You, Your Rights and the Law

07/07/2017

DISCUSSIONS ON THE 11 RIGHTS ENFORCEABLE BY EVERY NIGERIAN.

1. RIGHT TO LIFE:
This is the most important right of every Nigerian (and in fact every human being). The right that everyone has to ‘exist’, and no one can intentionally deprive a person of this right. No individual or Government can take away this right unless in the ex*****on of a sentence of the court in respect of a criminal offence.

In a nutshell, what this right says is that no one can take your life unless you have committed an offence punishable with capital punishment as at the time the offence was committed, you have been tried by a competent court, and found guilty. Examples are murder, treason, treachery, trial by ordeal from which death results, and armed robbery under the Robbery and Fi****ms (Special Provisions Decree) but now an Act of the National Assembly. This right is protected by the Nigerian constitution and many international protocols including the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

Exceptions:
It is a universalised doctrine that with every right (as you will see below), there are exceptions. The exceptions to the right to life are:

(1) If death results from the use of reasonable force for the defence of any person from unlawful violence or for the defence of property;
(2) If death results from the use of reasonable force in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; or
(3) If death results from the use of reasonable force for the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny.

In each of the above exceptions, it is for the court to decide the reasonableness of the force used. In the second exception, the court would consider the grave nature of the offence for which the arrest was being made as well as the circumstances of its commission.

Seek legal assistance whenever you have credible reasons to believe that your rights are in danger.

Stay connected.....

07/07/2017

*Give the Lord your best wine!*

_These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me:_ Matthew 15.8.

As I journeyed this morning, I just concluded reading about the story of a King in Spain who was to visit a poor village. Upon hearing of his plan to visit them, the people seemed excited to offer a great celebration that would show their adoration and love for their king. But the villagers didn't have much to offer. So, someone suggested that, since so many villagers made their own wines, they might each choose his best wine, and combine them in a barrel to present to the king as a gift from the village. So they did, each wine-maker bringing a jug with which to fill the barrel. Then, they anxiously awaited the arrival of the king.

When the King arrived, he was ceremoniously presented with a silver cup and invited to draw wine from the barrel. As he filled his silver cup, he was surprised when he tasted only water. Where was the wine? Each villager had reasoned, "I will withhold my best wine and give water. There will be so many cups of excellent wine poured into the barrel that mine will never be missed."

Here was a town full of people whose private greed, like the Nigerian elected or appointed officials, completely overcame their public enthusiasm. The indictment in Matthew 15:8 suited them perfectly: " _these people honour Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me._ ." The Nigerian political class will always claim to love Nigerians but their hearts are far away from Nigerians because of greed.

God looks at the heart. He would rather we honestly withhold than pretend to be generous. Let us choose to offer God and our country men our very best. Our present political class has failed God and Nigerians woefully. The need for a new brand of young leaders with the requisite moral, spiritual, ethical and intellectual discipline to recalibrate the Nigerian state is more dire today than ever before.

Let's think Nigeria!

Have a blessed weekend..... I love you, yes I mean you; I love Nigeria!

02/07/2017

Happy Sunday to our people. God bless you.

29/06/2017

11 RIGHTS ENFORCEABLE BY EVERY NIGERIAN.

Its an old well-settled truth that you can only demand for what you know is yours. Therefore, every Nigerian has rights, duties, liabilities and privileges, which are provided for in the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

However, there are certain rights that are too fundamental to the existence of Nigerians as decent human beings in a decent society. They are rights that are referred to as inalienable rights for which the law has made specific and special provisions.

These rights are contained in Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other laws. They are officially known or referred to as the Fundamental Rights.

In our determined bid to enlighten Nigerians on these rights and equip them with renowned strategies to demand for these rights, we will state the rights and in subsequent updates discuss each of the rights in details. They are the following:

1. RIGHT TO LIFE;

2. RIGHT TO DIGNITY;

3. RIGHT TO PERSONAL LIBERTY;

4. RIGHT TO FAIR HEARING;

5. RIGHT TO PRIVACY;

6. RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, CONSCIENCE AND RELIGION;

7. RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION;

8. RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION;

9. RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT;

10. RIGHT TO FREEDOM FROM DISCRIMINATION, AND

11. RIGHT TO OWN PROPERTY ANYWHERE IN NIGERIA.

Take Note that you may need a lawyer to assist you in demanding for the above right.

Stay connected as we explore the legal dynamics together in an attempt to bring these rights to live in Nigeria.

28/06/2017

Common sense and legal somersault. ..

28/06/2017

28/06/2017

Amnesty For Looters of our Common Wealth, a Legal Somersault.

The Nigerian House of Representatives are considering a new legislation that would grant amnesty to the looters of our common wealth.

However, Black's Law Dictionary defines Amnesty as "a pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons, usually, for a political offence; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted... Unlike an ordinary pardon, amnesty is usually addressed to crimes against state sovereignty.."

Two glaring deductions from the above definition are that amnesty is basically associated with political crimes and the crime must be such that threatens the state sovereignty.

Crimes that qualify for amnesty are treason and Sedition. So, the inclusion of economic crimes and what Edwin Sutherland called "white-collar crimes into the fold of political crimes that threaten state sovereignty can only be a legal somersault by the Nigerian House of Representatives.

26/06/2017

Happy Eid-el Fitr to our Muslim brothers and sisters.

What are the legal implications of Mohammadu Buhari speaking to Nigerians in Hausa and as the President while there is an Ag. President? Could there be two presidents?

23/06/2017

The Nigerian State is gradually becoming a volatile place to live.

From the economic downturn that has almost devastated the country to the rising cases of violent and hate crimes like robbery, kidnapping and terrorism, to ethnic chauvinisms and religious bigotry to threats of seccesion to notice to quit issues to the Igbos in the north, every indices of a failed state are glaring.

However, the leaders of the Nigerian state are pretentiously making very irritating and callous state that Nigeria is not negotiable: the most dumb satire I have heard since I was born.

The battle to save Nigeria is the battle confronting my generation and not the generation of our fathers who had failed this great country woefully. The future of Nigeria belongs to the young people and the young people, most of who are intellectuals, are very ready to renegotiate Nigeria so as to create a new Nigeria of justice and fair play that can compete with the decent nations of the world. The time to galvanised the strength of the youths to renegotiate Nigeria to make Nigeria work is now...