₦airaland Forum

THE DEFENSE OF ALIBI, AS EXPLAINED TO A LAY MAN.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

Mr. John Aturu lives with his family in Maitama, Abuja. On the 23rd of July, 2022, there was a robbery incident in the neighborhood where Mr. John Aturu resides, and one of the neighbors swore to have seen a person who looks exactly like Mr. John Aturu as one of the Armed robbers. Some of the robbery victims confirmed that who they saw to be amongst the armed robbers is no other person than Mr. John Aturu, they claimed that in fact Mr. John Aturu was the leader of the gang, directing the robbers where to enter and where not to enter.

These testimonies by the victims of the robbery and other residents of the estate placed Mr. John Aturu as the prime suspect of the robbery. The Police went straight to the house of Mr. John Aturu to arrest him and the wife told the police that the husband is not around and that the husband had traveled to London for a business function on the 15th of July 2022 and he is not back yet.

Immediately, Mr. John Aturu got back to Abuja, he was immediately arrested by the police at the airport, on the ground that according to eyewitnesses, he is a prime suspect in a robbery attack that has taken place in his neighborhood. Mr. John Aturu corroborated the earlier statement of the wife that he had traveled to London a week before the robbery took place and he was not even in the country and there is no magical way he could have been involved in the robbery since he is thousand of Kilometers away from the crime scene the time the robbery took place.

Mr. John Aturu in corroborating this his claim of innocence of not being involved in the robbery provided his flight ticket which according to the date stamp proved that truly Mr. John Aturu flew out of the country a week before the robbery incident, Mr. John Aturu also provided his passport which indicated according to the UK immigration stamp that Mr. John Aturu was welcomed to London a week before the incident, Mr. John Aturu also provided his hotel reservations and the details of the hotel management which the police called and they confirmed that Mr. John Aturu was in their hotel as a guest in London the night the robbery took place in Maitama, Abuja, finally, Mr. John Aturu also according to his passport showing the date the Nigerian immigration stamped him into the country, which is days after the robbery has taken place, this proven that he was truly away in London the night the robbery took place.

This defense that Mr. John Aturu has put up, that he is nowhere near the crime scene or around the robbery scene to have participated in the robbery and bringing out documents and evidence to corroborate his claim is what is known in law as “Alibi”.

The word Alibi is of Latin origin which when translated to English means; “somewhere else”. Simply put, an accused or suspect is somewhere else when the incident took place and was never at the scene of the crime to have participated in the crime.

It is a defense; that at the time and place that a crime occurred, the accused was nowhere near the crime scene.

This defense (Alibi) is to be raised and pleaded at the onset of trial when the accused is required to enter his plea of guilty or not guilty.

If Alibi is successfully pleaded, the defense of not guilty will be entered for the accused and the accused will be discharged and acquitted.

Stanley Alieke is a legal practitioner.
Infoitooknow@gmail.com

Is it a crime for a woman to collect money from a man with the promise of visiting him but failed to fulfil the promise?

by Stan Alieke, Esq.

A netizen called out a lady during the week. The gist was that he met the girl on TikTok and they started bonding together, they decided to meet in person and get to know each other better, but unfortunately, they live in different cities, so the girl asked the guy to book a flight for her or send her transport fare so she could come and see him. The guy booked the flight for the lady only for the lady to reroute the flight to another destination and ghosted the guy.

The guy said he has been calling the girl to refund him the flight money since it became obvious that the girl does not want to come and see him but the girl refused to reply to his messages. The guy is threatening legal action against the girl, he boasted that if the girl didn’t refund him the flight money in 24hours he will make sure that the girl rots in jail.

The legal issue here is; is the action of the girl asking the guy to book a flight for her or to send her transport fare to come and see him only to ghost the guy a criminal offense?

In section 418/419 of the criminal code, it is provided that obtaining money or property of another by false pretense or fake promise is a crime punishable with at least seven years imprisonment term.

On this note, the guy can file a petition against the lady for obtaining from him under false pretense and fake promise that she will come and see him BUT in another section of the criminal code, specifically, S.223(2), it is a criminal offense for a man to pay or send money to a woman money for sex. It is called procurement.

This section provides thus; S.223(2) Any person who procures a woman or girl to become a common prostitute either in Nigeria or elsewhere is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years.

On this note, the lady can argue in her defense that the man sent her money to visit him for sex thereby committing the crime of procurement. Maybe the man can as well argue that he was just inviting the lady out on a date and not for sex hence have not committed the crime of procurement by booking a flight for the lady.

Both of them have a case and whoever presents a more solid argument wins.

Stan Alieke is a legal practitioner.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Berri Tiga and Carter Efe copyright (ownership) fight should set the precedence.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

Berri Tiga and Carter efe made a song together. According to the backstage story, Carter efe had the idea and conceived the concept for the song and shared the idea with Berri Tiga, then Berri Tiga wrote and recorded the song from the start to finish.

The idea/ concept for the song is to sing praises and adoration to Wizkid, hence they named the song “Machala”, one of Wizkid’s numerous pet names.

Carter efe gave the song a huge promotion and undeniably, due to the push he gave the song made the song “blow up” and topped music charts. That is where the fight started as to the rightful owner of the song and entitlement to the royalties that will accrue to each of them since the song is generating huge revenue on music platforms.

It is obvious that they had no prior contract or written agreement as to the ownership or entitlement to the song before the song was released. Carter Efe claimed that he is the real owner of the song since he was the one that conceived the idea of the song and he was also the one that promoted the song and made it “blow up”. He is not contesting the fact that he did not contribute to the writing and recording of the song. Writing and recording of the song were all done by Berri Tiga.

Carter Efe’s claim of ownership to the song, therefore, revolves around the fact that the concept behind the song was his and he also made the song “blow up” due to his aggressive promotions.

Issues like this are not foreign to the Nigerian music scene and they will keep happening unless artists learn how to make do with contracts before they collaborate on any project. The contract will set up the sharing formula of the royalties or revenues generated from the song and also clearly state the copyright ownership of each of the contributors in the project and the sharing formula of revenues that are generated from the project.

This particular issue only came to public knowledge due to the fact that the song was (is) a huge success, hence the fight for ownership and royalties.

The position of the law:
As a general rule, the person who writes and records a song owns the copyright of that song in totality but if more than one person contributed to the writing and recording of the song, the persons involved are to be the co-owners or joint owners to the copyright of that song. In the absence of a written agreement as to the joint ownership of the song, it is presumed in law that the contributors will own the copyright equally.

To this effect, since it was Berri Tiga that wrote and recorded every component of the song, he is before the law the rightful owner of the song, and every copyright of the song belongs to him.

All the royalties or revenues generated from the song should presumably go to him unless they made a contract that stated otherwise.

It does not matter that the idea for the song belonged to Carter efe and Carter efe promoted the song, Carter efe is deemed to have rendered a service to Berri Tiga and Berri Tiga is to only pay him compensation for the services he (Carter Efe) rendered in the making of the song.

They can only claim joint ownership of the song and royalties or revenues shared between them if they both wrote and recorded the song and each person contributed a line or a verse to the making of the song.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Why your Startup/Business needs a lawyer.

by Stanley Alieke.

When running a business or investing in a startup in a place like Nigeria where both the legal and political system is complex and filled with a lot of bureaucratic policies, you need to be extra careful and make sure you do everything by book in other not to encounter hitches that will ground your startup or budding business to a halt.

As a foreign investor funding a startup in Nigeria you definitely need a company lawyer that will lead you by hand and work you and the new business through the huddles of the never-ending Nigeria legal policies, statutes, and laws regulating the business and corporate world including the local government bye-laws of the area government where your startup is situate and also the state and federal laws regulating the industry you are in.
Even as an indigenous investor or startup owner in Nigeria, you surely need a lawyer especially if the startup is in fintech that is disrupting business lines and models that are heavily regulated by the regulatory authorities.

From the conception of the idea of the startup to the pre-contract and pre-incorporation to negotiation to incorporation and post incorporation to the contract stage to funding; you need a lawyer to vet and double check all these to make sure you don’t get burnt immediately or later in the future.

Some take home points on how a lawyer can help your startup and budding business, hence why your startup needs one.

From the conception of the idea of the business you are investing in, funding, or starting up, you need a lawyer to get the necessary registrations, certificates, and licenses that protect those ideas. Ideas are things of high value in the business world and it is classified as intellectual property hence why it is protected and guarded with jealousy. The lawyer would get necessary certificates that Protect your business’s technical know-how and ideas through trademarks, patent registrations, and copyright registrations. Intellectual Property Protection is key at the onset. Trademark, copyright, and Patent Registration should be done at the beginning of any business particularly if the startup is in the creative industry or in the industry where ideas are traded.
Therefore, if business ideas, trade secrets, and other intellectual properties are at the core of the business or the startup then you need a lawyer that will get the relevant registration that protects such properties of the intellect.
The lawyer will also help you protect the startup’s trade secrets by preparing appropriate confidentiality agreements and nondisclosure clauses between you the founder and the staff or employees of the company.
Some e-commerce store and fintech startup owners that float their businesses through websites do not even know that they can trademark their domain names as their startup intellectual property and they also do not know that websites can be registered as copyright, and every graphics, image, letters, color and every component of that site copyrighted as the intellectual property belonging to the company so as to legally protect it from copycats and intellectual property theft.

A startup lawyer can as well help you Incorporate and register the business/ company. According to Nigerian laws, a business or a startup which have not been duly incorporated with the corporate affairs commission will not yet be recognized as a statutory body or legal entity or be given the status of a legal entity. You as the founder will need a lawyer to help with the incorporation of the business and registering the business with the corporate affairs commission to make it a legal entity totally different from its owners.

The lawyer will know the right way to incorporate your startup. He can advise you by the nature or structure of your startup on how the business will rightly be incorporated either as a sole proprietorship, partnership (business name), or a Limited Liability Company (LLC/LTD).

I constantly run into business owners who by the nature and structure of their businesses the business ought to be incorporated as companies but was instead incorporated as business names and they end up spending extra money and wasting time to change the status of the business with the corporate affairs commission.

A competent startup lawyer can also help in registering the startup in foreign countries if the business is expanding to other jurisdictions and territories for operations.

Also, The startup lawyer will ensure that your business operations and activities are in compliance with laws, statutes, policies, and governmental procedures and regulations. There are enormous statutes and policies regulating Nigeria’s corporate world and ignorance of any of it will not excuse you as a startup founder or business owner if you breach any of those laws and that is why you need a lawyer.
A startup lawyer will assist with identifying the specific regulation for your business and advice on compliance.

Some company owners operating in Nigeria do not know that they are expected to get a certificate called Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML). This is one of the strict requirements enforced by financial institutions and the EFCC against business owners and in some instances your bank account will be frozen if you have not obtained the certificate. This is why you need a lawyer to advise you on how to comply with these requirements in order not to find yourself on a hot seat.

You need a lawyer as well to vet all correspondence and official documents coming in and going out of the confers of the company. The lawyer should review the proposed business plans, and contract bids, and review clauses and terms of the contract to make sure that the interest of the company is duly protected.

Also, your Lawyer will be able to draft the essential documents required to support your business’s digital presence or online marketing strategies if your business is carried out majorly in the digital world. For instance, you need a lawyer to draft up website terms and conditions, personal data collection and usage, etc.

Moreover, You as a founder need a lawyer to draft and specify the Shareholding of the founder(s) and draft the partnership agreement of the partners if the startup is a partnership.

Startup lawyers come up with the share structure of the founders and spell out the conditions for qualification. It is a known secret that founders/ investors have different agenda and different interests while funding or investing in a startup and each founder/ investor wants his individual interest to be fully protected. The Startup lawyer as a master in the craft can come up with agreements that will capture and protect the interests and sentiments of each investor and founder so as to avoid clashes that would warrant investors to pull out that could make the business park up.

Also, When many people form a company or establish a business, it’s best to understand and clearly specify the expectations of the founders and the assignment of each partner to avoid disagreements in the future. So a lawyer will draft the Founders agreement, shareholders agreement, specify the liabilities of partners, mode of partnership, types of partnership, what is expected of each partner, dividends sharing formula and agreement, percentage interest of every founder or partner, etc.

Most importantly, an incorporated startup/ business is deemed in law a separate legal entity hence, the startup is to be protected from the investors and even from the founder(s).

Also, as the founder of a startup, a lawyer will help in Protecting your personal assets from business liabilities. The lawyer will advise you on how best to protect your personal assets and the legal consequences of some contracts. You will want your business to be appropriately structured to protect your own personal, non-business assets.

A lawyer will also Advise you on approved advertisements and commercials formats in order not to run into trouble with the advertising regulating authorities. Some adverts are tagged offensive and prohibited to be projected to the public and any company which projects such adverts always get sanctioned and punished by the authorities and it does not matter if you are not aware that such adverts are prohibited. This is why you need a lawyer to guide you through so you don’t incur sanctions and punishments.

The lawyer will as well advise the company on the proper hire and fire policy which will be in compliance with labour act/laws and employment laws of Nigeria, draft company policies, draft rules and regulations, and handbook for staff and workers of the company.

If you are yet to hire or consult a lawyer for your startup or up-and-running business, you need to do that now to save your business from legal issues that will come up. To cap it up, Startup Lawyers do not only bring their legal expertise to the table but also their business experience having garnered enough experience from working with other startups.

Your startup(s), budding business, company do need some legal support and backup for them to scale up and expand.

Stanley Alieke is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Voters' registration exercise is unconstitutional

By Stanley Alieke, Esq.

“The Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria is supreme and it is over and above every other law in Nigeria, it supersedes every law and other laws are to be subjected under it. Any law which raises its ugly head be it by omission or commission to be in conflict with the Constitution is to be declared null and void to the extent of its inconsistency”.

The memory verse recited above which is the provision of the Constitution in S1(1-3) (although garnished) was recited to give us a safe landing on this controversial but germane argument I will be making in this piece; “ that the act of mandating citizens for voter registration and obtaining TVC or PVC before they could exercise their fundamental right to vote is in conflict with provisions of the Constitution and therefore unconstitutional”.

What does the Constitution say about voting?
The Constitutional provision that is summarized to be the right to vote and be voted for or franchise or suffrage as provided in Chapter IV of the Constitution stipulates that every person who is a Nigerian citizen and have have attained the age of majority and is of sound mind has the right to vote and every Nigerian citizen who is of the right age, possess the right and required qualifications and is of sound mind have the right to be voted for.

For someone to be a voter in Nigeria and exercise his or her fundamental right he or she must, first of all, be a Nigerian citizen and he or she must have attained the age of majority and he or she must also be of sound mind; these are the major conditions provided and is needed for a one to be a voter in Nigeria and every other qualifier or conditions provided and set by any other law, enactments or statutes is only conflicting and trying to rub shoulders with the supremacy of the Constitution and by the reason of that legislative insolence that other law must be declared null and void to the extent that it tried to ridicule the supreme Constitution.

If a Constitutional provided fundamental right is subjected to some other preconditions and postconditions before a citizen who has attained the qualifying benchmark set by the Constitution then it will be a total slap and ridicule on the sanctity and superiority of the Constitution. If conditions are set before a citizen can exercise his right to vote then there should as well be other qualifiers and conditions set that citizens must fulfill before citizens can exercise their other fundamental human rights like the right to speak freely, right to move around, right to acquire and own properties, etc because what goes for Peter goes for Paul as well.

On this note, every other condition set either by the electoral act or the voter registration act or any other enactment whatsoever mandating a citizen to go through before that citizen can exercise his or her fundamental human right is unconstitutional and therefore should be struck down by the almighty sword of the judiciary and be declared null and void.

The voter registration exercise, collection of Tvc or PVC before a citizen who has attained the age of majority and of sound mind can exercise his or her fundamental human right to vote does not align with the Constitution: I am a Nigerian, I have attained the age of majority and I am if sound mind; that is enough identifier and qualifier for me to exercise my right to vote and should never be subjected to the rigorous exercise or voter registration and obtainance of tvc and pvc before I can be permitted to exercise my constitutionally provided fundamental human rights. This is absurd and ridiculous.

Subjecting citizens to fulfill some other conditions before they could be allowed to vote is tantamount to disenfranchisement and no person or law has the power to disenfranchise any Nigerian citizen. The voter registration exercise should therefore be scrapped and expunged totally as it is a disenfranchisement tool and ploy which is having a bold fight with the Constitutional provision and the Constitution is supreme as Stated in s1(3) and no enactment or other law can ever put up a fight with the supreme constitution.

A Nigerian having identified himself to be a Nigerian by the means of presenting a valid government-issued ID and having shown that he has attained the age of majority should be the only condition for a citizen to vote and those conditions are more than enough. This is what is obtainable in other developed democratic nations. Voters registration exercise is only a unique introduction to the Nigerian political space.

On this note, the voter's registration exercise and possession of tvc or pvc as a prerequisite to voting as provided in electoral acts and voter registration acts or any other enactments or provisions is unconstitutional, hence should be declared null and void to the extent of its inconsistency.

Universal adult suffrage is not a local right, it is a right that is universally recognized and adopted in universal laws; it is provided for in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is to show how important this right is and no one, absolutely no one should be denied such rights either by express or intentional act or by obscure acts like mandatory rigorous voters registration exercise of the INEC.

Stanley Alieke, Esq is a lawyer based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

You can sue your partner for refusing to honor his/her marriage promise to you.

By Stanley Alieke, Esq.

Top Trend: Man Sues Kannywood’s Hadiza Gabon For Refusing To Marry Him After initially promising to marry him.

It was trending in the news earlier this week that a 48-year-old man by the name Bala Musa took a legal step against a popular Kannywood actress, Hadiza Gabon, before the Shari’a Court in Kaduna state for allegedly refusing to marry him after she initially promised to marry the plaintiff.

The complainant told the court that he had been in a relationship with the actress and she promised to marry him and out of the hope that the lady will marry him in no distant time he kept spending money on the lady and kept sending the lady money for upkeeps. He is therefore asking the court to grant him damages against the lady for breach of the promise to marry him or ask the lady to honor her promise to him and get married to him as they initially planned.

As ridiculous as this suit May look, as frivolous as approaching the court on issues like this may appear, readers should note that whenever a person promises another person that he or she is going to get married to the person and any of the people broke the promise or refused to marry the other person as promised it will be solid ground to bring an action in court seeking for damages for the breach of promise to marry.

Cases like this are not of novelty to the Nigerian courts as there have been a plethora of cases that bother on similar facts like the one above where a person promised to marry another and they subsequently reneged on the promise and the aggrieved person approached the court seeking redress.

Just like in the case of a contract, a party to a contract can approach the court to seek redress if the other party fails to live by the promises he made while going into contract with the other person. He can sue for breach of contract so also a person who already accepted a marriage proposal but later turned down could sue for breach of promise to marry.

A breach of promise to marry is not a criminal offense but it is, however, a civil wrong for which an aggrieved person can sue for damages.

In a case where a man who is not lawfully married to a woman promises to marry the woman as an inducement to sleep with her or to keep having sex with her, it becomes a ground for criminal liabilities and the man could be jailed for this act as provided in section 383 of the Penal Code act.

This section provides thus:
“Every man who by deceit causes a woman who is not lawfully married to him to believe that she is lawfully married to him and to cohabit or have sexual intercourse with him in that belief shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.’

Breach of promise to marry is a valid ground to approach the court to seek redress and ask for damages and is treated grievously by the court so If by any instance anybody at all has promised to marry you but later reneged on his or her promise, you should approach the court and seek redress and the court will grant your prayers based on the merits of your case.

Stanley Alieke Esq is a lawyer based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Things you must know before you approach any court to address your grievances

By Stanley Alieke, Esq.

Before you go to court to seek redress for any action, there are several issues that you must consider or you risk losing the case or having your matter struck out by the court.

Sometimes people are so eager and excited to rush to court on every bit of grievances. People should know that the court is the last resort, i.e. when you have reasonably tried to settle the matter in other ways and it’s not working then you can approach the court. Going to court to seek redress should never be the first option rather than the last option for you.

Before you approach the court, there are prerequisites that you must have met or expected to meet, and the court is bound to look into whether you have done that or checked those boxes, if not your case may get struck out or you stand losing the case in court.

First, before you approach the court you are expected to ask yourself whether you have a “locus standi” in the extant matter. This means, the matter you are eager to approach the court for redress, does it personally concern you or do you have a personal interest in that matter. If the answer is in the negative, the court is bound to strike out your matter because the matter no matter how grievous your grievances may be does not directly concern you and you will be tagged as a meddlesome interloper or a busybody who just wants to waste the court’s valued time.

Next, before you approach any court for any matter, you should ask yourself which court is competent to hear the matter. This means that not all courts are competent or have the capacity to hear every matter. You should first consider which court has the jurisdiction to attend to the matter. Not all courts have jurisdiction over every matter. There’s territorial jurisdiction and then monetary jurisdiction. For example, The High court of any state has the territorial jurisdiction to hear any matter relating to land that is situated in that state. This is called; Lex Situs”.

If you take a matter that a magistrate court is not competent to attend to the magistrate court, the matter will be struck out on the ground of jurisdiction of the court. For example, In tenancy matters, when the tenancy sum is below Ten million Naira, the magistrate court has jurisdiction but when the tenancy sum is above ten million Naira, it will be above the monetary jurisdiction of the magistrate court and you are expected to approach the high court in that instance.

Again, before you approach the court to address your grievances, you should also consider if the offense or the grievances you want to table before the court is an offense known to law. It is the law as provided in S 36(12) of the constitution that a person should never be punished for any offense that was not provided for in any law or act. This is to say that if your aggressor’s action has not been provided for in any law or punishable by any law then the offense or grievances you want to approach the court to seek redress for is not known to the law and you will just be a time-waster. An example of an offense not known to the law is adultery or fornication. You cannot sue your partner for cheating on you because the act of fornication or adultery was not made an offense or provided for as an offense in any Nigerian law or act.

More so, before you go to court to seek redress, you should also consider if your aggressor is someone who can be sued. There’s something called legal immunity and it is a shield that covers some class of persons and places a mark on them to make them “unsueable” by anybody. For example, you cannot sue a sitting president or a sitting governor for any act whatsoever for the time they are still serving in that capacity, so also you cannot sue another country’s representative or a diplomat, this is called diplomatic immunity.

Also, before you approach the court the court expects you to have tried to settle the matter amicably before coming to them and it is only when your approach for out-of-court settlement fails that you can approach the court. The court expects every aggrieved person to seek other alternative dispute resolution schemes (ADR) like negotiation, mediation, arbitration, etc. If you did not consider this option through a letter of demands or pre-action notices then your case may risk getting struck out.

The court docket is filled up with a lot of cases and the court gets very angry when a so-called aggrieved person wants to waste their time or add more to their job by bringing up an unnecessary and frivolous suit or bringing up a matter in the court where the court is not competent or lack the jurisdiction to attend to hence the reason why an aggrieved person must check all the boxes of the perquisites stated above before approaching the court of law for redress.

Stanley Alieke Esq is a lawyer based in Abuja.
Infoitooknow@gmail.com

The Portable Threat: Threat to life as a criminal offense.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

Mr. Habeeb Okikiola, the Zazu crooner, who goes by the stage name, “Portable” is fond of making uncensored and unexpurgated remarks and speeches on social media, sometimes on a serious note and sometimes as a “cruise” or joke.

He recently threatened the organizers of the headies award and his fellow nominees in the upcoming music award. In the video he posted, he stated clearly that the awards of the categories he was nominated for belong to him solely as he is a better deserving nominee and if any of the other nominees dare win the award he will have them killed and he will also kill the organizers of the award.

The Zazu crooner who penetrated the Nigerian music scene late last year and came to the limelight using his hit song “Zazu” is fond of making similar videos like this, although it could be said to be all “cruise” and jokes but there’s a limit to cruise. Threatening someone’s life is a joke taken too far and it is treated seriously and is also a criminal offense. You don’t joke with that and even if you claim that it is a joke, the person can report to the police and if anything happens to that person you will be held responsible for it even if you have not done anything to the fellow.

A Threat to Life involves a threat to harm or cause imminent or potential harm to a person, cause serious bodily injury, or significant violent action.

Threat to life is a criminal offense provided for in S 56 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 and it provides thus:

56 Threatening Violence.

(1) Any person who:

(a) with intent to intimidate or annoy any person, threatens to break or damage a residential house; or

(b) with intent to alarm any person in a residential house, discharge loaded firearms, or commit any other breach of the peace;

is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable to imprisonment for one year

By the provision of this section, a person who threatens to carry out the violence of attacking another person is guilty of a misdemeanor and can be jailed for one year.

As an individual, when you receive a threat to your life, it is in your best interest to

Retain and save all Evidence that shows the threat.
Report the threat to the law enforcement agencies and present the evidence.
Get a Restraining Order against the person who made the threat.
Pursue Criminal and/or Civil Remedies against the threat.
Portable has been asked by the organizers of the headies award to retract the threat and apologize to his fellow nominees and the organizers of the show if not his name will be taken off the nomination list and he was also reported to the police.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
Infoitooknow@gmail.com

The illegality or otherwise of the manner in which Rochas Okorocha was arrested.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

“A law enforcement agent can resort to the use of force where and when necessary to effect an arrest or conduct a search on a suspect (paraphrased)~ S.149(2) of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act, 2015”.

Yesterday evening the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) teamed up with the Nigerian police force to storm the Abuja residence of the past Imo State Governor and the current senator representing Imo West Senatorial District to effect an arrest on him.

The manner in which the joint operatives of the EFCC and the NPF laid siege in his house, attacked and broke down the door of the federal lawmaker for the purpose of arresting him have raised debates and people arguing on the legality or illegality of that style of the arrest.

Everybody’s question is whether the EFCC has the right to lay siege and break into the home of anybody, at any time of the day for the purpose of arresting a suspect?

The reason why this Gestapo style of arrest applied by the EFCC in arresting the presidential hopeful is disturbing to all and sundry is because of the status of the suspect in the society; a past Governor and a serving federal lawmaker; if this forceful manner can be applied in effecting an arrest on a person like Rochas Okorocha you never can tell the extent a law enforcement agent can go in their use of force on the common man on the street.

The subject of debate has been; can the EFCC or any other law enforcement agency lay a siege and break into any of their suspects’ homes to effect an arrest; is this lawful? Secondly, can the EFCC or any other law enforcement agency effect an arrest on an individual without a warrant properly issued by a court of competent jurisdiction?

Addressing these issues, we would make recourse to the administration of the criminal justice act 2015, christened ACJA which is the extant law in this regard.

According to s.149(2) of the ACJA; a law enforcement agent is permitted to resort to the use of force where and when necessary to effect an arrest on a suspect or conduct a search on a suspect or a suspect’s property or home. This section of the law simply implies that a law enforcement agent is at liberty or lawfully permitted to make use of whatever force necessary like breaking into the house of a suspect to conduct a search on the premises or the property or to effect an arrest on any person when the person is resisting arrest or resisting search or the right of ingress or egress of the law enforcement agent(s) has been denied or restricted.

By the provision of this law, the operatives of the EFCC haven’t broken any law by forcing their way into the house of Rochas Okorocha to arrest him since the suspect refused to let them in and has been resisting arrest. They have been permitted by the law to break down whatever obstacle obstructing their way or stopping them from carrying out their lawful duties.

Secondly, addressing the succeeding issue; “whether the EFCC or any other law enforcement agency can carry out an arrest or search without a warrant”?

It is the law that a warrant must properly be issued, duly signed by a judge or magistrate of a court of competent jurisdiction or a justice of peace bearing the right details of the suspect before any law enforcement agent can accost any person for the purpose of arrest or conducting a search on the property of that person. But there are exceptions to this law. There are instances when a law enforcement agent does not need a warrant to enforce an arrest or conduct a search on a suspect. These instances include when a crime is committed in the presence of a law enforcement agent or the officer of the law caught a suspect red-handed committing a crime. The law enforcement agent is at liberty to immediately arrest the suspect without first going through the rigorous process of obtaining a warrant. Also, a law enforcement agent can arrest a person without a warrant when the suspect has been evasive or has jumped bail, or when the suspect was granted bail but absconded or refused to show up when he was needed. A judge may also order a law enforcement agent to arrest a suspect who is supposed to appear before the court but has been unnecessarily absent from the court for no valid reasons.

In the case of the past Imo Governor, according to the EFCC, jumped bail and has refused to honor their invitations, he has been evading court process and refused to appear in court so the EFCC had no choice but to carry out a forceful arrest on him.

In conclusion, while we can all condemn this manner of arrest and the disrespect melted on the federal lawmaker; it is morally wrong but it is lawfully justifiable. People of high status in society should learn to respect themselves and respect the courts and honor any invitations from the law enforcement agencies. If the past Governor honored the invitations of the EFCC there wouldn’t have been any cause for what happened yesterday evening.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Learn from Kpokpogiri’s ordeal.
by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

You must have heard of Prince Kpokpogir’s ordeal in the hands of the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA). Well for those that are out of the loop, let me bring you up to speed. His house which was just built a year ago in the Guzape area of Abuja was demolished by the FCTA. The house was said to have been worth over N700m.

According to the officials of the FCTA, the house was demolished because it was erected on government committed land.

A Committed land is a land that has been set aside or reserved by the government for special or specific purposes or uses. It may be reserved by the government to be used to build something like parks, airports, roads, schools, markets, government offices, cemeteries, etc in the future or later days and therefore has no development or redevelopment potential at the time being.

In Kpokpgiri’s case, according to the authorities of the FCTA, the place he erected his building has been marked out by the government to be used in building a highway, I.e the land he erected his house has been committed for road construction.

An official of the FCTA was quoted to have said, “His (Kpokpogiri’s) house is on a superhighway known as M-16. He doesn’t even have a building plan approval. It’s like somebody who knows that the highway is coming sold the land to him and he just went to build. We have been asking him to stop but he refused.”

This incident should raise concern for everyone; both for those who own landed properties or wish to own landed property in the future, especially those who don’t engage the service of a lawyer while purchasing their properties. In transactions like this, you need the services of a lawyer to carry out the due diligence search to ensure you are not purchasing a committed property.

If you make the mistake of buying land that has been reserved by the government or in a committal area, the repercussion is that the government has the power and every legal right to repossess the land anytime and it does not matter whether you have erected a structure or built a world-class home there.

The government can demolish whatever structure found there in their quest for repossessing what belongs to them and you have no case in court, especially the court of common law.

Always engage the services of a lawyer. A lawyer who is an expert in this area will conduct a survey plan search at the appropriate land registry, this is where he will confirm if the land is free or committed and also uncover other encumbrances on the property if there are any.

If you think you can do it yourself and do not require the services of a lawyer, you may regret it later.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Assaulting a police officer is a felony punishable with 3 years jail term.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.
“Please, help me, help me; he dey carry me go place wey I no know…”

That was the cry of a policewoman that was abducted by a motorist the other day which has been trending on social media.

According to the motorist, the policewoman entered his vehicle for no reason and wanted to extort him for no just cause as some police officers at motor parks or checkpoints are fond of doing, so the motorist decided to teach the policewoman a lesson. He shut the car doors and zoomed off with the officer. The policewoman had to cry for help and begged for her life before she was let go.

Netizens have been reacting to this video saying that the policewoman deserves what she got, some even threatened to replicate that with any officer that dares to enter their vehicle for any reason whatsoever to teach the law enforcement agent some lesson.

This is not the first time we are seeing videos of this nature where a law enforcement agent has been assaulted or bullied by motorists.

While we all can attest to the fact that some law enforcement agents can be nasty, rude, and power-drunk; always looking for the slightest opportunity to bully, extort, or harass individuals but it should never be the justification for people retaliating assaults on officers of the law. People should note that when you attack or assault a law enforcement agent you have committed a serious offense known as a felony punishable with at least three years jail term in Nigeria.

The act of the motorist locking up the policewoman inside his vehicle can be said to be an abduction. Abducting a law enforcement agent is a felony. Any kind of assault against a police officer is considered a violent felony.

Offenses of this nature are provided for in S.356 of the criminal code act and it is captioned “serious assaults” and it read thus:

Any person who?.

1) assaults another with intent to commit a felony, or with intent to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of himself or of any other person; or

(2) assaults, resists or wilfully obstructs a police officer while acting in the execution of his duty, or any person acting in aid of a police officer while so acting; or

(3) unlawfully assaults, resists, or obstructs, any person engaged in the lawful execution of any process against any property, or in making lawful distress, while so engaged; or

(4) assaults, resists, or obstructs any person engaged in such lawful execution of process, or in making lawful distress, with intent to rescue any property lawfully taken under such process or distress; or

(5) assaults any person on account of any act done by him in the execution of any duty imposed on him by law; or

(6) assaults any person in pursuance of any unlawful conspiracy respecting any manufacture, trade, business, or occupation, or respecting any person or persons concerned or employed in any manufacture, trade, business, or occupation, or the wages of any such person or person,

is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.

Citizens should never be found taking laws into their hands. If you are maltreated by a law enforcement agent, report the incident to the appropriate authority, assaulting a law enforcement agent is not the right way to go about it and it can never be justified for whatever reason. If you are caught assaulting an officer of the law you have committed a felony and you can be jailed for up to three years for the offense.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

This is a “Japa” season, many Nigerians have been doing all they can to relocate to other counties in search of greener pastures but some people have been having ill-luck with getting visas to the countries of their choice.

When a foreigner applies for a visa which could either be a work visa, student visa, tourist visa, or diplomatic visa, the country that is being applied to has the discretion to either approve the visa request or deny the visa based on some peculiar reasons. Some country consulate offices state the reasons for their denial while some don’t.

But when you get a refusal or your visa application was not granted, that should not kill your “Japa” dream as there are other things you could do to get approval on a visa that was previously denied and this is called “visa appeal”. It is what visa applicants should rather do instead of considering spending money and extra time applying for another visa. Visa appeal is quite cheaper and less stressful.

In some visa denial letters, the consulate office always advises the applicants that if they feel that visa denial was improper they should consult an immigration lawyer who would go on appeal for them. Visa applicants whose visa applications were denied can appeal for the visa refusal stating why the visa denial was not proper thereby requesting that the visa denial should be overturned. This is to say that if you think that your visa application was done properly, correctly and everything checks out and you submitted every document required of you and you feel the decision on its refusal was a mistake or that you ought to in every due diligence be granted the visa, you should take the step to appeal the visa denial.

In fact, it is a rule applicable in most countries of the world that those who have been refused a visa shall have the right to appeal within a time frame if they feel they were wrongly denied the visa.

A visa appeal is expected to be in writing, written by the visa applicant through an immigration lawyer disputing the visa rejection. The letter shall be written on valid grounds, which point out why the rejection is incorrect, you are also to point out relevant laws applicable to that country that supports your visa application. You are to provide more supporting documents, you are expected to make some corrections if need be; if this is done properly your visa which was previously denied can be granted.

On this note, whenever you apply for a visa and you get a refusal, that is not the end of the road and you shouldn’t give up or start making arrangements to apply for another visa; you can appeal the visa decision or request for administrative review on the visa refusal and if done properly your visa will be granted.

As a caveat, appealing against the visa denial is not a guarantee that it will have the decision overturned automatically and a visa granted to you but there’s a high chance of it happening “if done properly and done right”, I have handled numerous visa appeals that the visa was initially denied but after the appeal, the visa was granted for the applicants.

Stanley Alieke, Esq.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Deborah Yakubu killers are to be sentenced to death.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.
“….The Islamic religion is not a primitive religion that allows its adherents to take the law into their own hands and to commit jungle justice. Instead, there is a judicial system in Islamic law that hears and determines cases including the trial of criminal offenses and anybody accused of committing an offense against the religion or against a fellow Muslim brother should be taken to the court (either a Sharia or a secular/common law court) for adjudication. It is only when a person is convicted and sentenced by a court of law that he will be liable to a punishment which will be carried out by an appropriate authority (i.e. the prison)”

~His Lordship I. T. Muhammad JSC (now CJN) in the case of SHALLA VS STATE (2007) LPELR-3034(SC).

In July 1999, in the Kardi village of Kebbi State, one Abdullah was accused of blasphemy; insulting the prophet Muhammad, he was reported to some Muslim faithful who formed a mob and decided to attack the accused, they dealt him blows with sticks, bottles and even machete, till they hacked him to death.

The mobsters (about five of them) were later arrested and charged to court for the offense of murder and culpable homicide of Abdullah in the Kebbi State High Court.

Their defense was that they have justification for the killing of Abdullah (religious justification), pointing to the sections of the Quran that demand that anybody who insults the prophet MUHAMMED should be killed.

They were convicted of murder and sentenced to die by hanging in the trial court. They appealed to the Appellate court and the appeal court upheld the judgment of the trial court and they further appealed to the Supreme Court.

The case went on from the lower courts till it got to the supreme in 2007 and the Supreme Court upheld the judgments of the lower courts. In one of the dictums of one of the justices, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, (who is now the Chief Justice of Nigeria); he states thus;

“In my view, it is the appellants rather than the deceased who committed an offense against Islamic or Sharia by their unjustified action which represents to the public that Sharia is an uncivilized and primitive system that allows or permits the killing of people without complying with the due process of law, the Islamic religion is not a primitive religion that allows its adherents to take the law into their own hands and to commit jungle justice. Instead, there is a judicial system in Islamic law that hears and determines cases including the trial of criminal offenses and anybody accused of committing an offense against the religion or against a fellow Muslim brother should be taken to the court (either a Sharia or a secular/common law court) for adjudication. It is only when a person is convicted and sentenced by a court of law that he will be liable to a punishment which will be carried out by an appropriate authority (i.e. the prison)”.

The Justices of the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the judgments of the lower courts stating that the accused persons committed the offense of murder and culpable homicide which carries the capital punishment of death sentence. They were all; every one of them that partook in the killing of Abdullah were sentenced to death.

On this note, those that are justifying the killing of Deborah Yakubu on the ground that the killers are carrying out what their religion requires them to do should educate themselves that everyone that is involved in the death of Deborah Yakubu has committed the offense of murder and culpable homicide and stating categorically from the judicial precedent in the case of SHALLA V State, they will all be sentenced to death and their religion will not come to their rescue.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
Infoitooknow@gmail.com

The Death of Deborah Yakubu; the call for religious tolerance.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

The worst happened yesterday. A female student by the name of Deborah Yakubu, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto was mobbed to death and later set on fire by her colleagues around the school premises. What was her offense; her killers claimed that she blasphemed against their dear Prophet, MUHAMMED; she insulted the prophet and the punishment was instant death.

According to the voice note that she sent to the class WhatsApp group that led to her death which she spoke in Hausa, the loose translation of it was; “Holy Ghost fire! nothing will happen to us. The group was not created for sending nonsense stuff. It was rather created to send past questions, if there is a test, or if we are given assignments not all these nonsense things. Which kind prophet, nonsense Prophet”.

Background: She was reacting to her colleagues always posting religious content in the WhatsApp group which was created solely for academic reasons. The colleagues being mostly Muslims didn’t take her reaction likely and decided to track her down, beat her to death then set her ablaze.

Although her utterances were utterly derogatory and insulting, that should not be what will make her classmates track her down and attack her to death.

Before you panic, save your breath, this is not the first time that a person or people are mobbed to death and then set ablaze for blasphemy against prophet MUHAMMED in Northern Nigeria in recent times, it happened in Kano in 2016. What is more shocking is that the place where this took place is a higher institution of learning, the least place religious intolerance is expected to be in existence in 2022.

How can we still be struggling to save our heads and be cautious not to be hacked to death for blasphemy in Northern Nigeria in 2022? The most surprising thing is that most Northern Muslims saw nothing wrong with that, some are defending the act and quoting Quran to back it up that when you insult the prophet MUHAMMED you deserve to die.

Even those that occupy a high ranking position in society are openly defending the act even on social media. The excitement of the mobs while carrying out the act is dreadful; acts like these are barbaric and are only churned out of religious extremism or fanaticism and sheer ignorance.

We should learn to coexist in peace amongst one another despite the religion, tribe, state or skin pigmentation. It is humanity over religion, humanity over the tribe, humanity over race.

Religious leaders should educate their followers that we are not in the jungle where jungle justice is the order of the day, most of them are clearly ignorant and are always eager to take the law into their hands with the excitement that they are fighting the holy war or fighting for their god. There are institutions that have been put in place to address grievances and anybody who is aggrieved should approach those institutions to address their grievances, that is how it ought to be in a civilized society like Nigeria.

This should not be one of the mob actions that the law enforcement agencies will sweep under the carpet, they should do the needful and bring everybody who is part of this dastard act to justice, every single one of them. The punishment for murder in Nigeria is a death sentence, so nothing less is expected of the law enforcement and the judiciary; examples must be set to deter others from committing this kind of act in the future and be forced to learn religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence in Nigeria.

Is The CBN Governor Legally Qualified To Join The 2023 Presidential Race?

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

There are a plethora of political bigwigs that have so far indicated interests in the presidential race, despite every other contestant who has publicly declared or has shown an implied interest to join in the contest for the presidential seat, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele’s interest came as a shock to everyone.

It is astonishing because of the post he is currently occupying as the Chief Executive officer of the number one financial institution in Nigeria. He occupies a very sensitive position that by all ethical standards, he has no reason to belong to a political party or participate in partisan politics or indicate interest in any elective position until he has resigned or relinquished his position as the Governor of the central bank.

Aside from ethics, codes of conduct and morality, the question is; is there any extant law that prohibits Mr. Emefiele by the reason of the position he’s currently occupying as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from contesting for any elective post in Nigeria?

First of all, it is in doubt that it is the fundamental human right of every Nigerian citizen to exercise his franchise; to exercise his right to vote and be voted for. Any and every person who has identified him or herself as a member of the Nigerian society and a party to this social contract has been armed by the provisions of section 40 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigerian to the right to indicate interest, join a political party, participate in politics and contest for any elective post in so far as that individual is of the right age and he is of the right qualifications.

Therefore, Mr. Emefiele’s been a Nigerian citizen before anything else is in every length and breadth of the law qualified to contest for any position in the country but the controversies arose out of his current status as an active public servant and not just a mere public servant of low cadre but someone who is occupying a sensitive position in the public service; the next question this brings to fore is; whether Mr. Emefiele as the CBN Governor is qualified to contest for the presidential seat whilst he is still retaining his position as the chief executive officer of the CBN?.

To answer this question, the provisions of S. 9 and section 11 of the CBN act will come to the rescue. According to the provision of section 9 of the CBN act, 2020, The Governor and the Deputy Governors shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the Bank and while holding office shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocation whether remunerated or not except such personal or charitable causes as may be determined by the Board and which do not conflict with or detract from their full-time duties. To this effect, the Governor of the CBN or any of the deputies in the institution is thereby prohibited from joining or engaging in any other remunerated job including participation in active politics which will be a total distraction to them. The Governor by the provisions of this section is expected to resign if he has an interest in going into any other job or joining active politics.

Furthermore, section 11(3) of the same CBN act 2020 also provides that The Governor or any Deputy Governor should resign his office by giving at least three months’ notice in writing to the President of his intention to do so. By the implication of this statutory proviso, if the Governor is interested in politics he should resign by giving at least 3 months’ notice and not one month’s notice which applies to other public servants.

The Electoral act in the controversial section 84(12) provided that any political appointee who is interested in contesting for any elective post should resign three months before the election. This is the statutory provision that Mr. Emefiele through his lawyers went to court to challenge, arguing that this provision does not apply to him for the reason being that he is a public servant regulated by public service rules and not a political appointee. Let us assume that the proposition of Mr. Emefiele in this regard is right to some extent that he is a public servant and not a political appointee and hence, the provision of s 84(12) cannot apply to his person, what about the provision of section 11(3) of the CBN Act which mandates the CBN Governor and the deputies to resign by giving three months notice.

Truth be told that legally speaking there is no categorical express provision of the law that prohibits a person who occupies the position of the CBN Governor to not contest in an elective post but that person must abide by the rules of public service and the CBN act which mandates him to resign first before joining in active politics to avoid distractions and conflict of interest but to our utmost surprise, the CBN Governor has been swimming in the musky water of active politics since February 2021 as his ward chairman confirmed that this is when the governor officially registered to become a member of the APC

The CBN Governor has breached every ethical rule of public service and such a person can not be said to be fit to become the president of over 200 million people. If he is very much interested in becoming the number citizen of the country as he has indicated he should not be too reluctant to resign or relinquish his current position which is the right thing to do as; it is the game of “go hard or go home”.

Finally, Mr. Emefiele and his teaming supporters should also know that he is setting a bad precedent. We won’t be surprised if the INEC chairman decides tomorrow to join the presidential race without first stepping down from his position as the chairman of INEC; don’t you see how ridiculous the drift is, if care is not taken the country will finally end up in a state of comatose.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
Infoitooknow@gmail.com

Pranks: The Legal consequences.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

A lab technician by the name, Kevin Berlin who worked at Gravity Diagnostics in Covington, Kentucky, USA in 2019 warned his colleagues that due to his medical condition of anxiety disorder and panic attacks he really didn’t want his colleagues to prank him at any time or organize any type of surprise birthday celebration party for him on his birthday which is the company’s tradition.

The company despite Kevin’s warning went ahead and pranked him and threw him a surprise birthday party and as a result of the prank and surprise party, Kevin did indeed experience a panic attack and anxiety disorder just as he told them earlier.

Kevin sued the company for damages and won the lawsuit and the company was mandated to pay him $450,000 as compensation for the damages he suffered.

This above incident just points to the fact that although pranks can be harmless and for entertainment purposes but if any harm is suffered by the victim be it mental, physical, emotional, or psychological, the prankster risks getting prosecuted for criminal or civil liabilities or even both.

The fact that we laugh at pranks or get entertained by them does not mean that some of these pranks can not land both the victim and the prankster in deep trouble.

These pranks whereby the pranksters chase people around with fake guns, charge to beat up the victim, or advance to attack the victim all in the name of pranks put the victims’ lives at risk. People who suffer from an anxiety disorder, panic attacks, cardiac arrest, or any other medical conditions can get triggered as a result of it and this could lead them to serious medical conditions or even death. Those that are medically fit that decide to run as a result of the prank can miss their steps, fall, and sustain injuries.

pranksters don’t just stop by pranking the unsuspecting victims, they also go further to record the victim and post it online without the victim’s permission or consent thereby breaching the victim’s right to privacy and some go as much as invading their victim’s privacy just to prank him or her.

The act of recording the victim and posting them online without the victim’s knowledge or consent can be grounds for the prankster to be criminally prosecuted for the breach of privacy and invasion of the privacy and space of another.

Other criminal actions that may arise as a result of these pranks include; harassment, stalking, disruption of the public peace, constitution of nuisance, etc.

In the worst-case scenario, if the victim of the prank dies as a result of the prank, it does not matter in law that the prankster did not mean it to go that way, the prankster will be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter.

Involuntary manslaughter has been defined as the unintentional death of an individual as a result of another person’s negligent actions. Basically, what it means is killing someone and not realizing your actions could cause death. ‘Unintentional’ is the keyword for involuntary manslaughter because the person did not mean or intend to kill the deceased and the Punishment for this crime as provided in S 325 of the criminal code act is life imprisonment.

Even when criminal charges cannot be established against the prankster, the victim can trump up civil actions against the prankster for assault and battery or tort of negligence or sue for compensation if the victim suffered any loss or damages as a result of the prank.

On this note, pranksters should desist from engaging in reckless pranks that put lives in danger and if they must, they should exercise due diligence and caution as they go about their crafts bearing in mind that huge legal consequences await them if their victim suffers any damage or decides to sue for civil liabilities and citizens should also know that they have rights of action against pranksters who have taken undue advantage of them to sue them for compensation for loss or injury they suffered as a result of the prank.

Most importantly, pranksters should know or be reminded that some people go about with hidden medical conditions and not everyone they meet is medically fit, a person can die as a result of some of these pranks and if that happens, it will be presumed in law that the prankster has caused the death of the victim and he will be prosecuted for manslaughter.

Stanley Alieke is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
Infoitooknow@gmail.com.

Suicide: Your life belongs to the government

Stanley Alieke, Esq.

This may sound absurd or ridiculous to say but the fact remains that you as an individual don’t have the power or right to take your own life or commit suicide whenever you want. Just like it is against the law of nature for you to end your life, it is also against the law of the government to end your life in Nigeria because as a Nigerian citizen, your life belongs to the government.

Safe to say that you are not the owner of your life, you are just the custodian, the government of Nigeria owns it and you should be accountable or held accountable for your life.

That is why you have been given the constitutional right to life. This is the first provision of chapter 4 of the constitution which provides for Fundamental Human Rights every individual enjoys as a citizen of Nigeria;
S.33. 1. Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.

By this purport, no one has the right to suicide despite the circumstance or situation: (Suicide is death caused by injuring oneself with the intent to die.

Just as no other person has the right or power to take your life illegally or they will be prosecuted for murder or manslaughter so also, you as an individual do not have the right or power or take your own life, an attempt to do that will constitute an offense.

You are categorically not permitted to take your life or end your life by yourself under any circumstance despite the situation. If you ever try to commit suicide you have committed an offense punishable under section 327 of the criminal code act which provides;

S 327 Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for one year.

Next time before posting online or threatening to commit suicide, remember that any attempt to suicide already makes you a criminal and you can be arrested and prosecuted for it and the punishment for it is a one-year jail term.

In all sincerity, I am not insensitive or trying to downplay the daily struggles individuals face that warrant them to resort to suicide as a way out but you need to stay alive because a wise man once said that once there’s life there is hope.
Say No To Suicide.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Is Bestiality a Crime in Nigeria?

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

There is a wild trend of videos of girls having sexual intercourse with dogs in the Lekki area of Lagos state in exchange for money. The report (although unverified) stated that the girls are paid N1.5m to have sex with the dogs for the viewing pleasure of the dog owners.

Having sexual intercourse with animals is not a new thing in Nigeria, there have always been reported cases of some men caught making out with animals and previous cases of women making out with dogs and snakes.

Just Last year, a young boy was arrested by Oyo state’s security network agency (Amotekun) for having sexual intercourse with a calf.

A 25-old-man was also arrested by the police in Jigawa state in September of last year for making out with a goat in the Gwaram Local Government Area of the state.

Also, in 2014 An Upper Area Court in the Kuje area council of the Federal Capital Territory sentenced a 20-year-old tailor to one-year imprisonment for having sexual intercourse with a goat.

These and many other reported and unreported cases show that bestiality is not new in Nigerian society.

Is Bestiality a crime in Nigeria as of today?

Bestiality is the sexual intercourse between a person and an animal.

Section 214(2) of the criminal code provides:

“Any person who has carnal knowledge of an animal is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.”

On the other hand, Section 284 of the penal code also provides:

“Whoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with a man, woman, or any animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of which may extend to fourteen years and shall also be liable to fine.”

This section seeks to punish all forms of penetrative sex generally between a man and a woman between human and animal.

Therefore, while people enjoy different sexual fetishes and like to explore different sexual fantasies, readers should note that Bestiality is a crime in Nigeria, it is punishable by a jail term of up to 14 years, according to Section 214 of the Criminal Code Act which is applicable in Southern Nigeria and S.284 the Penal Code Act while is applicable in northern Nigeria.

Stanley Alieke is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Yul Edochie could be jailed for bigamy.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

The highlight of the week is the story of Yul Edochie, the renowned Nollywood actor who announced on his social media pages yesterday that he has married a second wife.

I will try to analyze this situation by the position of the law as to whether the act of Yul Edochie marrying a second wife while his first marriage is still subsisting is an offense known to the Nigerian law or not.

Since I cannot authoritatively verify nor state if Yul Edochie married his first wife, Mrs. May Edochie under the act or not, I will just make a wild assumption that he didn’t because if he did and he went on to marry a second wife he has committed a crime known in law as bigamy which is punishable in Nigeria with 5-7 years imprisonment.

Bigamy simply means the offence of marrying someone else while already married to another person and it is a criminal offense in Nigeria.

If you are legally and validly married to a person under the Marriage Act in Nigeria, you are not permitted to marry someone else while your previous marriage is subsisting and your wife or husband is still alive, if you do you have committed a crime and you can go to jail for it.

A marriage conducted under the act is a marriage that is conducted in a marriage registry or any recognized place of worship and a marriage certificate was issued to the newly wedded couples certifying that they have been legally joined together in accordance with the marriage act.

The best legal advice in this matter for intending couples who wish to marry numerous wives/ husbands or marry another wife after the first marriage is “don’t get married under the act”, you can choose to go with traditional marriages or church marriage insofar as the church does not issue valid marriage certificates.

Back to the Yul Edochie’s issue, if Yul Edochie did got married under the act and went ahead to take a second wife as he purports then Yul have committed an offense known as bigamy punishable with 5-7 years jail term

Stanley Alieke is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Not Too Young To Run: a lie sold to the youths.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

The National Executive Council of the All Progressive Congress (APC) just released their approved amount for the nomination and expression of interest forms for different political posts.

After “beholding” the price list all I can say is that it is a total mockery of what the “not too young to run” advocates for. The price for the presidential nomination and expression of interest form goes for the whopping sum of 100m while the governorship form goes for N50m. How many young persons and not-so-rich persons who are interested in joining the political race can afford to pay 100m for the nomination and expression of interest form?.

Here are the total approved amounts for APC Expression of Interest/Nomination Forms for the 2023 Elections:

House of Assembly – N2,000,000
House of Reps – N10,000,000
Senate – N20,000,000
Governorship – N50,000,000
Presidential – N100,000,000

In 2015 the APC presidential nomination and expression of interest form was sold for N27.5m while the PDP’s went for N22m, in 2019, the form was for N45m for the APC and N22m for the PDP. For the 2023 election, the PDP presidential form goes for N40m and the APC is going for N100m. Maybe the political stakeholders are also putting inflation and the high cost of things in the market now into consideration because that would be the only explanation for why the price for the form keeps going up; so in the next four years the price of the presidential nomination and expression of interest will likely go for N200m if not N500m.

I’m sure that the outrageous price for these forms is a ploy to discourage young persons who obviously cannot (legitimately) afford that amount from joining the race and also a strategy of reinforcing the Godfatherism system in the Nigerian politics because it’s just a few politicians that can be able to afford to purchase forms at that outrageous fee legitimately; those who cannot afford to purchase it will always look for sponsors and godfathers.

Politicians keep coming up with strategies to make sure that there is no chance for the poor or the young persons to grasp the political power or come close to the political corridor in the country. The country has been positioned and strategized in the way that political offices are for the rich and will always be the rich, with no room for the poor to crawl up to the top unless you want to hide under the shield of another political influence who will use you as he pleased and will be dictating for you; while you seat in the office as the ceremonial elected leader, The Godfather is the real leader who calls the shot.

The “Not too young to run” balderdash is a fraud, the biggest lie sold to Youths. The not too young to run should not be about reducing the age limit of contestants but also the cost of running for the political offices in order to give the youths who are not as rich as the long-term politicians a chance and a level playing ground.

Just a handful of the Nigerian youths (if not none) can legitimately cough out 100m to purchase the presidential nomination form.

The APC NEC can work on re-adjusting that price if they are really comrades in the “not too young to run” advocacy so as to give the youths and not so rich a chance too.

Stanley Alieke is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Posting, Sharing and Distribution of Child porn is a crime.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

The social media has been on standstill with the news of the Chrisland schools pupil that was “gang-raped” by her classmates in Dubai during an international games competition that she and her classmates represented her school in.

As a side note, I have watched the video (the sex video of the little girl and her classmates which are boys, about 4 of them) and it does not seem to me to be rape, it clearly seems to be consensual group sex between the girl and the young boys but the boys made videos of the sex scene and posted it online unless there is something that I am missing.

That being said, netizens should stop sharing, posting and distributing that video; posting, sharing and distribution of child porn is a crime in Nigeria and other countries of the world that would land you in jail.

This is the provision of s.23 of the cybercrime act, 2015;

S.23 (1) Any person who intentionally uses any computer system or network in or for- (a) producing child pornography;

(b) offering or making available child pornography;

(c) distributing or transmitting child pornography;

(d) procuring child pornography for oneself or for another person;

(e) possessing child pornography in a computer system or on a computer-data storage medium:

commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction –

(i) in the case of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) to imprisonment for a term of 10 years or a fine of not more than N20,000,000.00 or to both fine and imprisonment.

Engaging in the production, distribution, and transmission of child pornographic content is a crime punishable with 10 years imprisonment or a fine of N20m or both the fine and the jail term.

Please desist from sharing that video for the sake of the little girl’s future and also for the sake of public morals.

Stanley Alieke is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

Linda Ikeji to pay N25m for a false post.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

In 2017, Ms. Linda Ikeji, a Nigerian renowned blogger published on her popular news blogs and her other social media pages a false, malicious and defamatory article against Mrs. Ajibola Ajayi. The post had quoted Mrs. Ajibola Ajayi to have purportedly described the protesting students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, as “a generation of mannerless children”.

In 2018, Mrs. Ajibola Ajayi brought up an action in court against Ms. Linda Ikeji for libel, false and malicious post, and defamation against her person.

On Tuesday, April 12, 2022, the court gave judgment in the claimant’s Favour and held that the publication made by Ms. Linda Ikeji in her news blogs and her other social media pages is false, malicious, libelous, and defamatory against the person of Mrs. Ajibola Ajayi.

The Court further held that the publication which was made available to readers worldwide had exposed the Claimant to ridicule and subjected her to attacks and unnecessary criticism by members of the public who read the offending article.

The Court awarded general and exemplary damages in the sum of N25,000,000.00 (Twenty-Five Million Naira) against Ms. Linda Ikeji and directed Ms. Ikeji to publish a written apology to the Claimant in three National tabloids.

It is pertinent to state here that it is the trite principle of law that libel is actionable per se. This case will go further to show netizens that actions have consequences. You can not just make a false or malicious post or make up some lies against another person and post on your blogs or your social media pages in the name of “cruise” or to drive traffic to your page. If you do so and the person takes a legal step against you, you will be liable for libel and you will pay for the damages.

Stanley Alieke is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
Infoitooknow@gmail.com

Toyosi: The offense of raising false alarm

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

A twenty old lady named Toyosi raised an SOS alert yesterday that she was kidnapped and raped by a gang of men. She went ahead to share the location of where she was held hostage and the phone numbers of her abductors.

Twitter users immediately contacted security operatives who swung into action and arrived at the shared location as soon as possible and arrested every male available and on sight in that apartment and took them to the police station.

While this was going on, the alleged victim, Toyosi made another live video that she was never kidnapped nor raped, that she was only chasing clouts and didn’t know that it would escalate. This incident got everyone talking because, at this critical point where there are so many cases of insecurity in the country, no one needs to chase clout with sensitive matters like this.

She was later arrested by the police who thought that her story needed to be straightened up and that there is more to the story than she is willing to divulge.

The POLICE PRO of Lagos state, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin later wrote: “After a careful and extensive investigation, it is revealed that 20-year-old Toyosi Adesegun, female, is a regular visitor to Olamilekan Faruk, Ayanfe Ayinde and Olusola Onipede, all male of 78 Obayan Street Akoka. This morning, she was restrained from leaving the apartment by the young men.

Toyosi threatened to tweet what she tweeted if she was not allowed to leave. The young men called her bluff and she tweeted. Based on the foregoing, the three men will be arraigned for wrongful restraint, while Toyosi will be arraigned for giving false information”.

We should categorically state here that giving false information to the law enforcement agencies and raising a false alarm is an offense. “Whoever, knowing or having reason to believe that an offense has been committed, gives any information regarding that offense which he knows or believes to be false, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term or with fine, or with both”

It is an offense to give false information to the police, and this offender when tried can be punished with up to 6 months imprisonment and or a fine in accordance with relevant laws.

The offense of giving false information or raising a false alarm falls under the category of a strict liability offense. This means that providers who are knowing, reckless or wilful in giving false or misleading information would be committing an offense, it does not matter whether you are ignorant or not or had cause to believe that the information you gave is true or not.

You are expected to take all reasonable steps to make sure that the information you are giving is true and credible.

Giving false information to law enforcement is a criminal offense, It becomes false information when the police or other law enforcement agency acted on the information you supplied believing the same to be true.

Ms. Toyosi will be charged with the criminal offense of intentionally giving false information and causing nuisance and disturbance of the public peace. She risks getting a jail term of up to 6 months or more than.

Stanley Alieke is a lawyer based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

The Death of Mrs. Osinachi Nwachukwu: The need for the declaration of state of emergency on Domestic violence in Nigeria.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

The famous gospel singer, Sis Osinachi Nwachukwu was reported to have “joined the saints” last week. The report claimed she died of cancer while her family members and close friends/ associates are clamoring that she died of domestic violence from her husband. Some gave a vivid report on how her husband had turned the late gospel singer into a punching bag landing her in the hospital on numerous occasions before she finally gave up the ghost.

Although, these reports are merely speculations and accusations; legally speaking, they are just accusations against the husband of the late singer until the law enforcement agents carry out an intensive investigation to determine the veracity of this accusation.

But this is not the first time reports are making around the media of a wife being murdered by her husband. Not quite long, a traditional ruler in Ondo state physically assaulted and sent one of his wives to her early grave. It seems we have forgotten about that and the case and swept it under the carpet.

Every day, there are incidents of family violence in Nigeria, the ones that make it to the media are the ones we know about.

Last year, specifically on the 27th of February, 2021, the Guardian Newspaper reported that at least once a week, there’s a case of a man beating, maiming, or killing his wife in Nigeria.

Domestic violence is a big deal in Nigeria and it doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon because it appears that some cultures and religions have accepted and approved some form of domestic violence. For instance, some cultures and religions encourage a man to beat up his wife as a way of cautioning her, even the penal code legalizes a man beating up his wife as a way of correcting her if she “misbehaves”. S 55(1)(d) of the penal code made this provision: “Nothing is an offense which does not amount to the infliction of grievous hurt upon any person which is done by a husband for the purpose of correcting his wife…”.

Also, Spousal rape which is another form of domestic abuse/ violence is yet to be criminalized. That spectrum of domestic abuse by one partner having a forced carnal knowledge of another partner is not a crime or an offense in as much as the parties are married. It is not recognized or is yet to be recognized as a crime or offense in Nigeria for the husband to sexually abuse or rape the wife and vice versa.

Importantly, it is noteworthy that When we talk about domestic violence as a concept, it is not limited to physical assault by one partner on another partner. In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against house help/maids, children, parents, or the elderly. It can come in different forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, or sexual, and it can also include the use of technology to stalk harass, control, monitor, or hack a spouse a family member. It is this wide and encompassing.

Western countries like the UK and the US have made several legislations criminalizing the offense of domestic violence and gender-based violence with stiffer punishments. The Uk has made a lot of legislations like The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, the Domestic abuse act, The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which is known as the Istanbul Convention passed in 2011 which the UK is a signatory to are some of the notable laws in the countries that are made specifically to protect the weaker partners in the marriage institutions against physical assault and abuse.

In the USA as well, the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) and many other legislations recognize that domestic violence is a federal crime.

Despite the high rate of domestic violence in Nigeria, It seems that the country is yet to legally step up and do the needful in terms of making stiffer legislation and making sure such legislation is enforced in the fight against domestic violence.

What needs to be done to stop or reduce the cases of domestic violence in Nigeria?

The Nigerian lawmakers should make law(s) that concerns itself specifically with Domestic violence and abuse which provide stiffer punishments for the offense.

Some of these laws that encourage domestic violence like the penal code should be amended. Those specific sections of the penal code like s.55(1)(d) that subtly advocated for domestic violence should be abolished.

Customs and traditions that promote domestic violence should be held to be repugnant to natural justice, equity, and good conscience and therefore cannot stand.

Domestic violence should be treated as a violation of the fundamental right of an individual thereby making it a criminal offense against the state.

Women who are the most known victims of this violence should be encouraged to speak up and taken into therapy and rehabilitation sessions.

These few recommendations should be implemented as soon as possible.

In conclusion, I will not fail to mention that there are NGOs who are always ready to take up cases like this pro bono; for instance, The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) is very notable for their fight against gender based violence, spousal abuse and any form of domestic abuse. They have offices scattered all over the country With their head office located at Block 1, Flat 1, Ankpa Close Ogun Street Area 2, Garki, Abuja. Email:fidanigeria@yahoo.com
Phone: +234 708 849 6115 and their Lagos office is located at 14/16 Makoko Road, Off Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos.

The Cleen Foundation is also one of the notable NGOs doing a lot advocating against domestic abuse in Nigeria. Their headquarters is located at 26, Bamenda Crescent, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone number: +234-7067899368

These and many more are some of the NGOs that are established to fight against domestic violence and abuse in Nigeria.

If as a victim of domestic violence and any of these NGOs are inaccessible or unreachable to you, you can approach the nearest police station and lay your complaints or can approach any lawyer. Many lawyers including myself (the writer) are always ready to come through and take up any case of this nature Pro Bono. I will always be ready to pull whatever resources necessary to follow up and handle any case of this nature that comes my way; you just have to speak up. My personal email address is infoitooknow@gmail.com

On the victim’s part; speak up, seek help, leave the relationship and stay alive.

Stanley Alieke, Esq is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com.

The No refund policy: The position of the law.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

On the 10th of February, 2021, one Mr. Patrick Chukwuma was traveling and he decided to make use of the Peace Mass Transit (a Nigerian renowned transport company) for this trip.

He purchased a ticket for the trip and due to the unavailability of passengers and other travelers, Mr. Chukwuma was forced to wait for hours for the vehicle to fill up.

He got tired of waiting for the vehicle to fill up so he changed his mind about the trip and asked for a refund for the ticket fee he had purchased since he no longer wants to embark on the journey due to the time wasted.

The company’s ticketing officers clearly told him that they don’t refund money after a customer had purchased a ticket. They drew his attention to the caveat behind the vehicle ticket slip which emphasized the company’s no refund policy. The caveat reads: “no refund of money after payment”.

The passenger insisted that his money should be refunded to him. A heated argument ensued between the passenger and the Peace Mass transit company staff became rude and nasty to the passenger and they rained insults on him and those that are in support of him getting a refund and at the verge of physically assaulting him before the passenger decided to leave the scene but promised that the company will hear from him subsequently and he must be refunded his money.

Coincidentally, the passenger Mr. Patrick Chukwuma is a lawyer and with his knowledge of the law, he is aware that the company’s no refund policy contravenes relevant sections of the law and he decided to take the transport company to court to determine and enforce his rights.

The sole issue for determination was “whether the Peace Mass Transit company policy of “no refund of money after payment” is in violation of Section 120 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018 especially when the contractual obligation to convey the Plaintiff to his preferred location was terminated”.

He prayed the court to declare that the no refund of money after payment rule of the Transport company and other companies who enforces this policy contravenes the relevant sections of the law especially s 120 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act of 2018 which ambiguously provides that, “ A customer shall have the right to return any advance booking, reservations order for any goods or services subject to a reasonable charge for the cancellation of the order or reservation by the supplier or service provider”.

Delivering its judgment, the High Court in Enugu through his Lordship Hon. Justice C.O. Ajah declared the no refund policy is unlawful, illegal, null, and void in light of the provisions of Sections 120, 104, 129 (1) (a) and (b) (iii) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018.

The court further ordered the transport company to pay the sum of N500,000 as damages to the Plaintiff.

By the implication of this recent judgment, every seller, vendor (both online vendors), service provider, etc who insist on the “no refund of money after payment” is engaging in an unlawful and illegal sales policy.

The no refund after payment policy has been stated by the court in line with the FCCP ACT, 2018 to be unlawful, illegal, null, and void.

Stan Alieke, Esq is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

An Honest & (Un)professional Advice on Divorce From Your Lawyer Friend.

By Stan Alieke, Esq.

Being a lawyer has really messed up my mindset about marriages and relationships lately. You need to see the tons of emails and calls I get daily from folks seeking my legal services to institute a proceeding for divorce for them (both men and ladies); I got two emails to that effect just today. The professional ethics of lawyer-client confidentiality binds me if not I should have shared some receipts of them here.

Due to the fact that I constantly write articles on law-related topics (including divorce), people get my email address from news blogs and messages from those seeking divorce keep trooping in on daily bases, this has forced me to raise this unprofessional but friendly alarm.

“It seems everyone wants a divorce. There’s no other better explanation for it”.

Sometimes when I ask about the duration of the marriages, some of these marriages are even barely up to a year. It seems everyone wants to be out of the marriage institution and you will be forced to ask yourself, does it mean that these days marriages are no longer working or what is really going on.

I know as a lawyer I should be eager to jump on those divorces briefs and go ahead to file the processes as much as the client is ready to pay me my professional fee (some of the clients don’t even care about how much the fee cost, they just want to be out of the marriage no matter what it takes) but as a human who has empathy before anything else, I am sometimes reluctant to take up some of those briefs, especially after carrying out due diligence inquiry and meeting with the client and I found out that the reason(s) he/she wants the divorce is too trivial that the court will not grant us audience.

Be it as it may, as a lawyer and as a human, I do not advocate that anybody remain in an abusive relationship; God forbid that I do that or ask a person to remain in a marriage that has failed completely but some of the issues or reasons why some of these clients want a divorce when you hear of it are just too trivial; just mere misunderstandings in most cases that the partners can talk through and settle it with makeup sex; unless they are not telling the lawyer everything or the real reason why they really want the divorce.

How can you ask a lawyer to institute a divorce because your husband does not answer your phone calls immediately or because your spouse snores or your spouse refuses to cook or wash for you? These are some of the reasons I hear from some clients and they will end it with “it’s a long story or lawyer you won’t understand, just go ahead with the divorce process, I’m tired of the marriage”.

I am honestly not an insensitive person; I am not insensitive to the fact that some of these issues are deeper than what they may seem on the face of it but sometimes it circles back to ego. A partner does want to let go of ego.

As a lawyer who is also a certified mediator and counselor, sometimes I can decipher that the relationship has not broken down irredeemably, the partners just need to talk things through, or that a partner just needs to let go of ego and apologize and they will live happily ever after.

In as much as the spouse is not abusive and you are not physically abused or mentally abused, whatever other reasons that do not fall into that category are always considered trivial by the court and the court will be reluctant to listen to the divorce proceedings because the marriage has not broken down irredeemably.

Some of you all need to understand that divorce is not as simple as you think. I have never seen a person that went through a divorce and remain the same, it also does have a huge negative effect on the children. Divorce is also very expensive. It is never cheap.

The litmus test before a court will grant a divorce is “has the marriage broken down irredeemably? have the partners tried all they could to make the marriage work and it is not working?; has a mediator or the lawyers to the spouses tried to mediate and seek amicable settlement of the partners and it failed?

If all the answers to these questions are in affirmative then the court will proceed and grant the divorce but if any answer to the above questions is in the negative then the court will be hesitant in hearing the divorce proceeding.

Most importantly, the court considers the duration of the marriage. The court will definitely be reluctant to grant a divorce for a marriage that is barely a year.

Stanley Alieke, Esq.
Lead Counsel; Stanley Alieke & Co.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

The ChinmarkGate

TAKING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST CHINMARK & MARKSMAN IJEOMA FOR INVESTMENT FRAUD.

I have been getting a series of calls recently from people seeking my legal services, asking me to institute an action in court or file a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Chinmark Group for investment fraud and also against the CEO of the company, Mr. Marksman Chinedu Ijeomah as the mastermind behind the investment scam and eloping with investors money.

As I have not really been active on Facebook for a while now, I was not quite familiar with the name and the happenings around that social platform. I only started hearing of the name “chinmark and marksman Chinedu ijeoma” recently due to the investment scam scandal. so I decided to look the man up on Facebook to fill myself in since I was told that Facebook is his nest.

To my amazement, the name Chinmark group is a household name on Facebook with verified pages accounting for thousands of followership and according to their Facebook page, their head office is located at no. 162 Ogui road, New Heaven, Enugu state, and the man Marksman Chinedu Ijeoma, the CEO is also a popular figure on Facebook.

His modus operandi was that he recruited some Facebook celebrities and popular figures on that app to partner with him and run publicities and adverts for the Chinmark investments. Facebook netizens fell prey to this method.

They claim they use investors’ money to invest in their fleets of businesses like real estate, hospitality business, logistics business, agriculture, etc and a percentage will be paid back to investors from profits generated from those businesses.

Some of my clients said they invested more than N20m, some about N10M, a man said he invested N100m and I also heard that a popular Nollywood actor invested about N200m.

He promised his investors a 3% monthly return on investment which business-wise is not too good to be true, it made sense to the investors and they also got carried away with the man’s Pius and philanthropy lifestyle online.

What he does is when a new investor invests, he will use the new investor’s money to settle the old investor and the circle goes on.

He also engaged in a lavish lifestyle and give-away spree, always doing giveaways just for social media clout and social media appraisal/approval.

Platforms like this are definitely bound to collapse but some of the investors claimed that although they knew it would collapse they were not expecting it to crash so soon.

The CEO was able to present himself on Facebook as a holy philanthropist and a prudent businessman of great integrity who won’t steal or run away with investors’ money and he was able to recruit many praise singers who were quite convincing and was able to convince an army of investors into joining the platform.

It is speculated that the man is sitting on over N2B investor’s money.

To the best of my knowledge, the case has been reported to relevant financial and law enforcement authorities and while we wait for the law enforcement agencies to do their job and feed more information to the public, I will (in the interest of my clients and those that have contracted my legal services on this case) also be filing a class action against the Chinmark groups and the CEO, Mr. Markman Chinedu Ijeoma and I have also sent a petition to the EFCC.

If you are one of the affected investors, you can as well reach out to me through email (infoitooknow@gmail.com) so you can join in the class suit against the Chinmark Group.

Barr. Stanley Alieke
Managing Partner; Stanley Alieke & Co.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

The decamped Nysc girl; a case study of religion clashing with societal rules.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

A female Corp member was decamped last week from the NYSC orientation camp in Gombe for her failure to abide by the stipulated camp dress code and ethics and some people have been clamoring that it fringes on her fundamental right of religion since her choice to be on that attire was based on her religious background.

The religious corp member who was decamped for wearing a long pleated skirt in the Gombe state orientation camp has become an internet sensation and has also caused a mixed reaction as to whether her not being permitted to wear whatever her religion permits her on the grounds of her religious sentiment does not conflict with her fundamental right to choose and belong to any religion of her choice as guaranteed by s.38 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

People should understand how this fundamental human rights as provided in S. 33 up till S. 44 of the constitution really work; it is never an open Cheque. Its provisions have their restrictions and limitations. The cliche that your right stops when another’s right starts is absolutely correct.

For instance, because you have the fundamental right of movement does not give you the right to trespass into another man’s property or walk into where you should not walk into in the purported exercise of your right, if you do that you are an offender and the law will come against you.

The decamped religious fanatic lady’s right to her choice of religion stops immediately she gets into the NYSC orientation camp gate and she must drop her religious sentiments at the gate and be ready to comply with the rules and regulations guiding the camp which one of it is complying with the standard and approved dress code.

Rules are to be obeyed, constituted authorities are to be respected. Anybody in disobedience of constituted laws of the land or organization is a sinner. These are not my words but the words of the holy book (the Bible) which is the handbook of rules and corrections for the Christians and the believers of Jesus Christ.

The Bible for instance says in Romans 13v1-7:

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience”.

Subsequently, 1 Peter 2:13-17 also says; “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor”.

Moreover, Hebrew 13vs 17 aptly put: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you”.

I can go on and on in quoting the scriptures and different sections of the Bible which had already admonished those that believe in it to obey constituted authorities and rules including the NYSC bye-laws, dress code, rules, and regulations, and if you go in disobedience due to your Christianity religious sentiments then you are already a sinner who is also ignorant of what your Bible says.

Schedule 2, S.1 (2) of The National Youth Service Corps Bye-laws (reprinted in the year 2000) Provides that Failure to wear the uniform provided for any particular activity in the orientation camp is an offense and the penalty is that the Corps member should be informed to go and wear the appropriate uniform if he or she then failed to obey the individual will be asked to leave the camp.

This is not the first time religious sentiment is having a huge clash with the stipulated rules of an organization. Remember in December 2017 when one Ms. Amasa Firdaus, a Muslim faithful missed her chance of getting called to the Nigerian Bar that year due to her religious sentiments of trying to dress in her Hijab for the call to bar ceremony which was totally unacceptable then.

Organizational rules can be amended to accommodate religious sentiments and cultural differences just like the Nigerian police force recently amended its dress code to accommodate some cultural differences and religious sentiments for the female police officer and also the Body of Benchers amended some of the call to bar dress code to accommodate some religious fanatics like Ms. Amasa Firdaus which allowed her to get called to the Nigeria Bar the following year but not until the rules are amended, you can either choose to stay away from the organization since it is not mandatory or you are forced to participate or join, and if you must join or participate you must be ready to comply with their rules and regulations guiding that institution.

Rules are not just made to be strict on man or to limit an individual’s freedom but rules are made to instill a sense of discipline, ensure conformity and achieve uniformity. In the NYSC orientation camp, if anybody could be allowed to wear whatever he or she likes based on any reason then there won’t be uniformity, and everywhere will be disorganized and disoriented.

Stanley Alieke, ESQ
Lead Counsel; Stanley Alieke & Co.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

The Constitution is always referred to as “the fons et origo” or “the grundnorm”. It is the law from which other laws derive their origin and validity. Nonlawyers, even some lawyers sometimes don’t fully appreciate what this really means or its gravity.

Section 1 of the constitution tries to capture in summary the extent of how powerful the Constitution is and the extent of its mighty jurisdiction.

(1) This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on the authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

(2) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

(3) If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.

S 1(1) provides for the supremacy of the constitution, this means that the Constitution is high and above every person and authority, both the rulers and the ruled, the executives and the legislature, the judiciary, and every being that calls Nigeria home and foreigners that have anything to do with Nigeria is under the unwavering supremacy of the constitution.

The Constitution is so powerful that every other law must be made to be in conformity and consonance with the constitution if not the law will be declared void as provided in S 1(3).

Even those tired of being members or citizens of Nigeria and are seeking independence must do so in accordance with the constitution if not their action will be unconstitutional and they can be charged with treasonable felony.

Fons et origo is a Latin phrase that simply means the source and origin of something. This means that when the Constitution is referred to as the Fons et origo, we mean that the Constitution is the source or origin of the Nigerian state.

No person has the power to challenge any clause or section in the constitution. The court will reject a constitutional challenge at any time or any suit tending to challenge any Constitutional provision because the court does not even have the power or jurisdiction to entertain any suit challenging Constitutional provisions but courts have the jurisdiction and power to entertain suits on the ground that a particular law is in conflict with the Constitution and the court can enter a final judgment holding a statute unconstitutional.

A person can only approach the court to enforce his right or uphold his rights as provided by the Constitution and never to challenge any constitutional provision.

When the proper court determines that a legislative act or law conflicts with the constitution, it finds that law is unconstitutional and declares it void in whole or in part for contrary to or failing to comply with the constitution which is the grundnorm.

The term “grundnorm” is also used by constitutional lawyers to describe the country’s constitution which simply means that the constitution is the basic and the highest law of the land and no law must be contrary to its provisions i.e. every other law must be in conformity with the constitution to be valid.

Before a law is passed, i.e. an act of parliament, it’s first subjected to constitutional validity test. This test is to check whether any segment of the proposed bill is inconsistent with the constitution; every line, segment, clause, section, subsection, chapter of the bill are all subjected to this test if any clause in the bill does not pass the constitutional validity test it is quickly removed or amended to be in consonance with the constitution.

Any act of the executive which conflicts with the Constitution is quickly declared unconstitutional and thereby void and can not stand.

Everyone threads carefully so as not to offend the Constitution because offending the constitution is of high gravity; it is where other laws derive their origin and where the country derives Its status, therefore, the constitution is jealousy guided and protected not just by the judiciary but by every citizen who is part of the social contract.

Stanley Alieke, Esq.
Lead Counsel; Stanley Alieke & Co.
infoitooknow@gmail.com

The controversy surrounding the S 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.

by Stanley Alieke, Esq.

The controversy hanging around the newly signed electoral law seems not going to end any time soon. The s. 84(12) which has been the centre point of the controversy is still lingering around.

Previously, the president advised the lawmakers to expunge the section completely from the new law but the lawmakers refused to heed the presidential advice, the Attorney General of the Federation has also approached the parliament and requested the removal of that section but the parliaments refused to remove this notorious section from the law.

What is the impeccable provision of this section that is making everyone to be running helter-skelter, especially public office holders who have an interest in contesting for political offices come 2023?.

This section stipulates that anyone holding a political office – ministers, commissioners, special advisers, and others – must first relinquish the position before they can be eligible to participate in the electoral process either as a candidate or as a delegate.

To this effect, every appointed political office holder under this present political dispensation who has an eye on any elective political post in the upcoming election must first resign before that individual can participate in any electoral process even if as a delegate or as a candidate.

This section directly affects individuals like Malami, Amechi, Festus Keyamo, and others who are currently in the executive cabinet but rumored to be making plans of contesting in different elective positions. This means that Amechi and the likes must first resign as a minister of the federation before he can openly declare to contest or participate in any political process be it as a political candidate or as a political delegate.

The lawmakers are of the opinion that political appointees should not involve themselves in partisan politics, if they must do, they will first have to relinquish their offices and appointments. This is to ensure that those appointed to occupy different positions discharge their duties without any political affiliation.

The struggle for the extinguishment of this notorious section 84(12) of the 2022 electoral act got a break yesterday as the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State in a judgment has ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation to immediately delete Section 84 (12) of the amended Electoral Act.

Her Lordship, Justice Evelyn Anyadike on Friday held that the section was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null, void, and of no effect whatsoever and cannot stand, as it violates the clear provisions of the Constitution and since it is inconsistent with the provisions of th constitution it is to the extent of its inconsistency null and void.

In the suit marked FHC/UM/CS/26/2022, Justice Anyadike further stated that Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f), and 182(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution already stipulated that appointees of government seeking to contest elections were only to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election and that any other law that mandated such appointees to resign or leave the office at any time before that was unconstitutional, invalid, illegal null and void to the extent of its inconsistency to the clear provisions of the Constitution.

We patiently await how this political game of thrones will turn out in the coming days, will this judgment be appealed? Will the lawmakers protest for the ridicule the high court judge of Abia state has subjected them to, what will be the reaction of the general public?

Answers to these questions will surely unfold in the coming days, till then, we will sit tight to enjoy the drama.

Stanley Alieke
Lead Counsel; Stanley Alieke & Co.
infoitooknow@gmail.com