Politics

Courts are imposing politicians on Nigerians – Falana claims

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Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), on Thursday warned the courts to “stop imposing politicians on Nigerians”.

According to Falana, “the involvement of the courts in the electoral process has not been favourable to the country’s democracy.”

He made the call while speaking on “The Role of the Courts in the Electoral Process and the Time Bomb of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022”.

It was delivered at the Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ondo Branch.

According to Falana, the courts are involved in appointment of party officers and fixing of national conventions of political parties.

“The courts have been involved in the appointment of party officers and the endorsement of candidates sponsored by political parties to contest elections.

“Even the meetings of the organs and national conventions of political parties are fixed by the courts. Cases arising from the management of political parties are filed in the high court of the FCT or at the federal high court, outside the venue of the dispute.

“The winners of primaries and general elections are no longer determined by the electorate, but by the election petition tribunals and courts,” Falana was quoted as saying via a statement issued by his aide, Tayo Soyemi.

Politics

Falana accuses Malami of manipulating court over rulings on Electoral Act

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The furore over the amendment of section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 continued on Sunday after a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, accused the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami of manipulating the judiciary on the matter.

Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, had on March 19 ordered the AGF to delete the contentious section which requires political appointees to resign from their positions at least three months before their parties’ primaries or conventions.

The ruling came a few days after the Federal High Court, Abuja, restrained the National Assembly from taking further action on the electoral law.

In a chat with journalists last week, Malami said the Federal Government had commenced steps on the removal of the section.

Falana, who reacted to the development in a statement, alleged that Malami manipulated the court to issue conflicting orders on the electoral law.

He said: “Malami, who is the defendant in both cases, did not draw the attention of the Ibadan and Umuahia judicial divisions of the federal high court to the fact that the Abuja division of the same court had on March 7, 2022, restrained the AGF, President Muhammadu Buhari, National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from refusing to implement the provisions of the section.

“Malami failed to disclose to the Umuahia judicial division of the federal high court that the Ibadan division had struck out a similar case for want of locus standi.

“In any case, since the case pending at the Ibadan judicial division of the federal high court was well reported in the print and electronic media, the judge sitting in the Umuahia judicial division ought to have struck out the fresh case before her as it constituted a gross abuse of court process.

“It is pertinent to note that while the AGF pretended not to know about the order of interim injunction granted by the Abuja judicial division of the federal high court, he has announced the plan of the federal government to comply with the judgment delivered in the Umuahia case as soon as possible.”

Lifestyle

Falana charges Lagos govt to adhere to Supreme Court ruling on Magodo

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Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, on Monday implored the Lagos State Government to adhere to rule of law and implement the judgement of the Supreme Court in the ongoing Magodo land case.

Falana made this appeal during an interview with Channels Television “Sunrise Daily” monitored by Ripples Nigeria.

The case had been protracted over the refusal of the Lagos State Government to implement the Supreme Court ruling granting the 549 original Magodo landowners ownership of their lands.

This snowballed, last week, when the Attorney General of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, in collaboration with the Nigerian Police Force sought to enforce the ruling by posting some personnel to the estate.

Despite the efforts of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make the security operatives stand down, he was unsuccessful.

Speaking on the matter, Falana charged the government to ensure the peace by abiding with the ruling of the court.

He said, “We must allow the due process of law to run its due course which the Supreme Court reiterated about the 549 plots at Magodo. For ten years, the judgement was not enforced and this does not happen in any civilised society whereby a ruling by the Supreme Court be treated with disdain.

“As far as the law is concerned, once the SC has issued a ruling it shall be final and no appeal will arise from it so you can’t say those who were granted the ruling were wrong. The ruling must be complied with. That was what led to the incident with the Governor and the Chief Superintendent of Police.

Neither under the colonial regime or the military regime was the Supreme Court’s ruling flouted. This is the second time. The first was in 2006 when the Supreme Court ordered the Obasanjo administration to pay the LASG funds and he refused to pay. This is the second time and it is unfortunate that LASG are now the villain.

“I will also send a letter to the Attorney General to comply to various pending Supreme Court rulings since he has done this by enforcing the judgement regarding the Magodo Case.”

Lifestyle

Police making a mockery of death of Dowen College student, Sylvester —Falana

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A human rights activist, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana has lambasted the Lagos State Police Command of making a mockery of the death of Sylvester Oromoni, a student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos.

He said it was inhumane and a mockery of the death of Master Oromoni for the Lagos State commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu to speak on the report on the cause of death of the late student.

Sylvester had reportedly told his parents before he died that he was beaten by some senior students of the school, and dived to drink a concoction, because he refused their cult group.

Odumosu had addressed a press conference in the state where he had told members of the public that the report on the inquest from Lagos on the cause of death of Sylvester showed that he died of “natural causes”.

But Falana who spoke on Channels TV Sunrise Daily on Monday, lamented that Odumosu had no right to read out such a report, adding that the only person permitted by law to read the report was the coroner.

According to him, stating that Sylvester died of ‘natural causes’ was vague, and it was not specific on the actual cause of death, as an inquest report from Delta State had previously stated the exact cause of Sylvester’s death to include a collapsed lung due to chemical poisoning.

He accused the Lagos Police command of a cover up in the death of Sylvester, adding that as the lawyer to Sylvester’s family, he had applied for a copy of the report, but had not been given.

Politics

You lack power to ban #ENDSARS anniversary protests,’ Falana tells police

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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, declared on Thursday that the Nigerian Police Force lacks the power to ban public protests in the country.

Falana’s declaration came a day after the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu, warned that the police would not allow anyone to stage another #EndSARS rally to mark the first anniversary of the protests that rocked different parts of the country last year.

In a statement he personally signed, the lawyer dismissed the police threats on the protest as illegal and totally against the fundamental rights of the citizens to freedom of expression and association.

He urged the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to direct all Commissioners of Police across the country to give adequate security to people who may wish to embark on the protest.

The statement read: “In view of the threat of the police authorities to ban Nigerians from exercising their fundamental rights to assemble and hold peaceful rallies to mark the first year anniversary of the #EndSARS protests, it has become pertinent to draw attention to the current state of the law on public meetings, rallies, and processions in the country.

“The threats against peaceful rallies oozing out of the Police Headquarters and State Commands are illegal as they constitute a gross infringement of the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly guaranteed by sections 38 and 40 of the Nigerian Constitution as well as articles 9 and 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Act.

In the case of the All Nigeria People’s Party v Inspector-General of Police (2006) the Honourable Justice Anwuri Chiyere declared that police permit as a precondition for holding rallies in Nigeria was illegal and unconstitutional. Consequently, her ladyship granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Inspector-General of Police and other police officers from preventing Nigerian citizens from convening and participating in rallies.

“The appeal of the police against the judgment was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in December 2007. In the unanimous decision of the court, their Lordships described police permit as ‘a relic of colonialism’ which is anomalous in a democratic society.

Based on the epochal judgment of the Court of Appeal the National Assembly amended the Electoral Act 2010 in March 2015 to impose a duty on the police to provide security for participants in public meetings and rallies. For the avoidance of doubt, section 94 (4) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides:

“Notwithstanding any provision in the Police Act, the Public Order Act and any regulation made thereunder or any other law to the contrary, the role of the Nigeria Police Force in political rallies, processions and meetings shall be limited to the provision of adequate security as provided in subsection (1) of this section.”

Furthermore, Section 83 (4) of the Police Establishment Act 2020 provides as follows:

“Where a person or organization notifies the police of his or its intention to hold a public meeting, rally or procession on a public highway or such meetings in a place where the public has access to, the police officer responsible for the area where the meeting rally or procession will take place shall mobilize personnel to provide security cover for the meeting, rally or the procession.”

Politics

Buhari’s govt not ready to declare bandits as terrorists – Falana

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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, on Sunday warned Nigerians against branding terrorists as bandits.

The lawyer made the call in a statement in Lagos.

He was reacting to the Federal Government’s refusal to declare bandits as terrorists.

The Senate had last week asked the federal government to declare bandits wreaking havoc in many parts of the North-West as terrorists.

The upper legislative chamber also charged the federal government to go after all known leaders of the bandits with a view to prosecuting them.

In the statement, Falana insisted that the bandits are not different from Boko Haram insurgents who are regarded as terrorists.

He added that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was unprepared to declare bandits as terrorists.

He said: “The failure to ascribe these criminals as ‘terrorists’ as evidenced in the kidnappings of the Chibok and the Dapchi schoolgirls led to the proliferation of the scourge.

It is public knowledge that the dangerous criminal elements who kidnapped the Chibok and Dapchi secondary school girls in the North-East Zone in 2014 and 2017 respectively were not referred to as bandits.

They were called terrorists by the Federal Government and the media. The description was correct as the abductions carried out by the criminal elements were acts of terrorism.

“But for reasons best known to the Federal Government the criminal elements who are currently involved in the brutal killing of innocent people and abduction of thousands of people including primary school pupils in the North-West zone are called bandits and not terrorists.

“Embarrassed by the reluctance of the Federal Government to deal decisively with the so-called bandits, the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, in separate sittings, unanimously passed resolutions last weekend requesting President Muhammadu Buhari to declare the dangerous criminal elements as terrorists and proscribe them in accordance with the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act as amended without any further delay.

The federal lawmakers also asked President Buhari to declare all the known leaders of the bandits wanted and track them wherever they are for arrest and prosecution. So far, the Federal Government has ignored the resolutions.

“However, as the Federal Government is not prepared to declare them as terrorists we call on the media and the Nigerian people to stop referring to terrorists as bandits.”

Politics

Falana urges Buhari to pardon convicted soldiers

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The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, on Wednesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to grant pardon to 70 soldiers convicted for mutiny during ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

In a letter dated August 25, 2021, and addressed to the President, Falana said the soldiers deserved to be pardoned just like the Boko Haram insurgents.

He recalled that the Federal Government deployed thousands of ill-equipped and ill-motivated soldiers to the North-East to tackle the Boko Haram insurgents from 2013 to 2014.

The letter read: “Instead of attending to such legitimate demand, the military authorities accused scores of the soldiers of sabotaging the counter-insurgency operations of the Federal Government and proceeded to set up courts-martial to try them for mutiny.

We defended 58 soldiers while the remaining 12 were defended by other colleagues before the Courts-Martial which sat in Abuja. At the end of the trials in August and December 2014, the Courts-Martial jailed some of the soldiers and sentenced 70 others to death for mutiny.

The courts martial failed to appreciate that the demand for weapons by the soldiers was justified under section 179 of the Armed Forces Act, (Cap A20) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

Notwithstanding the pendency of the appeal at the apex court we urge Your Excellency to exercise your prerogative of mercy in favour of the entire 70 convicted soldiers.

“It is public knowledge that the Federal Government and some state governments have recently granted pardon and rehabilitated hundreds of terrorists who had waged war against Nigeria and subjected unarmed citizens to egregious human rights abuse.

“The soldiers who were convicted of mutiny for demanding for weapons to fight such terrorists deserve to be granted pardon and rehabilitated by the Federal Government.”

Lifestyle

Falana charges Nigerian govt to secure release of abducted NDA personnel

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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has charged the Federal Government to secure the release of the military officer abducted during an attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna.

Gunmen had on August 24 killed two military officers and abducted one other during an attack on the NDA in the Afaka area of the state.

Falana, who is also the interim Chairman of Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), made the call in a statement on Sunday.

He asked President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to unmask the killers and bring the perpetrators to book to serve as a deterrent to others.

He said the attack on the military base had confirmed that nowhere is safe for Nigerians.

The lawyer said: “The Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) strongly condemns the last week’s invasion of the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, the brutal killing of two officers and the abduction of another officer by a group of terrorists.

“By attacking the military institution, the dangerous criminal elements had wanted to prove that nowhere is safe in Nigeria.

“To prove the criminals wrong the Federal Government should ensure the immediate release of the abducted officer and proceed to arrest the criminal elements who committed the heinous crimes.”

Politics

Buhari, You Brought Crises On Nigeria With Your Lopsided Appointments, Failure To Curb Killer Herdsmen – Falana Tackles President

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Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has stated that the failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to check insecurity as well as its many lopsided appointments is fueling secessionist agitations in the country.

Falana added that the socio-economic and security challenges confronting the country could be traced back to decades of misrule, bad governance, corruption and the diversion of the commonwealth.

He lamented that killings and kidnappings were on the rise across the country due to the failure of the Buhari regime to control the violent attacks on farmers and destruction of their farmlands by marauding herdsmen.

The human rights lawyer stated these on Thursday in Abuja at a Commemorative Anniversary public lecture of the 80th Birthday Anniversary of Prof Omotoye Olorode, which is titled, “Labour and the quest for Nigeria’s National Development: Reflection and Prognosis on the Way Forward.”

He noted that it was obvious that the state was not capable of ending kidnappings or rescuing the abducted citizens, a situation which forces family members of abductees to pay ransoms to the abductors to secure the release of their loved ones.

He said the Buhari-led government had run out of ideas and was incapable of finding lasting solutions to the worsening security challenges facing the country.

Falana said, “The failure of the regime to control the violent attacks on farmers and destruction of farms by a group bearing AK-47 rifles operating as herders and the lopsided appointments by the Buhari administration have fueled the separatist agenda of several groups.

“In spite of the programme of its own party for restructuring or power devolution from the centre to the other federating units, President Buhari has sworn to defend the status quo. A regime that has negotiated and granted amnesty to terrorists and bandits in the recent past has rejected the call for dialogue with all separatist bodies.

“It is our submission that several decades of legacy of misrule and bad governance, corruption and diversion of the commonwealth and anti-people’s policies have led to the ascendancy of insecurity in the country.

“No part of the country is safe as marauders have been abducting people, including undergraduates, secondary school students and even primary school pupils.”

Falana said the country could break up or engage in a full-scale civil war if the worsening insecurity in all states of the federation and the federal capital territory was not checked.

He added, “Having been overwhelmed by the security challenges, the ruling class will not hesitate to sabotage the democratic process or plunge the country into another civil war. No doubt, the central labour unions and individual trade unions have routinely condemned the booming business of kidnapping.

“Since 2009, the armed forces have been waging the counter-insurgency operations in the North-East region. Realizing that the armed forces are ill-equipped and ill-motivated, the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Yusufu Buratai (retd.), has predicted that the war on terror will last for another period of 20 years. 

“Since the Nigeria Police Force has been demobilized from maintaining law and order by successive regimes, the over-stretched armed forces have been deployed and mandated to free many communities that have been overrun by nihilist forces in the various states.”

Politics

Falana urges JUSUN to ensure budgets ‘are not under control of judges’

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Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has asked striking members of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) to ensure that judicial budgets are not under the control of judges.

Falana made this call via a statement issued on Sunday, on behalf of the Alliance on Surviving Covid19 and Beyond (ASCAB).

According to him, this would build a transparency mechanism into the management of funds for the judiciary.

“It will allow judges to concentrate on the discharge of their core constitutional mandate of administering justice in an atmosphere of independence and impartiality in line with international best practices,” he said.

The group also expressed support for the ongoing nationwide strike.

It said the strike was meant to actualize the relevant provisions of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) “which require that any amount standing to the credit of the judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government or state government shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts concerned.”

Ripples Nigeria had reported that JUSUN embarked on a nationwide strike last week in order to press home their demands for full financial autonomy amongst other issues.

Politics

Falana faults appointment of new service chiefs, says Buhari’s action illegal

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The appointment of new service chiefs by President Muhammadu Buhari has been described as illegal and unconstitutional by a famous human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN).

In a statement on Wednesday, Falana said Buhari was wrong to have announced the appointment of new service chiefs without the approval of the National Assembly.

Following the resignation of the former service chiefs, President Buhari on Tuesday, announced the appointment of new service chiefs to replace them.

But, the human rights lawyer, who faulted the appointment based on a 2013 judgment, said that Buhari had only nominated the service chiefs.

Falana’s statement read in part, “Yesterday (Tuesday), President Buhari was reported to have appointed new service chiefs for the armed forces.

“Upon a critical review of the law on the subject matter the members of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAP) have found that the appointments remain inchoate as President Muhammadu Buhari has not forwarded the names of the proposed service chiefs to the National Assembly for approval in strict compliance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Armed Forces Act.

“The appointments of service chiefs without the concurrence of the National Assembly which had been the practice since 1999 was challenged in the Federal High Court sometime in 2008 by Mr. Festus Keyamo SAN in the case of Keyamo v President Goodluck Jonathan (unreported Suit No FHC/ABJ/ CS/611/2008).

“In his landmark judgment delivered on July 2, 2013, Adamu Bello J. (as he then was) held that it was illegal and unconstitutional, null and void for the President to single-handedly appoint Service Chiefs without the approval of the National Assembly having regards to the combined effect of Section 218 of the Constitution and section 18 (1) & (3) of the Armed Forces Act.”

According to Falana, the 2013 judgement, which was never challenged by federal government remains binding on all authorities and persons in Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of section 287 of the constitution.

He, therefore, asked Buhari to forward the names of the new service chiefs to the federal lawmakers for confirmation in accordance to the law of the land.

Politics

Falana backs Akeredolu’s eviction notice to herders, says presidency jeopardising national security

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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said that the order by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on unregistered herders to vacate Ondo forest was legal.

He accused the Presidency of mismanaging the crisis by rushing to the media to challenge the order, adding that the action of the Presidency polarised the people along ethnic lines to the detriment of national security.

In a statement he released on Sunday, Falana maintained that the order by Akeredolu was in line with Section 42 (1) (e) and (g) of the Forestry Law of Ondo State which stipulated that whoever in any forest reserve, except with the authority in writing of the prescribed officer, digs, cuts, turns or cultivates the soil or makes a farm or plantation; pastures cattle or permits cattle to trespass or trespasses in any part of forest reserves in which trespass shall be prohibited by an order of the governor.

Wondering why the Presidency failed to study the law carefully before condemning Akeredolu’s order Falana said:

“Without addressing the relevant provisions of the Forestry Law or reaching out to Governor Akeredolu, the Presidency rushed to the media to challenge the directive of the Ondo State Government as it might affect undocumented herders operating in the said forests.

Regrettably, such official mismanagement of the crisis has been allowed to polarise the people along ethnic lines to the detriment of national security.”

Meanwhile, Falana said “with respect to the brewing 4082 in Ondo State we call on Governor Akeredolu (SAN) to extend the seven-day ultimatum to allow all farmers and herders operating in the forest reserve to register with the state government without any delay.”

He added, “The Miyetti Allah and similar groups should ensure that all their members who have not registered with the state government do so without any further delay in the overall interest of the security of the people in the state.”

To address the issue of insecurity across the country, Falana urged President Muhammadu Buhari to summon a Nigeria Police Council meeting.

“As a matter of urgency, the Federal Government should mobilise adequate police and other security forces to halt the menace of kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, armed robbery and other violent crimes in the land,” he said.

Politics

Lekki Shootings: Soldiers’ barracks have been identified, says Falana

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Human Rights Activist, Femi Falana (SAN), says the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 And Beyond, has commenced an investigation into last Tuesday shootings of protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos State.

Falana, who is the Chairman of the group, said ASCAB has so far identified the barracks where the soldiers who opened fire on protesters were deployed from.

He made this known on Monday in an interview with Arise TV monitored by The PUNCH.

Falana, who insisted that soldiers were deployed to the demonstration ground last Tuesday, said, “We have already identified the barracks where the soldiers left for Lekki, we have already identified the barracks.”

He, however, did not reveal the details of the barracks.

Falana added, “The President was likely to have been told soldiers were ordered so I want to believe that’s why it was not addressed. They said it was a rumour but I think the facts are emerging now, that indeed soldiers went to Lekki, indeed they fired at protesters and indeed some of the protesters at least two have been officially acknowledged to have died from gunshot wounds.”

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also lambasted the Federal Government for lacking respect for the rule of law and citizens’ rights to protest.

He said, “The Nigerian government has no respect for the rule of law and has ensured they stave off all forms of protests in the country.

“Every designated venue for protest in the country have been fenced by the government to prevent demonstrations.

“In Lagos, the Gani Fawehinmin Square has been fenced while the Unity Fountain in Abuja has also been fenced, and the same government has said citizens have the right to protest.

Tuesday night attack has been condemned by both local and international human rights organisations and personalities.

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