IMPEACHMENT: DEPUTY GOVENOR ENUGU

The Enugu state Assembly has successful impeached the state deputy governor, Mr Sunday Onyebuchi, the house adopted the outcome of the 7-man panel set up to investigate the allegation of gross misconduct alleged by 22 out of the 27 members of the state Assembly. The panel was set up by Chief Judge of the state; the panel came up with the conclusion that ‘the allegation levelled against him has been proved’

Let us analyse impeachment process as provided under the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria since impeachment seems to be order of the day in the country.

DIVORCE:: HOUSTON TEXAS AS CASE STUDY

What is Divorce? This is an act or instance of legally dissolving a marriage.

To obtain a divorce one must be able to prove to the court at least one of the grounds allowed for divorce in order for it to stand, the grounds for bringing divorce in Houston Texas are seven in number which falls under two different categories which are Fault based Divorce and No-Fault Divorce.

GOV.OLUSEGUN MIMIKO: CROSS CARPETING

The Ondo State governor Olusegun Mimiko dumped his party, the Labour party for the ruling party Peoples Democratic Party. He came into power as the Ondo State Governor on the platform of the Labour Party. The governor made this known to his cabinet members and close political associates at a meeting held at the government house in Akure, Ondo State.

 The PDP 'spokesperson' Femi Fani Kayode also took to twitter to announce his defection to the ruling party.

 The Peoples Democratic Party embraced him with both hands just the way they have embraced the likes of Nuhu Ribadu the former boss of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and a vibrant member of the All Progressive Congress, the former governor of Borno state and a Senator of the Federal Republic Ali Modu Sheriff. What is our point exactly?

JABBAR COLLINS: WRONGFUL CONVICTION

In criminal law ,Blackstone’s formulation the principle is that it is better that ten guilty escape than that one innocent suffer’

Jabbar Collins was convicted and sentenced to 34years to live in prison for the murder of Rabbi Pollack in 1994 on the evidence of three witnesses, the rule is that evidence of a single witness is sufficient as long as the court considers it credible and admissible.

At trial, a witness Adrian Diaz said he saw the accused put a gun in his waist band as he fled the scene of the crime, the second witness Angel Santos said he saw the accused run past him as he call 911 while the third witness Edwin Olivia claimed that the accused confided in him of his intention to rob the victim. Here the witnesses corroborated themselves which the court relied on for Jabbar Collins conviction in 1995.

After his conviction,

EBOLA: YELLOW CARD

The major challenge facing West African countries and the rest of the world lately is the EBOLA outbreak, which is deadlier than AIDS as it’s contagious and kills fast. Ebola itself is defined as an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding, spreading through contact infected body fluid by a filovirus whose normal species is unknown.

This virus has made most countries close its border against those countries affected and where a country cannot close its border it requires from travellers’ certain conditions that must be met before such traveller can gain entry into the country. This has nothing to do with discrimination or Racism because if they don’t protect their citizens who will....lol

One of many requirements is the YELLOW HEALTH CARD,

HALL V. FLORIDA WHEN NOT TO RELY ON A SINGLE SOURCE

JURIST Guest Columnist Susan Schneider, Syracuse University College of Law, Class of 2015, explores criticisms of the DSM-5 after the US Supreme Court used it as the sole national standard to define intellectual disability in Hall v. Florida...

                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

In its 2002 decision Atkins v. Virginia, the US Supreme Court declared that executing a person with intellectual disability is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

AN EMPLOYER'S GUILD: 'WHISTLE BLOWER'

Legislation seeks to provide protection against penalisation for employees who report wrongdoing. While this legislation is aimed at protecting employees, encouraging whistleblowers to make disclosures can also be of benefit to employers. Whistleblowers can assist in uncovering wrongdoing within the organisation. This can help prevent accidents, financial scandals, criminal offences and regulatory breaches. Below we summarise the key features of the Act and highlight the steps employers must take to comply with this new legislation.

IMPEACHMENT; AL-MAKURA

The impeachment process against the Nassarawa State Governor, Umaru Al-Makura failed when the panel set up by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Sule Dikko to investigate the 16 charges of gross misconduct levelled against the governor was dismissed.

The members of the House of Assembly were of the opinion that the panel was not duly constituted; therefore the allegation of gross misconduct by the governor cannot be dismissed just like that.

MURDER ; 19 YEARS OLD RILWAN AHMED

19 year old Rilwan Ahmed (pictured above) did the most unthinkable thing, he killed his own brother. According to a report by Tribune, Rilwan took his 4 year old half-brother Waris Ahmed to an uncompleted building close to their residence at Oloko village in Ibadan, Oyo State, tied a piece of cloth across his face, making it difficult for him to breathe, then tied his legs, and left him there. Life slowly ebbed out of him as he struggled to breathe. His body was discovered there 3 days later.

CHILD BRIDE; CULPABLE HOMICIDE

The Kano state government through senior state counsel of the Ministry of Justice has filed fresh charges of culpable homicide against the fourteen years old bride, Waila Umaru, who allegedly poisoned her Thirty Five years old groom and three others in Kano State, Nigeria in April 2014. She was said to have bought rat poison which was mixed with drink, the groom took the drink after taking his meal, and this led to his death and some of his guests. The suspect confessed to the crime claiming that she did it because she was forced to marry a man she didn’t love.

ABACHA; DISCONTINUANCE OF CRIMINAL SUIT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL

The Federal Government through the Attorney General of the Federation Mohammed Adoke withdrew the corrupt charges of N446.3BN (Four Hundred and Forty Six Billion Naira Only) against Mohammed Abacha, son to the late head of state and Dictator General Sani Abacha.

This power exercised by the Attorney General has raised a lot of controversies, why he would withdraw such suit and make him a free man; he has simply encouraged corruption and injustice.

EKITI STATE: THE PROPER PARTIES IN AN ELECTION PETITION

The Ekiti State All Progressive Congress has released a press statement saying that they will challenge the process of the recently concluded governorship election in the state even though the incumbent governor concedes defeat by congratulating the governor elect. The APC in the state said the process was not free and fair as the presence of the military deployed to the state for election its members were harassed by military men before and after the election.

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

 

 

EX-CONVICT ;IBINABO FIBRESIMA V. CLARION CHUKWURA

The drama between the Actors Guild of Nigeria president Fribresima Ibinabo and  Clarion Chukwura a popular actress and mother of an award winning video director Clearence Peters is one of the dramas rocking the Nollywood industry lately as it is taking different forms and dimensions, its indeed a long story..................from malice, to battle for supremacy, seniority and so on.

This is not unknown in that industry but what got my attention was the last interview granted by Clarion in the Punch Newspaper against Ibinabo, stating that she is not on the same level with her as she is an ex convict and also not fit to lead the AGN.

I remember several years ago, the AGN president,Ibinabo who was coming back from a night club in a friends car driving under the influence of alcohol ran into a medical practitioner who was on his way to work and killed the family man, instead of Ibinabo to stay back to rush him to the hospital she  ran away, she was later arrested and convicted for an offence of manslaughter, the term which she served.

All effort to lay my hand on the AGN constitution which Clarion is relying on proved abortive, but the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will be adopted for this discussion as the offence convicted for was in Nigeria,the question now is whether there is any option in law available to an ex-convict and whether unknown to Clarion, Ibinabo has taken advantage of this opportunity the law avail an ex-convict.

The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by virtue of Section 175 (prerogative of mercy) vest the power to pardon an ex-convict of any offence committed in the Chief Executive Officer of the states, Pardon in law strikes conviction of an accused off the criminal record as if the conviction never occurred, thereby making an accused free of all previous conviction and makes him a free man, innocent of the offence.

If truly the constitution of the AGN forbid an ex-convict to lead then, how did Ibinabo got there? We hereby urge Ibinabo to put the record straight by proving to the entire industry and their numerous fans across the world that the allegation was false,and ex-convict can lead or she has been previously pardoned or which ever the way it is.

we deserve to know the truth. Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria! Long Live the AGN

Thank you.

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL

JUNGLE JUSTICE: A NO GO AREA

The court from time in memorial has been the last resort for the rich and common men in the society, but in the last few years people no longer believe in the judiciary because of the way and manners their cases are being handled,

RAPE: WHEN CONSENT IS OBTAINED BY FRAUD

The Lagos state police command has arrested the divisional police officer in charge of Onikan Mr. Adekunle Awe for alleged rape and threat to life when she was arrested and detained by some officers in the police station.

In her words, she said the DPO made sexual advances towards at her by rubbing his hand all over her body,she rejected his advances and the DPO threatened that he will make her spend the rest of her life in prison for these reason,because she was afraid of  her life and allowed him to have his way without her wish,she claimed all effort to make him protect himself proved abortive.

She was later released the following day after paying the sum of Thirty Thousand Naira to the IPO in charge of the police station,on release by the police,she felt cheated and went to the Lagos Island Maternity Clinic to do a medical test.The medical test was signed by one Dr. Seriki which read as follow:
  
A complaint of sexual assault ; no laceration,no bruises, no areas of hypermedia, negative for HIV 1 & 2,pregnancy negative,she has been placed on PEP and emergency contraceptive.

The first issue for determination is whether the DPO can be charged with the offense of rape,as no force was reported.

Section 357 of the criminal code of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states that any person who has unlawful canal knowledge of a woman,girl against her will without her consent ,where the victim's consent is obtained under fear of death or whether consent is given under intoxication or unsound mind shall be guilty of an offense of rape.

What this section of the law is saying that even where sexual intercourse is done based on a threat by one person to another even though no bruises or force occurred it is rape,therefore if the DPO had sexual intercourse with her then it will be assumed that he used his power as a person in authority to take advantage of the lady and may be guilty of rape.

The second issue for determination is whether the medical report from Lagos Island is admissible as evidence against rape.

one of the major ways of proving rape is through medical reports conducted on the victim of rape,In INEC V. ATIKU for a medical report to be admissible as evidence in a law court it must be from government hospital or from a private hospital on recommendation,therefore the evidence tendered by the victim of rape in this case is admissible in courts in Nigeria as Lagos Island Maternity  Hospital is  a Lagos State Government owned hospital.

Please note that it does not mean that medical reports from private hospitals are not admissible but the fact that its a government hospital will give it weight as it is believe that results from privately owned hospitals may be manipulated.

Thank you

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL