₦airaland Forum

mzilakazi:
Agitating for self determination can never be tantamount to devide the unity of the state.

The court's decision won't be based on your opinion, it will be based on Nigerian law. I suggest you read the law.

mzilakazi:
How does a person threaten the unity of the state when he is agitating for self determination. A right which is supported by the UN charter. Donald Trump publicly called African Americans lazy and called for their return to their fellow corrupt Africans in Africa.

By calling for a disolution of the state with violence. All his utterances are documented.

Insulting African Americans has no equivalence to breaking up a country. It's obvious enough. Worst case is you nail Trump for insulting minorities. Not even discrimination against minorities. Clear as night and day.

Let's say by an "Act of God" a referendum was conducted in the SE and whichever part is included in the proposed Biafra and it passes whatever criteria needed to secede (we can get into what it really takes to get a referendum in a different post). I envisage a looming legal conundrum which will make the actualization of Biafra a major hurdle. We don't have any provision for secession in our Constitution so we need an amendment. Without an amendment, anybody can sue the legality of the new Biafra and break it up in a courtroom.

Long and short of this is, in addition to getting a referendum, we also need a constitutional amendment. The process of amending the constitution is separate from a referendum and it involves the entire country getting to vote on the amendment.

To be honest with you, I think we need Tom Cruise.


Legal perspective needed to correct me if I am wrong. Serious contributions appreciated.

mzilakazi:
You are taking things too far. We all know there is limitation of rights. Kanu's actions have never amounted to be what can be described as treason. Donald J Trump exercise his right to freedom of speech on an American platform exhaustively without restrictions.

Donald Trump says shit but he has never ever threatened the unity of the state either directly or indirectly.

Permit me to post the legal text for treason and treasonable felony under Nigerian criminal code (he is also charged with belonging to an unlawful society with different codes).

Please read without prejudice:


Treason and certain other Offences


37. (1) Any person who levies war against the State, in order to intimidate or overawe the President or the Governor of a State, is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death.

(2) Any person conspiring with any person, either within or without Nigeria, to levy war against the State with intent to cause such levying of war as would be treason if committed by a citizen of Nigeria, is guilty of treason and is liable to the punishment of death:

Provided that nothing in this section shall prevent any act from being treason which is so by the law of England as in form in Nigeria.

(3) (Inserted by L.N. 112 of 1964 and deleted by L.N. 139 of 1965.)

38. Any person who instigates any foreigner to invade Nigeria with an armed force is guilty of treason, and is liable to the punishment of death.

39. (1) Where an offender who in the opinion of the court had not attained the age of seventeen years at the time the offence was committed has been found guilty of an offence against either section 37 or section 38 such offender shall not be sentenced to death but shall be ordered to be detained during the pleasure of the President and upon such an order being made the provisions of Part 44 of the Criminal Procedure Act shall apply.

(2) Where a woman who has been convicted of an offence against either section 37 or section 38 alleges she is pregnant or where the judge before whom she is convicted considers it advisable to have inquiries made as to whether or not she be pregnant the procedure laid down in section 376 of the Criminal Procedure Act shall first be complied with.

41. Any person who-

(1) becomes an accessory after the fact to treason; or

(2) knowing that any person intends to commit treason, does not give information thereof with all reasonable despatch to the President or the Governor of the State or a peace officer, or use other reasonable endeavours to prevent the commission of the offence;

is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for life.

41. Any person who forms an intention to effect any of the following purposes, that is to say-

(a) to remove during his term of office otherwise than by constitutional means the President as Head of State of the Federation and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces thereof; or

(b) to likewise remove during his term of office the Governor of a State; or

(c) to levy war against Nigeria in order by force or constraint to compel the President to change his measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon, or in order to intimidate or overawe any House of the National Assembly or any other Legislature or legislative authority; or

(d) to instigate any foreigner to make any armed invasion of Nigeria or of any of the territories thereof; and manifests such intention by an overt act, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.

A person charged with any of the felonies defined in this section is not entitled to he acquitted on the ground that any act proved to have been committed by him constitutes the offence of treason; but a person who has been tried, and convicted or acquitted, on a charge of any such offence cannot he afterwards prosecuted for treason in respect of the same facts.

42. Any person who, without lawful authority, carries on, or makes preparation for carrying on, or aids in or advises the carrying on of, or preparation for, any war or warlike undertaking with, for, by, or against, any traditional chief, or with, for, by, or against any band of citizens, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for life.

43. A person cannot be tried for treason, or for any of the felonies defined in the three last preceding sections, unless the prosecution is commenced within two years after the offence is committed.

44. Any person who advisedly attempts to effect any of the following purposes, that is to say-

(a) to seduce any person serving in any of the armed forces of Nigeria or any member of the police force from his duty and allegiance; or

(b) to incite any such persons to commit an act of mutiny or any traitorous or mutinous act; or

(c) to incite any such persons to make or endeavour to make a mutinous assembly;

is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for life.

45. Any person who-

(a) aids, abets, or is accessory to, any act of mutiny by; or

(b) incites to sedition or to disobedience to any lawful order given by a superior officer,

any warrant or other officer below commissioned rank and others inferior in rank to them and by whatever name described in any of the armed forces of Nigeria or any police officer, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for two years and to a fine of four hundred naira.

46. Any person who, by any means whatever, directly or indirectly-

(a) procures or persuades or attempts to procure or persuade to desert; or

(b) aids, abets, or is accessory to the desertion of; or

(c) having reason to believe he is a deserter, habours or aids in concealing

any warrant or other officer below commissioned rank and others inferior in rank to them and by whatever name described in any of the said armed forces, or any police officer, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for six months and to a fine of one hundred naira.

46A. (1) Any person who, by any means whatever, causes or attempts to cause, or does any act calculated to cause disaffection amongst persons serving as-

(a) members o the armed forces of Nigeria;

(b) police officers; or

(c) prison officers,

or does any act calculated to induce any person serving as aforesaid to hold his services or to commit breaches of discipline, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding six hundred naira or to both such imprisonment and fine and, if a police officer or prison officer, shall forfeit all pension rights and be disqualified for being a police officer or prison officer as the case may be.

(2) In this section, the expression "prison officer" has the same meaning as in subsection (1) of section 10 of the Prisons Act.

47. A person who has been tried, and convicted or acquitted, on a charge of any of the offences defined in sections 44 and 45 of this Code, cannot be afterwards prosecuted for any other offence defined in this Chapter in respect of the same facts.

48. Any person who-

(1) knowingly and advisedly aids an alien enemy of Nigeria, being a prisoner of war in Nigeria, whether such prisoner is confined in a prison or elsewhere, or is suffered to be at large on his parole, to escape from his prison or place of confinement, or, if he is at large on his parole, to escape from Nigeria, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for life;

(2) negligently and unlawfully permits the escape of any such person as is mentioned in the last preceding subsection is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for two years.

49. In the case of any of the offences defined in this Chapter, when the manifestation by an overt act of an intention to effect any purpose is an element of the offence, every act of conspiring with any person to effect that purpose, and every act done in furtherance of the purpose by any of the persons conspiring, is deemed to be an overt act manifesting the intention.

mzilakazi:
Freedom of speech and opinion must be entrenched in every constitutional democracies in the world.

Freedom of speech has limits everywhere in the world. Go to USA, the so called bastion of democracy and do the following things:

1. Shout fire in a crowded theatre
2. Go on any public platform and scream that you will kill Obama
3. Incite violence against the state by telling people to break up USA like Kanu

Then come and tell me if water no pass garri.

EasternPride:
and it doesn't really matter how you rile up support, as long as you didn't kill anyone agitating for self-determination, no one can accuse you of any crime.
Nigerians are daft.

Make sure to include that in Biafra's constitution when you eventually get the country.

baralatie:
Nnamdi has serious acts of treason on this one and by the time evidence points in this direction.
Na life imprisonment excluding monetary charges that will follow

Definitely not full treason and maybe a lesser treasonable felony charge. The guns caught can't easily be tagged to him unless they have evidence he bought them. So far, he has been caught with illegal radio which is used to incite and disturb the peace; he has been caught threatening the peace and overthrow of an elected government; he has been caught soliciting for weapons (weak one); he belongs to an unlawful society according to Nigerian government and if sleeping with ashi is a crime, then you can also hang that on his neck.

So technically MTN is an unknowing accomplice since ignorance is not an excuse in court.

Kanu will get charged for crimes. Not sure treason will be one of them.

bonechamberlain:
the boundaries of almost all countries where drawn by man reflecting the cultural and various divergent differences of those Countries, in the case of Nigeria, it was done to reflect the desires of some powers.
what are the rational secession process

Not true. Successful countries like USA, Russia, China, India and Brazil do not represent homogeneous cultures. People just got out of their primitive state of minds and learned to live together.

Let the people that represent you in a government ask for a referendum. Your fight should be convincing them or getting them out of office.

bonechamberlain:
ok, since u brought balkanization, why is the north and west afraid of balkanization of this man-made entity called Nigeria.

Outside of Australia, Greenland and New Zealand which country's boundaries wasn't drawn by man? The trick is people learn to live with each other or they proceed with a rational secession process.

APCLyingBastard:
Now you are boasting of the same oil you want to rubish.

Thank me for opening your eyes.

Besides I am from Delta. And why will you condemn any SE state as marginal where Ondo ( the largest oil producing state in the sw) only manages 30,000 bpd as at last year? Lagos has potential but what are the reserves like? Nobody will invest in tapping a small well with crude prices this low low.


Cheers

Forgot to add that Lagos already is a step ahead in the downstream sector courtesy of Dangote's 600,000 barrels capacity refinery. They'll kick start a private sector petrochemical revolution in 2018.

APCLyingBastard:
The PIB proposes a time line to ban importation of refined products.

The NNPC refineries and subsidy will have to go to pave way for genuine investors.

If we don't remove subsidies and unbundle the govt owned refineries in place for private refineries nobody will invest in the downstream sector.

Believe me that there are Nigerians who can fund a refinery project. They own huge equities in foreign refineries .

This is similar to how some Nigerians will rather convert their wealth to forex and stash it abroad because they saw govt meddling of forex trading.

We must reduce our govt's presence in operating ventures.

This is what an economist described as mad cow disease where the cow (govt) nibbles on its tail rather than graze on the lush green fields. That is competing with local businesses by setting up govt corporations rather than promoting private investments.

The Nigerian Govt maintains the NNPC for sole purpose of corruption.

It is time to remove subsidy, unbundle the NNPC, ban crude exports and develop a viable downstream sector.

Dangote and some other investors are building some. I just think Buhari needs to privatize existing refineries and get government out of managing businesses. But I suspect the man is a socialist.

APCLyingBastard:
We won't need them if we develop our own downstream sector and that is a very good thing having the greedy yanks off your economy

Educate me on this. How is PIB stopping us from establishing private refineries. Didn't they give out licenses? The issue is conflict of interest, granting rent seekers license to refine. Why would they build when they can make more importing refined products? What am I missing?

APCLyingBastard:
Now you are boasting of the same oil you want to rubish.

Thank me for opening your eyes.

Besides I am from Delta.

Cheers

Not boasting. My point still stands. US doesn't see our oil as a strategic interest. My kids are half delta btw.

APCLyingBastard:
Your last paragraph is not on tandem with the change govt which was propped up by Washington to make Nigeria remain dependent on imports for how can we explain the 70% Deficit budget that is based on loans drawn in dollars from the west?

This is why I am all out for Nigeria's dissolution because we can never reach our full potential with the current setup where the two major ethnic groups are not ready to see any meaningful and sustainable development in the ND and SE.

You guys are deliberately sabotagong our economic development for your selfishness and jealousy.

How can a country with over 800km coastline only have one port for imports?

Why should the FG mandate that all oil companies must relocate their corporate hqs from the Delta producing states to Lagos after the war and now Abuja?

These are just a tip of why people like me support Nigeria's peaceful disintegration.

I do hope you are from a major oil producing state. Not states with marginal fields or a SE land grabber. Lolz.

Ondo and Lagos states are ripe for petrochemical industries with the lagos offshore oil and Ondo's oil and bitumen. Nigeria is is blessed.

APCLyingBastard:
Which one is "our"?

Lolz.

The benefits from establishing a viable non export based petrochemical downstream industry are enormous.

Pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, synthetic resins, paints, solvents are just too numerous.

Job creation, industrialization and foreign exchange earnings will be ten times what we see from a crude based sector.

The PIB is meant to facilitate this but una no go gree because it will make the Niger Delta more prosperous than you want.

The Bight of Biafra can also serve as a shipping hub.

The low price currently being observed will only catalyse Nigeria's disintegration further.

Be careful on what you wish others because it will come to hurt you.

Why do you assume I don't support Biafra or PIB? I just don't like the lack of leadership and direction. The resultant noise making and the insults is not strategic juat plain dumb. But until that is sorted, we are talking about Nigeria.

Developing our domestic economy should be our immediate priority which lowers our demand for dollars amongst other benefits. It isn't rocket science and refineries should be built close to source to reduce cost. That also is from Captain Obvious. Why would I want to locate refineries away if not for strategic interest like serving an undeserved area?

APCLyingBastard:
As an energy source you mean.

But crude has more valuable applications.

Take a look around you and see crude derravitives being used in manufacturing including the device you are posting with.

Shale does not compare to crude when it compares to the varying hydrocarbon resins that can be harnessed from it.

If anything if global energy demand shifts to shale crude prices will soar as a manufacturing input.

Manufacting cost for shale keeps dropping as technology improves. Refineries are operating at maximum capacity due to the glut in supply and a lot of demand has already shifted to gas. Like I said, if US needs African energy do badly, they won't withdraw from buying.

APCLyingBastard:
Crude is not the solution.

The only option is to develop a viable downstream petrochemical industry

Crude is crashing but has engine oil reduced?

We will develop a local industry and if you are good we will sell refined crude to you but not on credit

Petrochemical should be our immediate future but we are not equipped for it. I don't see US making our oil a strategic interest though.

APCLyingBastard:
You seem not to understand that the end game.

The world has gone beyond peak oil meaning global oil reserves are depleting fast.

The US wants to make shale oil replace conventional crude.

Once that is established, they will have global market dominance.

Saudi is trying to crash the shale oil coming from America, the rest are opportunities and complications that came as a result of that strategy. The green people think keeping oil low will eventually dry investments in that sector up on the long run. Oil is at its very last leg.

USA doesn't even buy our oil any more when shale oil is of similar quality.

APCLyingBastard:
A naval and air base which is strategically located to access much of West, central and north Africa.

Congo and Angola especially where they hope to check Chinese inroads in Africa.

But most importantly to have access to the biggest and proven oil reserves offshore in the Bight.

You think oil prices are crashing due to natural demand and supply rules? The US and Saudi are manipulating the market in order to crash Russian and Iranian economy.

Oil is no longer a long term energy strategy like I just said. USA now exports crude. Saudi is trying to crash the shale oil coming from America, the rest are opportunities and complications that came as a result of that strategy. The green people think keeping oil low will eventually drive investments in that sector up on the long run.

APCLyingBastard:
No. So that they can finally get their AFRICOM base in the Bight of Biafra

What's the overriding strategic interest in Bight of Biafra?

APCLyingBastard:
The US want Nigeria to break up

Let me guess. So they can take control of our oil right? Something they themselves now export so as to crash the price making oil irrelevant!

APCLyingBastard:
Low oil price will not get the US to side with Nigeria.

Oil slump will greatly affect the socioeconomic stability of Nigeria especially the north

An economic meltdown down will affect Nigeria's ability to fight on two fronts and will greatly degrade the military's capability and morale.

Think. It is far worse for a mono economy like Nigeria than for the Biafrans who can easily get Russia and China's backing.

Russia and China's backing. Lolz

Like the backing of the so many countries Dilector claims. Funnies sh $t I have read in a while. It's like you guys just wake up and make stuff up for no apparent reason with no logic to it.

APCLyingBastard:
Low oil price will not get the US to side with Nigeria.

Oil slump will greatly affect the socioeconomic stability of Nigeria especially the north

An economic meltdown down will affect Nigeria's ability to fight on two fronts and will greatly degrade the military's capability and morale.

Think. It is far worse for a mono economy like Nigeria than for the Biafrans who can easily get Russia and China's backing.

Russia and China's backing. Lolz

Like the backing of the so many countries Dilector claims. Funnies sh $t I have read in a while.

DerideGull:
Did 1999 Nigerian constitution make provisions for self-determination?

We don't have anything like that in our Constitution hence the need to fight for one through a political process or warfare.

DerideGull:
There is no limit to freedom speech especially under the auspice of self-determination. However if anybody feels offended by such speeches, he/she can take the group to court for defamation. Incitement of violence cannot be included when asking people to march or protest for they believed.

Nothing you said there is under Nigerian law which is available for the public to read.

I'd defer to the court to make the determination though.

DerideGull:
I an not shifting the goal post but staying within the circle of the debate. Every separatist movement has been persecuted by the so-called federal government of Nigeria. You would have a case if Nnamdi Kanu is not being illegally detained. Every so-called separatist movement in USA has freedom of public debate and exercise of free speech.

There are limits to freedom of speech such as inciting violence. Most governments crack down on such.

DerideGull:
Name one such group its leader has been illegally detained?

Stop shifting the goal post. You asked for a list and I gave you one.

DerideGull:
Nigerians seem to be politically myopic. There are multiple ways to solve a problem. The IPOB and MASSOB have chosen a way and it must be respected.

You don't know what myopic means or you are just irredeemably stu.pid.

What ipob way? What plan?

DerideGull:
Nigerians seem to be politically myopic. There are multiple ways to solve a problem. The IPOB and MASSOB have chosen a way and it must be respected.

You don't know what myopic means or you are just irredeemably stupid.

What ipob way? What plan?

DerideGull:
For sake of posterity, can you name one separatist outfit in USA? Yes, there is one such group in Spain and the Spanish government does not behave like idiotic Nigerian government.

League of the South
Alaska Independence Party
Republic of Lakotah
Texas Nationalist Movement
Second Vermont Republic

Just to name a few

DerideGull:
Please direct the bolded to the powers who administer NL because any support for anything Biafra attracts a ban. I wonder how they can cope with Biafran Peoples Party or Biafran Nationalist Party as you have implied. By the way, please write to INEC and inform them about your brilliant idea of incorporating Biafra in the mainstream of Nigerian polity.

That's what I expect the leadership of ipob, MASSOB etc to do. People's imagination has already been captured, the next thing is to put the plans in place. It's not going to be easy but it can be done peacefully.

Pick the weakest representative in the SE and recall him and vote someone else in. Start registering your own party and watch the politicians start raising motions for Biafra left, right and center. Wisdom is needed here the current riots can only last so long before fatigue and indifference sets in.