You and the Law

19/01/2021

"A man's intention is subjective in nature and can neither be read on pages of paper, or on the face. It can only be deduced from the actions which, when exhibited, will often speak louder than voice"

24/11/2020

An act does not make a person guilty, unless it is done with criminal intention.

How do we determine that the accused person had the requisite mens rea?

Unless the prosecution proves this mens rea, the court MUST not find the accused guilty.

We discuss the Criminal Law maxim "actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea". This simply means that, an act does not make a person guilty, unless it is done w...

13/11/2020

Khul'I Divorce Under Islamic Law

This video tells the story of Khul'I Divorce under Islamic Law. Khul’I in Islam is a dissolution of marriage granted by a husband on the basis of financial cons...

05/11/2020

He who comes to equity must come with clean hands.

13/10/2020

"I must emphasise the fact that in spite of the prevalence of the offence of armed robbery, it would be a wrong attitude for the courts not to insist that the police ensure proper investigation and prosecution of criminal offences. The police must be held to a high standard. It is better for ten guilty men to escape punishment where there is doubt as to their guilt, than for one innocent man to be convicted when there is doubt as to his guilt…"

OGUNWUMIJU, J.C.A in Prince Emeka v The State (2013) LPELR-20867(CA)

This Video is in solidarity to and movement. In this video, we saw what can happen when police do not conduct adequate investiga...

01/10/2020

Happy Independence Day Celebration Nigerians.

We are not there yet, but we will get there.

Congratulations.

19/08/2020

Sadiya Idris, a Muslim indigene of Tudun Wada in Kaduna State left home 7 years ago only to be taken in by one Pastor Jonah Gangas. A farmer found her wandering and took her to the Pastor. She was aged 12 at that time.

Pastor Gangas took her in, converted her to Christianity and took care of her for for 7 years. He did all these without any effort to locate her family or even make reports to any police station.

On the 8th of August 2020, Sadiya (now 19) left her school and made her way back to her parents house. Pastor Gangas has now been arrested.

The fact that he treated the girl well should not even be a consideration. That the girl also gave consent to stay with him is c**k and bull story. At such a tender age, does her giving consent even matter?

The first thing to do when you meet a missing person is to report to a nearest police station. Report to the police and allow them take it from there. You should not keep the person in your house. You should not try to convert the person. That is ABDUCTION.

16/08/2020

Do you know that it is a crime to bury a dead person in a residential house without obtaining the consent of the Governor or President?

Section 246 of the Criminal Code Act reads
Any person who without the consent of the President or the Governor buries or attempts to bury any co**se in any house, building premises, yard, garden, compound, or within a hundred yards of any dwelling house or in any open space situated within a township is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for six months.

14/08/2020

All you need to know about the death penalty and right to life

Does a death penalty violate the right to life?

The debate surrounding the abolition of the death penalty dates back to the 1980s. In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly considered a resolution on the restriction/abolition of death penalty. Some countries opposed it. The countries against the abolition state that death penalty is not a human right issue and therefore should not be a subject of discussion under human rights. They argue that there ought to be retribution for very serious crimes, such as murder. In making this argument, they drew inspiration from scriptural injunction prescribing that the man who kills another should himself be killed.

The abolitionist group maintained that death penalty is a terminal punishment, and argued that there would be perversity of justice where the sentence has been carried out and new evidence subsequently emerges which exonerates the “now dead person”. In the US for example, over a hundred persons have been released from death row since 1973 due to availability of new evidence which exonerated them. What if they had been executed?

It is the further reasoning of the abolitionist that, most countries prescribe a death sentence for other non-serious crimes – adultery, blasphemy, political crimes etc. and maintained that there is the possibility that some corrupt government officials and legislators may set their own standards of crimes punishable by death.

Till date, there is no consensus among nations on the abolition of the death penalty. What the United Nations has done is to establish safeguards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty.

For example,
1. the death penalty can only be imposed if prescribed by law at the time of the commission of the offence
2. persons below 18 cannot be sentenced to death
3. the death penalty can only be imposed where there is clear and convincing evidence that the accused committed the offence.

The position in Nigeria

Section 33(1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived INTENTIONALLY of his life…

The word ‘intentionally’, suggests that right to life is not absolute in Nigeria. A further reading of the section gives us the exception

“save in ex*****on of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria”

In other words, the right to life ceases to have meaning immediately one is convicted of crime with death penalty as punishment.

Furthermore, Section 33(2) of the Constitution states that
“a person shall not be regarded as having been deprived of his life in contravention of this section, if he dies as a result of the use, to such extent and in such circumstances as are permitted by law, of such force as is reasonably necessary

a. For the defence of any person from unlawful violence or for the defence of property
b. In order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained
c. For the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny

Therefore, where a person dies in any of the above circumstances, it cannot be said that his right to life was breached.

11/08/2020

Nigerians are funny. We only wake up when a sad news happens. We mourn for a day or two and then go back to our 'i don care attitude'.

Do you not know that blasphemy is a crime under Sharia Law?

The Supreme Court in Shalla v. State (2008) ALL FWLR (Pt. 397) 25 at 76, paras. A - D (SC) had to say on blasphemy

"Any sane and adult Muslim who insults, defames or utters words or acts which are capable of bringing into disrepute, odium, contempt, the person of Holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW), such a person has committed a serious crime which is punishable by death. Islamic law has not left the killing open in the hands of private individuals. The offence alleged has to be established through evidence before a court of law. The court itself will have to implore its professional dexterity in treating the case by allowing fair hearing and excluding all the inadmissible evidence of those persons who may fall within the general exemption clause such as an infant, imbecile or those who suffer mental delusion. Thus, the killing is controlled and sanctioned by the authorities." Per Muhammad, JSC.

We hope that the young musician appeals the judgment up to the Supreme Court. This will afford us the opportunity of knowing whether his song constitutes blasphemy and whether due process was followed by the court in arriving at the judgement.

For those of us not under Sharia Law, please note Section 204 of the Criminal Code, which provides thus: "Any person who does an act which any class of persons consider as a public insult on their religion, with the intention that they should consider the act such an insult, and any person who does an unlawful act with the knowledge that any class of persons will consider it such an insult, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for two years".

Now that you know!!