₦airaland Forum

What to do where there is no Lawyer: Your guide to staying safe in Nigeria
Nigeria is one of the safest places to live in the world and life for a Nigerian is a fun spree, especially when you live in the suburban areas of Island and you cash out six figures. Your security is guaranteed, you get the utmost respect from the police and when you visit the civil service, they accord you the finest of respect. The only limit is whatever you think you should not do or cannot do. But before you get to exercise these freedoms, you need two important things, without which all these would be golden castles in the air – first off, you must have the ‘dough’. Not the ordinary I can afford a car and an iPhone kind of dough but actual ‘dough’. Second and most important of all, you must have a solid network of connections with powerful and important people. In short, ‘na who you know matter’.
Nigeria is one of the most unsafe places to live in the world and life for a typical Nigerian is like squeezing a camel through the eye of a needle. Everything around you is a threat to your property and your life. When you don’t have a job and you reside in Lagos with kids to cater for, going the extreme way might seem a favorable option. And when you in fact, have a job, earning five digits, and you have a house as your own, life still throws spike at you in different ways – either you spend six hours in traffic, or a ‘danfo’ scratches your contract plan car on your way to work or the police stop on suspicions of being a yahoo boy. To still survive the hard life, you need (1) some deposits in the bank to see off problems and (2) someone you could call anytime to solve your problem for you.

What do you then do when you lack these two important things?
You call a lawyer
What if you can’t afford a lawyer?
Then you have to read this piece.

The enforcement of Human rights in Nigeria is as disrespected as the rights themselves, even more than. More so, the violation is often committed by Public Officials who will often without hesitation show off the extent to which they could delay your grant, throw away your letter or deny you that job that you really need. And sometimes it gets chaotic, especially when someone in the upper six digits class decides to flex their power on you and they land you a dirty slap at a pub. Then people console you and ask you to take heart but it is never sufficient because you always want to do more – you either want to slap the person back or get a reward. Something to relieve you of that pain. Then this is your guide to being a lawyer in the absence of one, quoting the constitution when necessary, and telling that man we will meet in court after your cheeks must have been shaped from the slap.
This is not to say after reading this, you would be a top-notch lawyer with Gani Fawehinmi’s sagacity, or that after taking these procedures, things will go your way. It’s merely to fill you on the basics of the things you have control over as a Nigerian, even in the absence of a lawyer. Nonetheless, get a lawyer once you have done your part.
A topic of this nature is such that requires lengthy articles to cover and thus, we’d be reviewing and taking the things you need to know one at a time through weekly updates.
Number One thing you should understand in the absence of a lawyer is:
Know who you are in the streets of Lagos
Yes! I chose that as the first because it explains to you who you are and what your limits are as a Nigerian.
Let’s assume you were on your way back from work in your Toyota Camry 2006, car windows rolled up because you can afford the AC and you were slowing jamming to Burna Boys “Ye”. The road was free and you were engaging in a fast and furious 10 with other road users when suddenly you shouted “Ye!” not to the song but because you had just been hit from behind. For some seconds, your head was on the steering wheel because you were trying to think how a car you just bought, a contract plan, could be a victim of reckless driving already. As the No-nonsense person that you are, you stepped out of your car with nothing on your mind but how you’d make the person pay fully for the damage.
You saw the man examining the damage on your car and you immediately noticed the huge dent on your car. You opened your mouth to speak but the man beat you to it.
“Young man, do you understand the consequence of what you just did?”
“What I just did?” you asked, surprised that the man could even say that “You hit me from the back and the first thing you ask me is if I understand the consequence of what I did. Why don’t you tell me?”
Rule Number One: Never be the first to engage. When such a thing happens, walk to your car, assess the damage, and stare the person hard in the face. No smiles.
Rule Number Two: Never ask to be told the consequences of what you just did in case the person who just hit you isn’t ready to acknowledge their mistake.
Back to the scenario
“Well I would tell you,” the man replies moving backward to show you his car “This is a Benz. A Mer-ce-des Benz” he says slowly to let it sink.
But you weren’t moved. “I don’t care. You hit me from behind and you are going to fix my car.”
“You must be nuts to think so,” the man snapped “How can you be driving recklessly on a public road? At least if you want to be carefree, make sure you’re driving close to people using Honda, Toyota, and all. You know your type, not me this is a Mer-ce-des Benz”
This was much harder than you thought. “But you hit me, sir? You did because I didn’t slow down or anything but you hit me from behind, isn’t that obvious to you?”
“Look at the way you are addressing me, who do you think you are?”
“I am Alana Atantan Olubiriki, an employee in so-so-and-so company”
Rule Number Three: Never introduce yourself like this, as it does nothing but to worsen your situation and it gives the person more assurance that it’s something they could get away with or better still, have you pay for the damage on their car. When confronted with such a question, never answer. Two things you could either do is to stare the man rigorously in the eyes or simply state “I don’t think that is of any relevance to the matter at hand. You clearly hit me from the back and I wouldn’t let you go until something is done about that”
Back to the scenario
“Good and I will you just who I am in this city,” he said, reaching for his pocket “Just wait and see”
Everything is currently frustrating you and you are not even sure what to do. You watched slowly as the man brought out his phone and started dialing.
“Hello Dare,” he started “How are you? I am fine too. Thank you for coming to that last event for me, I really appreciate. Madam is fine too. She is fine. Erm Dare. I need your help with something. You wouldn’t believe that as I was going home today, I saw a particular car swirling dangerously on the road. It was like magic and I was at the back of the car praying that God should intervene and save me. You know that was how Remi died, all these economy car owners”
You listened attentively as he spoke and your jaws dropped in awe as he said those things you never did.
“Yes, that was what I did. The unfortunate man even hit my car and he still has the effrontery to challenge me here. He has been embarrassing me this whole time. I tell you. See I need some boys from you, maybe five to six strong and armed men because from the way he is looking, he is one of those madmen that should be in a mental hospital or someone that just escaped from jail. Thank you my friend, I would be expecting you”
You have heard those super stories where someone gets locked in a jail for doing nothing and immediately, your heart ceased working and you suddenly became weak. You quickly moved to your car and was about to enter when you felt a strong grip on your shirt and when you turned back, the man landed a dirty slap on your face”
Rule Number Four: Never, ever, except you want to leave everything to God, turn your back when things get heated. That exactly is when you need a lawyer and the lawyer must be there before the police get there. The fact that a lawyer is there doesn’t guarantee that things will go your way because except your lawyer is a big ‘name lawyer’, both of you risk being manhandled by the police on their way and perhaps some days in the cell.
But before it goes out of hand, these are things you need to know about who you are on the streets of Lagos.
Without bombarding you with Sections of the Constitution Laws and cases, I will try to explain to you in simple terms who you are as a Nigerian person and how to deal with your private affair.
You might have seen, heard, or watched firsthand the effects of civil rights enforcement in developed countries. Just from a push, a verbal utterance, or actual physical violence, you could get a huge settlement out of court. But this is not popular in Nigeria and for some reasons save for cases of defamation, there aren’t many lawyers focusing on it in Nigeria. Some of the reasons are the slow court process and weak enforcement system.
But you as an individual should understand how your private rights protect your person, your property, and even your reputation.
Read more>>>>
https://www.exsplur.com/2020/06/20/what-to-do-where-there-is-no-lawyer-your-guide-to-staying-safe-in-nigeria/

Common Drugs you should always have at home always
So drugs are very important, like we all take drugs when we are sick, minus those of us that take or fancy àgbo (herbal preparations) but also are very dangerous, like pharmacists will say "all drugs are poisons, the dose makes the difference". That should explain the grilling a lot of us face when trying to get drugs at the PHARMACY, but nevertheless, there are some drugs that are important to us that we have at home and that time it will take us to run down to the pharmacy to get them is what actually makes the difference in some or most of this.
DISCLAIMER: All these drugs are over the counter drugs, so you don't need a prescription to get them but also, this list doesn't contain ANTIBIOTICS, I strongly advise against having antibiotics at home as they are more prone to abuse and if you need them, you should definitely see your pharmacist or doctor
1. Paracetamol: This is what I call the wonder drug we use for almost anything, from headache to stomach pain to body pain, any type of pain, trust me, paracetamol is your first go-to guy. But you know the wonder a lot of people don't know, when you're having pyrexia (body temperature), you can use it too, it has anti-pyretic property
2. Ventolin inhaler: This right here, the time you'll use to run down to the pharmacy and back may be all that determines whether someone survives or not. If you're asthmatic, then you'll understand what I'm saying. A puff of it is may be what an asthmatic patient need when having an asthma attack. Whether you have asthma or not, you should have it, your friend may come around someday and really be in need of it.
3. Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS): Have you ever purged so much that you're even too weak to stand and go to the pharmacy? God now bless you, you're home alone with no one that can quickly run the errand for you, which shows why you need ORS at home. Most times when we are purging, it's caused by a viral agent which is usually self-limiting (stops on its own). I know a lot of times, we rather use flagyl but a bulk of the time when it isn't caused by a bacteria, we contribute to antibiotics resistance. Purging causes a lot of fluid which is replenished back by ORS, good to have it at home.
4. Activated Charcoal: I'm sure a lot of us will be wondering what this is. Well, it's what we call grounded charcoal. Yeah, don't be surprised I listed it here while talking about drugs because it is one and a very important one. It's used in case of poisoning to absorb injested poison. Especially for those that have kids that are always putting one thing or the other in their mouth and the prevalence of suicide, depression. It's important we have this even though we don't pray for it. But in case it happens, that time you need to go get it and come back may be what you need to save that person's life.
Read more >>>>>.
https://www.exsplur.com/2020/06/27/common-drugs-you-definitely-should-have-at-home-always/