TOBA FALODE: ROLE OF WITNESSES IN TRIAL

The death of Toba Falode, son to a veteran sport journalist Aishat Falode who fell to his death in Dubai,his body was found dead outside Manchester Tower in Dubai Marina on February 15,2014.It was gathered that he was pushed/fell from a 17^th floor to the floor which led to his death. In the case of investigation the family collected from some witnesses who claim there was a dispute on the apartment balcony seconds before Falode fell to his death, they say at least two people saw him fall to the ground and were inside the apartment.

ELECTORAL ACT; DECAMPING & MORE

An act of moving from one party to the other is known as cross carpeting, in the Nigerian terrain it is the act of joining an opposing party or other political party usually for the purposes, or conceding to another political camp’s policies while holding elective office under the auspices of another political party. This is also known as decamping.

ELECTION LAW

Election law is the political law and the law of politics, thus it pertains to the regulations put in place for the ascertainment of choice of those would rule and run the elective office system of the government.

The representation of the will of the electorate is fundamental to the determination of the validity of an election or electoral process. In the Court of Appeal decision in DR ENEMUO V. CHIEF DURU&ORS (2006) FWLR(PT304)508@541-2 it was held that it is an important aspect of  the democratic dispensation and cannot be sacrificed at any other instance, that is unrepresentative of what the will of the majority is.

In Nigeria all elections are two tier with the other election being commenced in the election Tribunal and termination in the Court of Appeal by virtue of the provision of Section 246(3) of the 1999 Constitution FRN while the election petition in respect of the presidential election commences in the court of Appeal pursuant to the original jurisdiction conferred on it by virtue of section 239(1a)CFRN 1999 and terminates in the supreme court pursuant to the appellate jurisdiction in 233(2e)CFRN 1999.

Election as understood in the electoral process in Nigeria pertains to the choice of people to fill specified public office which involves voting. An election is envisaged by Section 130 of the 1999 CFRN must be such as conducted by an independent body and conducted by free citizen with the mandate of Nigerians to give them a leader. CHIEF OJUKWU V.CHIEF OBASANJO (2003)FWLR PT 182.

AUTONOMY OF POLITICAL PARTIES ON THEIR INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Section 6 of the 1999 CFRN on inherent powers of the court cannot be utilised to construe jurisdiction of court to run and manage political parties and politicians. The internal affairs of political parties are exclusive to parties and therefore not within the competence of the court to determine BASHIR DALHATU V. IBRAHIM TURAKI & ORS (2003) 7 SC 1 165, political parties have the right to act freely. This is also the position in intra-party disputes as disputes between members and party on the other hand is purely an intra party affairs. PDP V. KWARA STATE INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION (2006)FWLR.

The power to scheduling an election in election act is to process registration of voters and to enable smooth conduct of election however this provision is subject to the supremacy of Section 78 CFRN 1999, providing that registration and conduct of election shall be subject to the direction and supervision of Independent Electoral Commission.

The power to recognise a political party and be as member has no spelt out condition neither does it have restriction as to who can be a member except for those in section 222 and 223 of the CFRN ,recognition of a political party is the fact of acceptance of the existence of an association eligible to function as a political party while registration is the recording and certification of the fact to enable the party come within the regulatory and monitoring powers of the electoral commission.

There is also no restriction as to who can be a member of a political party, nothing is prohibiting a member of public service or civil service from eligibility to be registered as a member of a political party since there is nothing reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of defence, public safety, public order or morality Section 40, CFRN 1999.

To be continued...............

Thank you.

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Happy father’s day to all the responsible fathers out there. God bless you all.

On days like these children flaunts their fathers on social Medias for the roles played in their lives, this brings joy to some people and to some they wish there was nothing like father’s day, why, simply because they never took up their responsibilities’ .

The reason behind this is not farfetched as some believe there was no promise to marry between them and the woman, all they wanted was just a sexual relationship and nothing more so they should not be held responsible.

The Administration of criminal justice system 2011 has enacted a law protect woman and their babies, it is a criminal offence for any man to desert a woman he impregnated and her baby by virtue of the provision of Section 277 of Criminal Law of Lagos State any person who impregnates a woman or a girl and fails, refuses or neglect to contribute to maternity related cost from ante-natal or post natal stages has contravened the provision of this law and shall face the wrath of law.

 For the purpose of this section, maternity related costs includes all medical expenses,food expenses,reasonable shelters and other necessaries

This law was enacted to review the outdated law made by the colonial masters and meet up with the present day realities, also in a bid to check men’s excesses who believe it is men’s world. Ladies it’s time to speak up and for men if you know you wont take responsibilities please zip up.

Thank you.

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL

IMMUNITY CLAUSE AND HRH SANUSI'S NEW OFFICE

Congratulation to his HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on his appointment as the Emir of Kano State, Nigeria may your reign be peaceful.

There has been several questions unanswered since the news broke, whether this will bring an end to all the charges of misappropriation of public funds brought against you, if this will prevent the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria from pressing further and if your new position falls under the category of those protected by the Immunity clause in the Nigerian constitution.

Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution Federal Republic of Nigeria provide thus;

(1)    Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this constitution, but subject to subsection(2) of this section

(a)    No civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against a person to whom this section applies during this period of office;

(b)    A person whom this section applies shall not be arrested or imprisoned during that period either on  arrested or imprisoned during that period either on pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise, and no

(c)    No process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of this person to whom this section applies, shall be applied for or issued.................

(2)    The provision of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to civil proceedings against  a person to whom this section applies in his official capacity or to civil or criminal proceedings in which such a person is only a nominal party

(3)     This section applies to a person holding the office of the President, vice president, Governor or  Deputy governor, and the reference in this section to ‘period of office’ is a reference to the period during which the person holding such office is required to the perform the functions of the office.

From the provision of the CFRN we have seen that the post of an Emir, Oba or local chiefs is not covered by the immunity clause. We shall be looking at the Chieftaincy law and several decided cases to know what privilege is accorded to the office of an emir and if HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s new appointment will not bring ridicule to this highly respected traditional office if the charges are further pressed against him.

The notion of a traditional tribal chief is the leader of a tribe, or head of a tribal self government known to the indigenous people from ages. In Northern Nigeria the title of some Muslim traditional rulers is the Arabic transliteration of ‘amir’ to the English spelling of ‘emir’ or a corruption such as lamido, sometimes used in addition to a native title.

The Rule of LAW is the maxim rex non debit esse sub homine,sedsub deo et sut lege,quia lex facit regem meaning that  the king ought to be under no man, but under God and the law, because the law makes a man. Therefore from this maxim of the rule of law, HRH is still under the law and he can be called upon to answer the charges against him.

In M.A Eleso V. Government of Ogun state & ors (1990) 2NWLR (PT133), Alhaji Arowolo V. Akapo& ors (2004) All FWLR (pt208)807 the plaintiffs in these cases were said to have the locus standi to institute an action again the chiefs,this same law is applicable to Obas,Emirs and  chiefs.

Law is no respecter of anyone.

Thank you.

                                   

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL