My Role in the House of Reps Bribe Saga-Uduehi
Dr.(Mrs) Esther Uduehi, presidential Liaison Officer to the House of Representatives, was at the centre of controversy in the stand-off between the members and the Presidency. She was pointedly accused of being the conduit through which officials of the presidency tried to bribe some members of the House to impeach the Speaker, Ghali Umar Na'Abba. In this interview with Chukwudi Nwabuko, Uduehi ...
Comets importing change of times and states,
Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,
And with them scourge the bad revolting stars
That have consented unto Henry's death!'
- Shakespeare, from King Henry the Sixth, I, Act 1, Scene 1
When beggars die, there are no comets seen.
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
- Shakespeare, from Julius Ceaser, Act 2, Scene 2
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.
Old Indian Saying
Uncle Bola Ige was 71 years old when he was declared dead a week ago, on December 23, 2001. If he had died in his sleep on that same day rather than being assassinated, much of what is being written about him today, especially about his great qualities - and controversial ones - would still be written by those who know him.
Nevertheless, if he had died that peacefully, the extremely poor security situation that he left behind in the country Nigeria would still have been EXACTLY the same on December 24 as it was on December 22, same as the state of the country and the Yoruba nation. But because of his assassination, all of those issues, particularly the security concerns, have now become additional ingredients of national discourse.
His death is not only eliciting discussions about security, but a “national conference” of sorts: about a man born in Kaduna 71 years ago, whose first language was Hausa yet branded by some an Hausa/Fulani-phobe, who did not know that he was from Esa-Oke until he was refused entry into a Northern secondary school, who had a brilliant academic record, who became a life-long stalwart of Awo, whose erudition was inimitable, whose life-time ambition was to become President of Nigeria, possibly even after Obasanjo’s rumored one term agreement; who has now been cut down by death in a viciously wicked manner; what it all means to the future of Nigeria and Yorubaland.
What a pity!
To that extent, it must be to his memory that I once again discuss the security issues in the country, and proffer suggestions to address them. Most of my suggestions will be a summarization of five articles that I had written earlier about the police in Nigeria. However, I will also go beyond those: I will discuss accompanying themes such as the impunity with which our leaders, both past and present, deal with Nigerian citizenry, based on the leaders’ feelings of immunity before the law. I will also touch upon the timidity which they have ascribed to Nigerians, that make their impunity even more brazen.
It will be to our shame if we do not address each of these issues in the coming year and years. Uncle Bola Ige, our last unelected Chief Law Officer/Enforcer, would have died in vain if we do not.
Security - The Police
The police is the first line of official security enforcement in any modern society. The image the ordinary Nigerian citizen has about our police is frightening: a thoroughly corrupt and inept force incapable of securing not even itself, not to talk of the citizenry; a group of people sworn to an oath of (sometimes criminal) secrecy among themselves, for whom there is little or no respect; who ask for bribe money on the streets openly in extortion “Wetin you carry?”; who rent their guns out to robbers, and their barrack flats out to civilians; who let criminals out from prison and detention to commit robbery during the week-ends and let then back in on Monday, making their arrest nigh-impossible; who allegedly kill crime suspects “mistakenly” (an event inscrutably called “travelling”) rather than go through the trouble of prosecuting them before judges, first because they fear exposing themselves to discovery to other criminals, secondly because their inadequate education and insufficient number of legal police hands may make a defending lawyer tear to pieces their testimonies against a defendant; and thirdly because the judges might be bribed anyway to release the criminals.
And so on.
The actual situation right now in Nigeria is that the police numbers are not adequate; those that are there are inadequately trained (eg for patrol and in legal matters); inadequately sensitized to local matters (as in community policing); inadequately/irregularly paid; inadequately kitted (by way of uniforms, transportation and telecommunication) and hence inadequately motivated. The outcome is where we find ourselves today, where the Chief Law Officer of the land is killed in his own bedroom, despite all the early warning signs about the danger that he was in, throwing the whole nation into mourning; where the upper class have sleepless nights; where the middle-class Nigerian thanks God profusely when he travels from one town to another without any robbery incident (and looks hard at the mirror of his car before driving into his heavily-barricaded home), and where the hungry lower class, if not part of the robbers, are suspected daily and are sometimes picked up and left in jail for years on end without trial.
Let us take the issue of police numbers. There are 120 million Nigerians, 36 states, 774 local governments, 8811 wards, maybe 12,000 cities, towns and villages and millions of buildings, highways and river ways to be protected. That takes an enormous amount of policing.
According to the UN standards of 400 people to one policeman, Nigeria should have 300,000 policemen. By some accounts, we have no more than 80 - 120,000 policemen, or roughly on one-quarter or a third of what we should have. Recently, in March 2001, former Police Affairs Minister, General David Jemibewon (retd) stated that with “government's approval for recruitment of 40,000 fresh hands annually for the next three years, the force would improve as it has already recruited 35,874 hands.” Thus, all things being equal, we might have a UN-adequate number of policemen in four to seven years!
We shall see, but we will need to see the IMPROVEMENT on the ground each year, for we should not have to wait for the fourth or sixth year!
Following improvement of numbers - or parallel to it - is the issue of DECENTRALIZATON of police command for the sake of efficiency. The constitutionally mandated centrally federal nature of the police (Sections 214 - 216, and Item 45 of the Exclusive list of the 1999 Constitution; Appendix II) should be re-organized to give way as soon as possible to a three-hierarchy structure in which local government and state police commands occur side by side with a federal one, with recruitment of local RESIDENTS (not necessarily indigenes) into the LG and state police. Local governments and states should be empowered to do local recruitments, and funds should be committed to that venture from all levels. As Federal Information Minister Jerry Gana himself once stated recently, a “community-based approach (to security matters) ….would (make) it easy to identify criminal elements in any society, as strange faces would be easily noticed and efforts made to find out their mission in the vicinity.” Any concerns about misuse of the local police - which should report to locally elected executive officials - can be overriden by a well-designed temporary take-over structure of lower-level police commands by a higher one during emergencies.
See the following articles for greater details and other references:
SUNDAY MUSINGS: The Nigerian Police and Our Political Twilight Zone January 23, 2000
FRIDAY ESSAY: Of Sovereignty and Treason, of Federalism and State Police February 16, 2001
Immunity - The Constitution
Immunity is legal protection from prosecution and punishment even after a crime might have been committed.
It has been interesting that in my recent “MID-WEEK ESSAY: The Death of Uncle Bola Ige”, I have received most surprised reaction from Nigerians about the presence of Section 308 in our 1999 Constitution, a section which grants such blanket immunity to 74 Nigerian elected citizens: the President, the Vice-President, and the 36 state governors and their 36 (sometimes warring) deputies. It seems incomprehensible to most that the following section exists:
Section 308.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution, but subject to subsection (2) of this section -
no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against a person to whom this section applies during his period of office;
a person to whom this section applies shall not be arrested or imprisoned during that period either in pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise; and
no process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of a person to whom this section applies, shall be applied for or issued:
Provided that in ascertaining whether any period of limitation has expired for the purposes of any proceedings against a person to whom this section applies, no account shall be taken of his period of office.
The provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to civil proceedings against a person to whom this section applies in his official capacity or to civil or criminal proceedings in which such a person is only a nominal party.
This section applies to a person holding the office of President or Vice-President, Governor or Deputy Governor; and the reference in this section to "period of office" is a reference to the period during which the person holding such office is required to perform the functions of the office.
When carefully inspected, Section 308 does not really grant absolute immunity, but rather conditional immunity, because the entire section can be re-written as follows:
Civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted or continued against a person to whom this section applies during his period of office ONLY if the actionable charge occurred in his official capacity or if such a person is only a nominal party to civil or criminal proceedings.
a person to whom this section applies may be arrested or imprisoned during that period either in pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise ONLY if the actionable charge occurred in his official capacity or if such a person is only a nominal party to civil or criminal proceedings.
a process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of a person to whom this section applies, may be applied for or issued ONLY if the actionable charge occurred in his official capacity or if such a
person is only a nominal party to civil or criminal proceedings.
However, what this new construction means is the following: if a man damages a Governor’s government-issued car, and he sends his police escort to arrest him, who then knock the teeth of the culprit out, the victim is allowed to initiate court proceedings against the Governor because the Governor did his deed in his official capacity. However, if a man slaps the governor’s son, and he sends a thug to take out the teeth of the culprit, then he cannot sue because theGovernor did not do so in his official capacity.
In this respect, it will be interesting to follow for example, the recent case against the Governor Nnamani of Enugu. One Chief Ejinima alleges, in a recent newspaper report,
“that Governor Nnamani walked to him [during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention on November 10, 2001, at Eagle Square, Abuja ] and demanded to know what he was doing there. Despite his explanation that he was a delegate for the convention with his tag/permit hanging on his neck, Ejinima said Nnamani still descended on him shouting: "What are you doing here; I don't want to see you here; are you a delegate; if you don't leave here now, I will deal with you ruthlessly." The gubernatorial aspirant submitted that at this point, the governor and the other defendants attacked him, kicked him (Ejinima) to the ground. They allegedly ordered their thugs and agents including the ADC to the governor to beat up Ejinima. Ejinima said the defendants and the thugs dragged him out of his seat, beat him up, tore off his delegate's tag and pushed him out of the stand.” - ThisDay 12/30/2001
This appears to be a border-line case between the Governor acting in his official capacity (in which he will not be protected) - or as a malicious common thug, in which case he would be protected. It will be interesting to see whether Nnamani seeks protection under Section 308.
There was a recent twist in a case involving Section 308. The reader will remember that during his “Toronto” forgery case in 1999, Governor Tinubu of Lagos State sought protection under Section 308, and it was granted in the Lagos courts, among other arguments. Well, recently, however, he sought to be joined in a civil case involving a property he had an interest in, but his desire was denied because of the argument that since he could not be sued in a non-official capacity, he too could not sue since his official work as Governor would be impaired by his participation in the suit. After all, that was the underlying argument of Section 308, and what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. Thus his right to sue had been abridged by his privilege of immunity as Governor!
Thus it appears that Section 308 is a very strange provision, a very troubling gaping hole in our Constitution which must be plugged.
One is not too amazed that the provision still exists when one understands that this 1999 Constitution was crafted by the Abacha regime to protect itself from future prosecutions when it was still deep in planning for its own self-succession “Tarzace” plans. The regime was hence prospectively over-zealous in protecting its officials from dastardly crimes committed BEFORE they took office (hence the excepting phrase "...or continued"). However, after two-and-a-half years, this particular Section (and similar ones) has not been amended in a civilian regime. Again, one is also not too surprised about that lack of attention, because due to the little time between the termination of the “five leprous (party) fingers” of Abacha and the current three parties approved under Abdusalami Abubakar, virtually the same legislators who would have populated Abacha’s assemblies now populate the current legislatures on both the national and state levels. They merely re-organized themselves from five old parties into three new ones within a period of 5 months: July to November 1999! That is just a statement of fact - I am not even making a value judgement here - and I am sticking to it.
Some have asked: does the US Constitution have these kinds of immunities written into them? ABSOLUTELY NOT! There are of course implied immunities for the President because of his enormous larger-than-life role in government, and limited immunity to Congressmen stemming from their speeches and debates, but not from their actions.
There is wisdom in obtaining guidance from the US Constitution and case law, bearing in mind the similarities of our presidential systems. I know that there is knee-jerk reaction to importing ideas wholesale into Nigeria, particularly from the West to developing countries, but our own presidential system and its concept of separation of powers is so akin to that of the US that to ignore completely guidance from the US is to cut our noses to spite our faces. Those of us who are Nigerians living abroad, particularly in the United States, also have a SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY and PATRIOTIC DUTY to point out these connections even if they are not accepted in toto, otherwise why are we here but to earn dollars and eat at McDonald with our children?
That last sentence may sound self-serving, but I plead guilty as charged.
So here goes....
The first thing is that nowhere in the US Constitution is the President explicitly granted IMMUNITY, whether conditional or absolute, in the manner that Nigeria's constitution grants it. It was not as if the original framers of America's Constitution did not think of it, but the concern was not to make an untouchable monarch out of any one person! Rather, any immunity he has is IMPLIED - and some have implied that it is ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY if he is to fulfill his enormous role as the SOLE Executive member charged under the Constitution, and if the Executive Branch is not to be too subject to judicial direction.
There is case law on both sides.
Nevertheless, the recent case of Paula Jones vs. President William Jefferson Clinton that we all "enjoyed" emphasizes that the President of the United States DOES NOT have ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY from civil prosecution. Clinton's application for that immunity was denied, and I think rightly so. However he was granted what amounted to a DELAY in that prosecution - which translates to temporary immunity - because Paula Jones could not show that protecting her civil liberties were so urgent that it over-rode concern for the effect that Clinton's participation in a law suit would have on his role as President of the country. In any case, Paula Jones had waited till two days before statute of limitation expired, so she had obviously been in no hurry.
The court however ruled that this did not stop INVESTIGATION of the case against Clinton from going forward, hence depositions could still be taken from him, in order to ensure contemporaneity of information, and to protect Paula Jones rights in case she died or became "forgetful." I believe that this is also what Gani Fawehinmi is arguing for - although he has not mentioned Paula Jones vs. Clinton yet! - when he insists that the Police in Lagos continue to investigate Lagos Governor Tinubu's certificate palaver even though Section 308 also protects him. [For the record, I argued against Section 308 then and now, but agreed with the right of Tinubu to seek protection under it while it lasts.]
Note that obviously ANY Executive President has immunity from CRIMINAL PROSECUTION - criminal cases being filed by the State - because the Attorney-General is under his supervision, and would have to file those criminal charges. It is unreasonable to expect the President to authorize filing charges against himself, and in that case if criminal charges are considered necessary, the Congress would have to strip him of his presidency and prosecute him as a private citizen.
What I am getting at is that by enshrining such a broad explicit immunity into our 1999 Nigerian Constitution, our military framers and their legal minions did an incredible constitutional over-reach that made LORDS AND DEMI-GODS of the 74 people so protected. It is a situation that must be overturned. Secondly, by even extending it to STATE GOVERNORS and DEPUTY GOVERNORS, it worsened it in violation of a FEDERAL CONSTITUTION which should permit each state to determine how it wishes to protect - or not protect - its local governors. Certainly, it is reasonable for STATES to give some protection from arbitrary or frivolous civil suits to their governors via STATE CONSTITUTIONS, but I fail to see why to deputy governors, since they cannot act independent of the governors in material issues. However, to give the vice-president of the federation, and state governors and their deputies the same kind of immunity as the PRESIDENT of the Federation is most bizarre, most ridiculous, to my mind. Not only should it not have been given to the President, it certainly should not have been extended to the other 73 people.
For those who are more interested in this discussion, I urge you to read the following documents:
Ouster Clauses Another troubling aspect of Section 308 is not confined to that section: it is the presence of the ouster clause provision which starts with words like “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary…” This is always to say “To heck with whatever the Constitution says elsewhere, just focus on what this section says, and that is it!” It is a military-induced way of severely limiting civil liberties given elsewhere in the Constitution.
There are in fact too many hidden ouster clauses written into our Constitution - I counted at least a total of 15 significant ousting “Notwithstandings….” [See Appendix I] which should be removed or severely modified. The epitome is the following Section 215 (5) relevant to the Nigerian Police Force:
Nigerian Police Force
Section 215
There shall be :-
an Inspector-General of Police who, subject to section 216(2) of this Constitution shall be appointed by the president on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigeria Police force;
a Commissioner of Police for each State of the Federation who shall be appointed by the Police Service Commission.
The Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector-General of Police and any contingents of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in a State shall, subject to the authority of the Inspector-General of Police, be under the command of the Commissioner of Police of that State.
The President or such other Minister of the Government of the Federation as he may authorise in that behalf may give to the Inspector-General of Police such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order as he may consider necessary, and the Inspector-General of Police shall comply with those directors or cause them to be complied with.
Subject to the provisions of this section, the Governor of a State or such Commissioner of the Government of the State as he may authorised in that behalf, may give to the Commissioner of Police of that State such lawful directions with repect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order within the State as he may consider necessary, and the Commissioner of Police shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with.
Provided that before carrying out any such directions under the foregoing provisions of this subsection the Commissioner of Police may request that the matter be referred to the president or such Minister of the Government of the Federation as may be authorised in that behalf by the President for his directions.
The question whether any, and if so what, directions have been given under this section shall not be inquired into in any court.
How can a Constitution of a democratic country have a “question” that cannot be “inquired into in any court” and retain such a clause even for one day? Those ouster clauses are indeed another true vestige of a military past embedded into our constitution.
Impunity - The Political Leaders
When a person knows or feels that he is immune from the consequences of violating the law, he is apt to act with impunity , that is with complete disregard for the consequences of his illegal actions.
When you have a military dictatorship, impunity would be the rule rather than the exception, so one would understand. However, with a civilian “democratic” regime, impunity should not be tolerated - nor legislated.
That is the danger of Section 308 - that 74 elected people in Nigeria have the privilege of acting with impunity with regard to both civil and criminal proceedings, and have virtually ONLY the Legislative Assembly members to fear due to the impeachment process.
Unfortunately, when the Legislative Assemblymen themselves act with IMPUNITY, then despite their lack of immunity, a mutual blackmail occurs between the Legislature and the Executive. At that point, we ordinary Nigerian citizens are stuck! Thus a weak justice system, and ability to threaten - and be threatened in return - by the already immunized members of the Executives leads to a conspiracy which immobilizes and intimidates the electorate-citizenry.
Case in point: the recent Electoral Law 2001. There had been complaints about the attempt to get at certain governors come 2003 in terms of their previous tenure; about extending the 3-year term of local government councilors to four years until 2003; about reversing the order of elections now to start with the presidential and ending with the local government ones; about illegal hurdles in the registration of political parties and denial of independent candidacy. Even those of us abroad had the temerity (according to some Senators!) of complaining about full-fledged Nigerian citizens abroad not being able to vote, or dual citizens now be newly banned from contesting for positions.
Despite all signposts warning otherwise, members of the National Assembly leadership went ahead to grant only one reprieve (for the governors), but “spoilt matters” by colluding with the President to smuggle in a Clause 80 about party registration in an outrageous manner.
The story is constantly shifting, but here is the latest rough outline: Apparently a PDP caucus had previously agreed at one point on 15% SPONSORSHIP SPREAD AND 15% WINNING barriers before new parties (in addition to the existing three) are registered, to match the previous Abdusalami Abubakar military conditions. However, the National Assembly Joint Conference Committeee agreed (on Tuesday December 4, 2001) only on a 15% SPONSORSHIP barrier. The bill is presented on Wednesday December 5, 2001, by Senate President Anyim and House Speaker Na’Abba to President Obasanjo for his signature. The President’s “eagle eyes” notice the discrepancy with the PDP recommendation (the party being superior to the National Assembly?). Na’Abba allegedly says, “No problem, we are allowed to fix that”, and he suggests a letter from Obasanjo asking for an amendment. Obasanjo says “No problem! Go to an adjacent presidential room and draft the letter. Bring it back, and I will sign it.” So the obedient Na’Abba and Anyim do so, and return to the president. Quite busy in council, Obasanjo signs the drafted letter, and the group retires to “Mr. Fix-It”’s private (?) home for further nocturnal deliberation. “Mr Fix It” is the omnipresent Mr. Anenih, current Federal Minister of Works and Housing, present PDP Party Leader , former SDP party chairman, one-time “trusted” adviser to MKO Abiola before he dumped Abiola and signed a memorandum of understanding with Abacha to that effect, one of the tormentors of the pro-democracy movement abroad (right here in the United States!) while president Obasanjo was still in Abacha’s gaol!
After a few minutes, maybe hours, they decide that “OK, it should be 15% SPONSORSHIP and 10% WINNING”, and they return to Obasanjo in the wee hours of December 6. Thus the bill that Mr. President Obasanjo actually signs into law (at 4:.00 am on the morning of Thursday, December 6, 2001) is NOT what he is stated to have suggested (in the afternoon of Wednesday, December 5, which was the more difficult 15% WINNING hurdle) but what the National Assembly leadership + Mr. Aneni concocted - that is 10% WINNING!
Voila! We have been telling a lie on President Obasanjo all of this time! He did not smuggle in anything - that would be “criminal” according to him. At least what he attempted to do was not what was finally signed. It differed by 5% - hence the fault cannot possibly be assigned to him.
Na wa o! A military general will always be one: subterfuge and trickery to defeat the enemy or opponent!
But we thought that Mr. Na’Abba said that he did not know any of what was going on, that according to him (Na’Abba) he had to hurry on to Lesser Hajj and hence did not know the content of the final amendment?
Will the truth-speaker please speak up?
Senate President Anyim can even be considered more honest here: he said he supported the amendment and its manner of adoption, because it was “for the good of the nation” .
“Brimming with confidence even when tempers have been flared across the political spectrum, Senate President, Chief Pius Anyim, yesterday in Lagos said the tension generated by the new electoral law would soon fizzle out, describing it as one of the hallmarks of democracy….. Speaking with Aviation Correspondents in Lagos yesterday, Anyim said there was nothing unusual about the tension the passage and the signing of the new law has generated. He cited previous issues which elicited intense controversy as the 1999 and 2000 Appropriation Acts and the NDDC Bill, among others, expressing confidence that just as those controversies eventually died a natural death, the heat surrounding the Electoral Law would also fizzle out soon……The Appropriation Act of 1999 was full of controversy, the NDDC Bill was full of controversy. So, if there is controversy after the Electoral Bill, it is nothing strange. It's normal; we will overcome. We will weather it", he assured.” - This Day 12/18/01
He was really talking about acting with impunity because of the lack of attention - or timidity - of the electorate.
It reminds us of the episode back in October 2000 when some huge amounts of Naira wads were splashed on the table of the House of Representatives in full public TV view as evidence of bribing of some legislative members by the Executive over a move to impeach the Speaker of the House.
“Nigerians were shocked on October 31 [2000] when Adams Jagada, house committee chairman on anti-corruption tendered N3.4 million cash on the floor of the house as part of bribe money distributed to some members of the house to impeach Na'Abba. The N3.4 million, he said, was returned by seven members of the house. Jagada alleged that the money was made available by President Obasanjo and Vice- President Atiku Abubakar. The presidency felt seriously scandalised. The ruling Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, was stupefied and promptly set up a panel headed by Alex Ekwueme to probe the allegation. The panel concluded it did not have sufficient evidence to link the president to the bribery scandal. Efforts have been made to reconcile Obasanjo and Speaker Na'Abba. Since then, there seems to be a cease- fire. Na'Abba seems to have won the battle.” - Newswatch, January 8, 2001
The Presidency denied it vehemently - yet someone must have been speaking the truth, and the other must be telling a lie, for you cannot be pregnant and not be pregnant at the same time.
Obviously, that has blown over.
Or have we forgotten about the furniture and car allowances in the National Assembly, or the “Contractocracy” (Kuta panel) controversy or what?
It is clear that we have an elected leadership at the top in Nigeria whose date with integrity is in the future, and who yet continue to act with impunity. It should be noted that impunity is not confined to our legislators: it permeates our society with respect to how bosses treat subordinates, how government officials treat citizen-customers, and how lack of due process frustrates such subordinates/citizens who sometimes resort to taking things into their own hands.
Finally, now that concern about Clause 80 has focused on removing the 10% winning provision - and winning that removal seems to be in sight - the plan is to take the minds of the populace off the extension of tenure of local government officials, which remains illegal; the fixing of the date of local government elections by the National Assembly, which constitutionally should remain solely the province of the state assemblies and Electoral commissions; and the continued denial of Nigerian citizens abroad from voting or dual citizens for contesting for positions. We must not allow the relief of reversal over the winning provision pull the wool over our eyes concerning these other illegalities.
Epilogue No doubt about it: The year 2001 has been a rather turbulent one, ending with a bang with Uncle Bola Ige’s death. One would hope that Nigerian citizens will arouse from our sometimes enforced timidity and fight for our security, and against wrongful immunity and impunity.
May we all have a Happier New Year. May the Ige family - and all unsung others who lost their lives in similar circumstances, but for who no comets blazed - be consoled.
Appendix Ouster Clauses in the 1999 Constitution
CHAPTER I
Section 4.
(9) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the National Assembly or a House of Assembly shall not, in relation to any criminal offence whatsoever, have power to make any law which shall have retrospective effect.
Section 5
(4) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section:-
the President shall not declare a state of war between the Federation and another country except with the sanction of a resolution of both Houses of the National Assembly, sitting in a joint session; and
except with the prior approval of the Senate, no member of the armed forces of the Federation shall be deployed on combat duty outside Nigeria.
(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (4) of this section, the President, in consultation with the National Defence Council, may deploy members of the armed forces of the Federation on a limited combat duty outside Nigeria if he is satisfied that the national security is under imminent threat or danger:
Section 6
(6) The judicial powers vested in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section
shall extend, notwithstanding anything to the contrary government or authority and to any persons in Nigeria, and to all actions and proceedings relating thereto, for the determination of any question as to the civil rights and obligations of that persons;
CHAPTER IV
Section 44
(3) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the entire property in and control of all minerals, mineral oils and natural gas in under or upon any land in Nigeria or in, under or upon the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria shall vest in the Government of the Federation and shall be managed in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.
CHAPTER V
Section 73.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, the Independent National Electoral Commission may at any time carry out such a review and alter the districts or constituencies in accordance with the provisions of this section to such extent as it considers necessary, in consequence of any amendment to section 8 of this Constitution or any provision replacing that section, or by reason of the holding of a census of the population, or pursuant to an Act of the National Assembly.
CHAPTER VI
Section 215
(5) The question whether any, and if so what, directions have been given under this section shall not be inquired into in any court.
CHAPTER VII
Section 251.
(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Constitution and in addition to such other jurisdiction as may be conferred upon it by an Act of the National Assembly, the Federal High Court shall have and exercise jurisdiction to the exclusion of any other court in civil causes and matters -
relating to the revenue of the Government of the Federation in which the said Government or any organ thereof or a person suing or being sued on behalf of the said Government is a party;
|connected with or pertaining to the taxation of companies and other bodies established or carrying on business in Nigeria and all other persons subject to Federal taxation;
connected with or pertaining to customs and excise duties and export duties, including any claim by or against the Nigeria Customs Service or any member or officer thereof, arising from the performance of
any duty imposed under any regulation relating to customs and excise duties and export duties;
connected with or pertaining to banking, banks, other financial institutions, including any action between one bank and another, any action by or against the Central Bank of Nigeria arising from banking,
foreign exchange, coinage, legal tender, bills of exchange, letters of credit, promissory notes and other fiscal measures:
Section 252.
(1) For the purpose of exercising any jurisdiction conferred upon it by this Constitution or as may be conferred by an Act of the National Assembly, the Federal High Court shall have all the powers of the High Court of a State.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, the National Assembly may by law make provisions conferring upon the Federal High Court powers additional to those conferred by this section as may appear necessary or desirable for enabling the Court more effectively to exercise its jurisdiction.
CHAPTER VIII
Section 307.
Notwithstanding any provisions contained in Chapter IV and subject to sections 131 and 177 of this Constitution, no citizen of Nigeria by registration or under a grant of certificate of naturalization shall within ten years of such registration or grant, hold any elective or appointive office under this Constitution.
Section 308.
(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution, but subject to subsection (2) of this section -
no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against a person to whom this section applies during his period of office;
a person to whom this section applies shall not be arrested or imprisoned during that period either in pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise; and
no process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of a person to whom this section applies, shall be applied for or issued:
Section 309.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Chapter III of this Constitution but subject to section 28 thereof, any person who became a citizen of Nigeria by birth, registration or naturalization under the provisions of any other Constitution shall continue to be a citizen of Nigeria under this Constitution.
Section 316
(2) Any person who immediately before the date when this section comes into force holds office by virtue of any other Constitution or law in force immediately before the date when this section comes into force shall be deemed to be duly appointed to that office by virtue of this Constitution or by any authority by whom appointments to that office fall to be made in pursuance of this Constitution.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, any person holding such office, a member of a court of law or authority, who would have been required to vacate such office, or where his membership of such court of law or authority would have ceased but for the provisions of the said subsection (2) of this section, shall at the expiration of the period prescribed therefore after the date when this section comes into force vacate such office or, as the case may be, his membership of such court of law or authority shall cease, accordingly.
CONCURRENT LEGISLATIVE LIST
1. Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the National Assembly may by an Act make provisions for -
(a) the division of public revenue
between the Federation and the States,
among the states of the Federation,
between the states and local government councils,
among the local government councils in the States;
and
grants or loans from and the imposition of charges upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public funds of the Federation or for the imposition of charges upon the revenue and assets of the Federation for any purpose notwithstanding that it relates to a matter with respect to which the National Assembly is not empowered to make laws.
2. Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, any House of Assembly may make provisions for grants or loans from and the imposition of charges upon any of the public funds of that State or the imposition of charges upon the revenue and assets of that State for any purpose notwithstanding that it relates to a matter with respect to which the National Assembly is empowered to make laws.
CODE OF BUREAU
3) Notwithstanding any provision in any other law or enactment, the Commission shall ensure that every public company or corporation reflects the federal character in the appointments of its directors and senior management staff.
Appendix II The Police and the 1999 Constitution
B - Nigeria Police Force
Section 214. -
(1) There shall be a police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution:-
the Nigeria Police Force shall be organised and administered in accordance with such provisions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly;
the members of the Nigeria Police Force shall have such powers and duties as may be confer#FF0000 upon them by law;
the Natioanl Assembly may make provisions for branches of the Nigeria Police Force forming part of the armed forces of the Federation or for the protection of harbours, waterways, railways and air fields.
Section 215. -
(1) There shall be :-
an Inspector-General of Police who, subject to section 216(2) of this Constitution shall be appointed by the president on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigeria Police force;
a Commissioner of Police for each State of the Federation who shall be appointed by the Police Service Commission.
(2) The Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector-General of Police and any contingents of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in a State shall, subject to the authority of the Inspector-General of Police, be under the command of the Commissioner of Police of that State.
(3) The President or such other Minister of the Government of the Federation as he may authorise in that behalf may give to the Inspector-General of Police such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order as he may consider necessary, and the Inspector-General of Police shall comply with those directors or cause them to be complied with.
(4) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Governor of a State or such Commissioner of the Government of the State as he may authorised in that behalf, may give to the Commissioner of Police of that State such lawful directions with repect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order within the State as he may consider necessary, and the Commissioner of Police shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with.
Provided that before carrying out any such directions under the foregoing provisions of this subsection the Commissioner of Police may request that the matter be referred to the president or such Minister of the Government of the Federation as may be authorised in that behalf by the President for his directions.
(5) The question whether any, and if so what, directions have been given under this section shall not be inquired into in any court.
Section 216. -
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Nigeria Police Council may, with the approval of the President and subject to such conditions as it may think fit, delegate any of the powers confer#FF0000 upon it by this Constitution to any of its members or to the Inspector-General of Police or any other member of the Nigeria Police Force.
(2) Before making any appointment to the office of the Inspector-General of Police or removing him from office the President shall consult the Nigeria Police Council.
Appendix III: Reports on the Police
Police And Extortion
Commuter bus operators, motorists and the public cry foul as police and agents resort to extortion instead of fighting crime
Police Barracks Turn Robbers Den - Civilians Blamed, IG Alarmed
P.M. News (Lagos) December 13, 2001
"It has come to my notice that unscrupulous policemen have formed the habit of leasing their apartments to civilians for a fee while their counterparts are languishing outside the barracks," the IG said, warning that a serious disciplinary action awaits defaulters.
Jungle Men in Uniform
Civil Liberties Organisation releases some details of extra- judicial killings by Lagos police command. It a controversial issue everyone talks about but government does nothing about.
Robbers in Police Uniform
Here is how the people's protectors have turned the enemies of the people. As the three policemen were led into the dock, they looked woebegone like cows that sighted the butcher's knife. Not even the afternoon heat of the Lokoja, the Kogi State capital's courtroom prevented passers-by from flocking in to witness the spectacle of law enforcement agents who were themselves at the receiving end of ...
Okiro Queries Police Chief Over Robbery
P.M. News (Lagos) December 13, 2001
P.M.News gathered that the officer was queried for dereliction of duty. He was said to have left the police station for an unknown destination when the armed hoodlums attacked the station and escaped. The officer was reportedly posted as an incident duty officer for the night before the robbers struck.
Robbers Sack Police Barracks
Dare-devil armed robbers have resumed their onslaught on police barracks in Lagos State. P.M.News investigations revealed that few months after armed bandits raided officers barracks in Ikeja, they have commenced their fresh war on police barracks. The barracks recently raided by bandits include the Police Barracks at Falomo, Obalende, Okesuna and Iponri.
Nigeria's Human Rights Record For 2000
The United States' Country Report on Nigeria's human rights record say it can further improve. Also the report acknowledges areas of improvement but noted the security forces continued to commit extra-judicial killings and use excessive force to quell civil unrest and ethnic violence.
Humouring Governors On Police Control
Their Excellencies governing the thirty-six states are the chief security officers of their domains but with no powers even over the police constable.
Improve Police Funding for Efficiency - Rtd. AIG
P.M. News (Lagos) December 19, 2001
The retired AIG [Simeon O. Oduoye] and two-time state administrator said police bad image emanated from poor funding. "When you go to a police station to lodge a complaint, there are no stationery materials to write with, no chairs or table, so what kind of image do you expect?" he asked. Continuing, he said, "worse still, the vehicles are bad, no weapon to tackle crime among other things, so the funding must be improved first".
Police And Their Myriad Problems
The Nigeria Police are in the news again, as always. And as usual not for anything salutary. The entire policemen and women from the Inspector-General of Police to the last recruit are out on the streets queuing.
Lagos Assembly Moves To Fight Crime
Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have expressed disgust over the crime wave in the state and have therefore set in motion the process of nipping the evil.
Guides
