused.
A young wig should not place himself in such an unhealthy setting.
A situation may arise where a client’s relative has been in police custody for weeks and a young wig is called upon to go and secure the release of the suspect, on getting to the station, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) gives a condition that due to the  gravity of the offense the young wig must counter sign the bail bond. Considering the pressure from the family of the suspect because of the number of days spent behind bars and from his law firm to get the job done, the young wig might feel tempted to sign the bail bond; by the way Nigeria Police (who is your friend) has assured the young wig that he is not a surety, just counter signing the bail bond.
As a young wig don’t let such pressure deceive you into digging a trap with your own hands, please don’t stand surety or counter sign any bail bond.
We have seen lawyers standing trial as accused persons because they stood surety for an accused in the past, sometimes the lawyer-client relationship between them terminates and the lawyer is still bound by the bail bond since he has not discharged himself as a surety to the accused.
Before standing surety for an accused person, one must be very conversant with the accused in question; one must know his/her house, his/her family members, where he/she carries on business to enable one produce the accused when he is needed in court at any time. A lawyer hardly has only one client and there is the possibility that the lawyer doesn’t know where all his clients reside, why now commit yourself to one case in a way and manner that might become a bone in the throat in the near future because of a chicken change (petty sum of money) that looks big at the time.
There’s no prescribed provision of law (at least not to my knowledge) that prevents a lawyer from standing surety for an accused person, it is only a matter of good practice.
A young wig who desires to go far in the legal profession without avoidable and unnecessary distraction should not stand surety for an accused person no matter the pressure or temptation.
The consequence is not an ideal one for a legal practitioner not to talk of a young wig just starting practice!

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