This
post must begin with a special shout-out to everyone who nominated us as the ‘Best Topical Blog’ in the 2014 Nigerian
Blog Awards, you all are sooo very awesome. Special shout-out also to all our
readers, contributors and followers, we won’t be here without you. Thanks a
lot.

It’s
time to make it final, so let’s vote in the last round to officially make
Legalnaija, the Best Topical Blog for the year 2014 in the Nigerian Blog
Awards. All you have to do is ff this link to select Legalnaija in the 24^th
category http://nigerianblogawards.com/vote2014.php

Please
ask your friends to do the same, we are most obliged.

“When
we dare to struggle, then we dare to win. I therefore urge all Nigerians to
troop to the courts, to challenge the unchallengeables, to kick off the
arbitrary PHCN impositions, all illegal charges and tax impositions and all
obnoxious policies wickedly devised by all our rulers.” – Mr Ebun
Adegboruwa

If you have ever experienced
having to move around on a Saturday morning when there is ongoing sanitation in
Lagos, you will definitely like what I am about to share. I remember a Saturday
morning after having arrived at the airport in Lagos, I set out for home with
my cousin who had come to pick me and we had to abort our trip because armed
mobile policemen had laid siege on the Oshodi express-way and were arresting
those who did not stay home to observe the mandatory environmental sanitation.  Thank goodness for the touts who sheltered us
behind a locked street gate, though we had to pay for the temporary security,
they hid us from the policemen. 

Security operatives have
always had a filled day on sanitation Saturdays, anyone caught on the road at
such times was either required to pay a heavy fine or sometimes summarily taken
before a mobile court and many people have fallen victim.  Now, what you will you do if I tell you that
we have been hoodwinked by successive governments, that our government has been
breaching our constitutional rights to freedom of movement by forcing us to
stay home for 3 hours, once a month and that those who have been taken before
mobile courts and punished have been sanctioned based on a law that does not
exist. Well, it’s true. We have been cheated.

Today, a Federal High Court in
Lagos ruled that the restriction of movement during the monthly environmental
sanitation exercise in Lagos State is unconstitutional, illegal, null and void basically,
it is totally wrong. So government has been punishing us for nothing. Honourable
Justice Ibrahim
Idris held in his verdict on 16^th March, 2015 that the sanitation
policy of the Lagos State Government where citizens are kept indoors for three
hours every last Saturday in a month, is unknown to any law. His Lordship further said that there
was no law in force in Lagos State, by which any citizen could be kept indoors
at the behest of the government. His Lordship stated that the 1999 Constitution
(as amended) grants freedom of movement to every citizen, and such freedom
cannot be taken away by executive proclamation, in the absence of any law to
that effect. Thus, there is no regulation in force presently, in Lagos State,
which authorizes the restriction of movement of citizens, on the last Saturdays
of the month, for the purpose of observing environmental sanitation.

Thanks
to a Lagos lawyer, Mr.Ebun Adegboruwa who filed the suit. While arguing the
matter, Adegboruwa had submitted that Section 39 of the Environmental
Sanitation Law 2000, of Lagos State, which the respondents claimed empower the
Commissioner for the Environment, to make regulations, could not be the basis
of restricting human movement on Saturdays, as no regulation in force had
indeed been made for that purpose. He challenged the Lagos State Government to
produce such regulation before the court. Counsel further urged the court to
hold that even if there was such regulation in force, it could not be enforced
on roads that were designated as federal highways under the Highways Act, such
as the 3rd Mainland bridge where he was arrested by the police and officials of
the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) only if those guys
knew they arrested the wrong person that day.

So
I now look forward to driving on the next day designated for sanitation in
Lagos knowing that the Court of Law has rescued me from such a draconian law.
However, this does not mean we should not clean our neighbourhoods. Being neat
and tidy and keeping our environments clean is mandatory for everyone, it keeps
us safe from diseases.

Adedunmade
Onibokun Esq

@adedunmade

dunmadeo@yahoo.com

If you have been reading the Newspapers for the past week,
you will definitely have come across the controversy centred around the purported
removal of the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega. While some pro-jega fans
are saying it would be wrong to remove him at such crucial time which is barely
weeks before the elections, others are saying heavens will not fall. The main
issue apparently is does the President have the power to remove Prof Jega? Let’s
have a look at the constitution for the answer to that. 

The Nigerian Constitution in Section 153 makes provision for
the establishment of certain Federal Executive Bodies including the Independent
National Electoral Commission among others. Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the
Constitution further provides in Section 14(1) that INEC shall have a Chairman
who shall be the Chief Electoral Commissioner. 

Section 154 states that the Chairman of the bodies so
established shall be appointed by the President and the appointment shall be
subject to confirmation by the Senate. 

With regard to removal, Section 157 says that the Chairman
can only be removed from office by the President acting on an address supported
by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be removed for inability
to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of
mind or body or any other cause) or for misconduct. It is important to further
note that section 158 provides that INEC shall not be subject to the direction
or control of any other authority or person. 

I believe the provision of the constitution is clear, that
Prof Jega can only be removed by President Jonathan only if he has the required
two-thirds majority of the Senate. But when did that ever stop anyone, you
must remember the case of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and how he was removed.

Adedunmade Onibokun

@adedunmade/twitter

dunmadeo@yahoo.com

I recall how as law
students, my friends and I always shared a joke about insanity being the best
defence to a criminal charge, especially as it related to crimes of passion like
when you catch another man on your wife. For instance, I read about a
father who committed murder because a drunk driver drove into his 2 sons
killing them instantly. According to the report, the man whose sons had been
pushing his car from behind after it broke down along the highway just alighted
from the car, saw the carnage, went home, got a gun and shot the drunk driver. The
Father was however let go on the legal grounds that he was mad temporarily
insane when he shot the driver.

Boy o boy, I haven’t
read about that happening in Nigeria before, have you? Please share if you
have. Anyway, don’t think the defence of insanity is an automatic “get-me-out-of-jail”
card. No way and here is actually how it really works. You see, everyone is
presumed to be of sound mind at any time which comes in question, until the
contrary is proved (Section 27, Criminal
Code). So the burden is on the accused to prove that he is/was mad or
insane at the material time.

The law says a
person is not criminally responsible for an act if at the time of doing such
act, he is in such a state of mental disease or natural mental infirmity as to
deprive him of capacity to understand what he is doing or to control his
actions. However people who suffer from delusions do not come under this
category (Section 28, Criminal Code and
Section 51, Penal code). So it’s better to say they are were following you
from the village and using a remote to control your movements rather than I
heard a voice telling me to shoot.

Also note that you
don’t prove insanity just by word of mouth, one has to establish facts such as:
evidence of past history of the accused; evidence of conduct of the accused
after committing the offence; evidence from prison officials who had the
accused in custody; medical evidence; evidence showing that insanity is an
o`gun idile runs in the family and evidence of relatives with similar
behaviour.

So the plea of insanity
is not an easy way out of trouble as my friends and I thought, the accused
person may still be convicted for culpable homicide and may just be ordered to
spend his days in Yaba Left psychiatric hospital taking lagatin
injections all day.  

Adedunmade Onibokun, Esq

@adedunmade

dunmadeo@yahoo.com 

My first experience
with unlawful societies was in the University, where I got to hear about and
see the activities of cultists our school prefects. Let’s just say, those
experiences made me stay away from them. Unlawful societies are not social
clubs or organizations as they usually have more sinister motives behind their
formation.

The Nigerian Criminal
Code Act defines a society to include any combination of ten or more persons
whether the society is known by any name or not. Please refer to Section 62 (1)
of the Act.  The Act goes further to
describe unlawful societies as any society formed for any of the following
purposes:

Thus if your organization or an organization you intend to belong to is involved in any of
the activities mentioned above, it’s important to stay away from such an organization.
It should be noted that anyone who manages or assists in managing an unlawful
society is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for seven years. Also
anyone who is a member of an unlawful society or allows its members to meet on
its property is also guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three
years.  

Please read and
share with others who you know may be members of unlawful societies.

Adedunmade Onibokun

@adedunmade

Credits- dailypost.ng

Credits – informationnigeria.com

VOTING PROCEDURE

Procedure: Preparing For Voting

Voting

Adedunmade
Onibokun

@adedunmade

Dunmadeo@yahoo.com

                         A
Seminar to raise Capacity within the Criminal Justice System

The British Nigeria Law
Forum (BNLF) a bilateral, voluntary, professional organisation (based in the UK
and Nigeria), which promotes the development of the law and lawyers cordially invites
you to the BNLF Seminar on Terrorism Law & Enforcement at Protea Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja on 3^rd February 2015 at 12 noon. 

 The
objective of this event is to raise awareness of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011 & 2013 (TPA) among lawyers,
security agents, law enforcement officers and other interested parties. It will
highlight the efforts made by the Federal Government to fight terrorism within
the ambit of the Nigerian Constitution and international law. 

Other issues for discussion include:

·   Examining the role of the National Security Adviser
as coordinator of security agencies under the TPA

·     Developing a synergy between law enforcement
officers, prosecutors and defence counsel

·      Working with govt. agencies and NGOs towards
protecting victims & witnesses of terrorist atrocities

·        
Addressing challenges faced by prosecutors in
bringing offenders to justice

Other
Keynote addresses and papers include:-

Entry is free but places
are limited. Please register your interest (full names, professional address
& phone numbers) by email to the name and number below no later than 12
noon on Friday, 30^th January 2015.

Babatunde Akinyanju

Chair, British Nigeria Law Forum

Email: bakinyanju@gmail.com

Tel: +2349090667136

There have been many agents of political parties, candidates and persons calling for the postponement of the General elections billed to hold on 14th February,2015. 

Though this call has been received with different opinions and view,INEC has stated that it will hold the elections as scheduled. 

Many of our readers have been wondering  on what grounds INEC can postpone the elections and this question has necessaited this post. 

Section 26(1) of the Electoral Act provides that- Where a date has been appointed for the holding of an election,and there is reason to believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely to occur if the election is proceeded with on that date or it is impossible to confuct the elections as a result of natural disasters or other emergencies. 

Having read the above,do u think there is a valid reason to call off the Presidential and Governror elections?

Adedunmade Onibokun

Dunmadeo@yahoo.com

@adedunmade