The Nation Newspaper

Category: Law

  • Mediation Centre resolves 20,000 disputes in one year

    Mediation Centre resolves 20,000 disputes in one year

    The Citizens’ Mediation Centre (CMC) resolved about  20,000 of the about 28,000 disputes brought before it last year, the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Funlola Odunlami, has said.

    She spoke during a press briefing to kick-start the Walk for Peace/Legal Clinic, organised by the CMC and the United Nations (UN) to commemorate this year’s International Day of Peace.

    “I cannot give the statistics right now, but the Citizens’ Mediation Centre received about 28,000 disputes last year and successfully resolved at least 20,000 of this number,” she said.

    Odunlami, who represented Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, disclosed plans to set up Citizens’ Mediation Centres in all the Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

    “Currently, the centre has 14 units spread across the state with the head office at Motorways Centre, Alausa. Other sub-offices are located at Agege, Amukoko, Badagry, Bariga, Iba, Ibeju, Lekki, Ikorodu, Ikotun, Lagos Island, Alimosho, Ojo, Oshodi and Yaba.

    “However, part of the policy thrust of this government is to ensure that a unit is established in all Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State in order to bring mediation services closer to the people.”

    The CMC’s Core Pillars of Mediation, Odunlami said, include the preservation of existing and maintaining of the future relationship of disputing parties; confidentiality, neutrality and flexibility of process.

    The governor also announced that the state had, through the CMC, adopted the United Nation’s (UN) International Day of Peace, which is observed on September 21, every year.

    Participants at the event included Director, United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Ronald Kayanja, who represented UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon; Coordinator, African Women Lawyers’ Association (AWLA) Mandy Asagba; Clara Ibirogba, Director of Citizens’ Rights and a member of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), Dafe Ivwurie, Head, Media Relations and Events, Keystone Bank, among others.

    Governor Ambode noted that the theme of this year’s commemoration; “Partnership for Peace – Dignity for All”, highlights the importance of all segments of society to work together for peace.

    He said: “The UN has been able to achieve its laudable programmes through the thousands of partnerships each year with governments, civil society, the private sector, faith-based groups and other Non-Governmental Organisations.

    “In 1999, the Lagos State Government established the CMC to provide access to justice to indigent residents of the state. It is an initiative under the Ministry of Justice to serve as a non-adversarial dispute resolution centre through the use of mediation mechanism in dispensing justice fairly, speedily and without discrimination, fear or favour.”

    The governor added: “The Citizens’ Mediation Centre wishes to adopt this UN International Day of Peace as an annual event to propagate the ethos of peaceful co-existence among residents of Lagos State.”

    UNIC Director, Mr. Kayanja, speaking in his personal capacity, commended the state for its free mediation programmes through the CMC.

    He said the CMC’s intervention had resolved many disputes which could have led to a breach of the peace.

    He added that the CMC’s mediation programme was similar to the UN’s Preventive or Quiet Diplomacy.

    Mr. Kayanja said: “For Nigerians, the best example of that was when Prof Gambari was the country’s Special Envoy of the UN to Myanmar; that is the kind of work that the UN does, just like the CMC.

    “It does not so much capture headlines because we prevent conflicts and no one will ever know how many conflicts the UN has prevented, just like they won’t know how many the CMC has helped to prevent.”

    The Walk for Peace and Legal Clinic rally kicked off around 8:30am at the Bagulda Kaltho Press Centre, Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, and terminated under the Ikeja Bridge.

    It was followed by the provision of free legal services to Lagos residents by lawyers from the state’s Ministry of Justice.

     

  • Group seeks more rights for women

    A civil society group, Voices for Change (V4C), has condemned social  discrimination against women.It said women should be accorded the same rights their male counterparts enjoy.

    At a seminar on gender equality for traditional rulers in Lagos, the group said the customs and traditions which relegate women to the background should be done away with.

    According to V4C, the subjugation of women by traditional institutions, which for instance, makes it impossible for a woman to be appointed a monarch, must be outlawed.

    The event’s facilitator, V4C’s Key Influencer Lead, Denis Onoise, said it was organised to explore the critical role men, such as the monarchs, can play in fostering gender equality.

    The forum revealed deeply entrenched beliefs among traditionalists that women have limited rights. Asked if it were easier to be a man in Nigeria than a woman, the monarchs except one said it was easier to be a man. Asked if men needed more sex than women, all of them also agreed.

    They all agreed that gender equality would come at a high cost to men because they will be unwilling to relinquish their privileges.

    Asked if a woman can be on Oba in Lagos, for instance, majority of the monarchs said: “Impossible!” “Abomination”! They said the only time it happened was in Ijebuland during a war and because all the men were at the battlefront.

    But asked if women make better parents than men, the monarchs all agreed, saying it was because women spent more time at home.

    The monarchs, however, agreed that women should be given more rights rather than being shut out of opportunities.

    Onoise said women should be carried along and allowed to make input when developmental decisions are made.

    “Gender equality is not about women taking over. We’re not saying women should take over, but it’s for all to work together towards a more just society. At the end of the day, women are the one suffering and that must end.

    “Gender equality means that men and women enjoy the same status. They both share the same opportunities for realising their human rights and potential to contribute and benefit from all spheres of society – economic, political, social, cultural,” he said.

    According to Onoise, cultural and religious values play a key role in determining discriminatory attitudes and behaviors. He recalled the Biblical story of an adulterous woman who was to be stoned to death while no punishment was prescribed for the man who committed the adultery with her.

    He said there is the need to encourage gender equitable behaviors, such as men and women making joint decisions about their health, men respecting a woman’s right to demand for or say no to sex, men and women settling differences without violence, and men and women sharing responsibility for parenting and care for others.

    “The roles of men and women are changing in our society. It has slowly become less difficult to step outside of the box. Still, it is hard for men and women to live outside of these boxes,” adding that jettisoning strongly held beliefs will make it easier for men and women “to live outside of the boxes.”

    Permanent Secretary, Local Government and Community Affairs, Lagos State, Mr Gafar Sanuth, said the state remains one of the few that has had successive women deputy-governors.

    “The issue of gender equality has been in practice for years in Lagos,” he said, urging the monarchs to accord women more recognition in their domains.

     

  • Benue proposes a bill for ranches

    Benue State Executive Council has proposed a bill for the establishment of ranches by cattle owners to reduce conflicts between farmers and herdsmen.

    Special Assistant to Governor Samuel Ortom on Media and Information Communication Technology (ICT) Mr. Tahav Agerzua, in a statement, said the governor disclosed this when the Air Officer Commanding, Tactical Air Command of the Nigerian Airforce (NAF) Base, Makurdi, Air Vice Marshal R. A. Ojuawo paid him a visit.

    Ortom was quoted to have stated that when passed into law, the ranches would forestall the incessant clashes between farmers and herders in the state.

    “Governor Ortom said the initiative would be a permanent solution to the age-long conflict, adding that the establishment of ranches remained the best practice for cattle owners across the world.

    The governor, who expressed appreciation to the Nigerian Air Force for maintaining a cordial working relationship with the government and people of the state over the years, urged the officers and men of the command to help his administration to tackle the insecurity challenges confronting the State.

    Governor Ortom stressed that his government has taken proactive measures, including the declaration of an amnesty programme to recover illegal arms in the state in order to create a conducive environment for investment to thrive.

    Earlier, Air Marshal Ojuawo requested the governor to take proactive steps to sustain security in the state and explore the possibility of commencing flight operations from Abuja to Makurdi at least three times in a week.

    He expressed the resolve of the NAF BASE in Makurdi to continue to discharge its responsibilities creditably and requested the governor to visit the Command to see things for himself.

    Governor Ortom also hosted the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Yahaya Garba Ardo, the management of the University of Mkar, Graduate Internship Scheme of the Benue SURE-P, former staff of Taraku Oil Mills as well as the management of Jos Electricity Distribution Company.

     

     

     

  • Plateau gets bailout funds committee

    Plateau gets bailout funds committee

    Plateau State Governor,  Simon Bako  Lalong, has inaugurated a committee to oversee the use and implementation of the Federal Government’s  bailout funds.

    A statement from the Director,  Press and Public Affairs to the Governor, Mr.  Samuel Emmanuel Nanle reads: “Consequent upon the approval of a N5.375 billion bailout Funds of the Federal Government for Plateau State for the payment of backlog of salaries, the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong, has approved the constitution of an Implementation Committee for  the bailout funds under the chairmanship of the Head of Civil Service,  Huldah Fwangchi.

    “Other members of the Committee are the Accountant-General of the state, the Permanent Secretary Establishment and Pension Matters, the Permanent Secretary Local Government Service Commission, the state Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the Director General, Debt Management Office, the State Chairman Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the State Chairman, National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and  Selfa Dashe who is to serve as Secretary.

    ”The Committee is to assiduously see to the application of the funds towards the payment of all outstanding salaries, pending when further funds would be secured under an ongoing intervention being negotiated by the state government to clear up whatever is left of the staff salaries, pension, gratuities and on-going critical contracts.”

    In the light of the above the Executive Governor met on September 22, 2015 with the Members of Plateau State Public Service Joint Negotiating Council to update them on the state government’s Debt Restructuring and issues surrounding the total amount of bailout available to the State, and what is left to clear up all outstanding salaries of civil servants, gratuities and Pensions as well as funds needed for infrastructural Interventions which are being processed.

    ‘’The governor wishes to thank all civil servants serving and retired as well as the citizenry of the state for their patience, understanding and support. The governor further assures that he will not rest on his oars until all matters concerning salaries emoluments; on-going critical road projects as well as other matters of governance are fully addressed,”   Nanle stated.

  • ‘Some cases should terminate at Appeal Court’

    A Supreme Court Judge, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has called for an amendment of the Constitution so that some cases can terminate at the Court of Appeal.

    This, in addition to more deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), she said, will reduce the Supreme Court’s workload.

    She spoke in a paper she delivered at the fifth annual lecture in honour of Prof Alfred Kasumu, which held at the University of Lagos.

    Justice Kekere-Ekun backed suggestions that some cases terminate at the Court of Appeal, adding that a review of the constitutional provisions governing the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is necessary.

    “I am in full support of certain classes of cases terminating at the Court of Appeal. In my humble view, the amendment of the 1999 Constitution has added to the burden of the Supreme Court.

    “It made the Supreme Court the final court of appeal in respect of decisions arising from Governorship election tribunals.

    “Such appeals, by virtue of Section 285 (7) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) must be concluded within 60 days from the date of the delivery of the judgment of the Court of Appeal,” she said.

    She said the provision has led to an influx of appeals and has also affected other cases pending before the court, which are already overdue for hearing,  but which had to be set aside while  election related appeals are heard and determined expediently.

    She also called for the use of more technology in court processes.

    “The global village is moving at a faster pace, the apex court of the most populous nation in Africa cannot be left behind. We must embrace information technology and take advantage of all that it offers along with alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, where possible.

    “A reduction of the inflow of cases and more efficient management of the court’s docket will allow the justices to devote more of their time and resources to research, study, reading, consultations among themselves for the advancement and administration of justice.”

    In her paper entitled: the Nigerian Supreme Court: structural reforms for today’s dispensation of justice, Justice Kekere-Ekun said for the Supreme Court to discharge its role effectively, the adoption of Information technology will allow for easy sharing of information.

    She said it will also help to create a database for decided cases by all the courts and which will also be accessible by judicial officers anywhere.

    In addition, she said ICT will facilitate communication between the justices, the registry and other administrative staff. According to her, the project is capital intensive and requires political will, purposeful leadership, and the commitment of substantial resources.

    “It also requires training for the justices and upgrading the knowledge and skills of courts staff to enable them effectively manage the facilities.  The present leadership of the court is fully committed to this transformation.

    “The role of the Supreme Court today should primarily be that of development of legal policy and to discharge the role effectively, its current docket has to be greatly reduced,” she said.

    A life bencher, Mrs Hairat Balogun, who chaired the event, said hiring more research assistants will help to reduce unemployment and ease the justices’ workload.

     

  • Buhari and the burden of democracy (2)

    Penultimate Tuesday, this columnunder the above title, explored the constitutional imperative for a federal executive council, despite President MuhammaduBuhari’s reluctance, as expressed during a media interview, in France, recently. Last week, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele,warned that Nigeria was headed into a recession, by 2016, unless urgent measures are taken to remedy the national economic crisis, made more challenging, by the implementation of the TreasurySingle Account (TSA), as directed by PMB.Because the unviable directive by Mr President,apparently arose from his fidelity to the provisions of the 1999 constitution, I decided to do a part two, under the same title.

    Section 80(1) of the 1999 constitution, provides, “All revenues or other moneys raised or received by the federation (not being revenues or other moneys payable under this constitution or any act of the national assembly into any other public fund of the federation established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and form one consolidated revenue fund of the federation”. Again, section 162(1)of the constitution, provides: “The federation shall maintain a special account to be called “the federation account” into which shall be paid all revenues collected by the government of the federation, except the proceeds from the personal income tax of the personnelof the armed forces of the federation ….”

    In ordering the TSA, which has obviously backfired, the President, was giving effect to the provisions of the 1999constitution, mentioned above. As this column has severally argued in the past, the makers of the 1999 constitution, in their desperation to create a united Nigeria, over centralized the socio-economic and political powerof the country, in the hands of a central government. The result is the incongruity of creating a federal republic of Nigeria, with a substantially unitary constitution. This anomaly also accounts for the wretchedness of the federating units, and the resultant economic quagmire of our country.

    Part of the challenge facing the government of PMB is to untangle the country, from all the unnecessary and over centralized laws, institutions, practises and beliefs, which impede our federal system, in other to release the social, economic, and political potentials of the federating units.To show that the makers of the constitution may not have fully comprehended the import of asking that all accruals, be paid into a single account, without allowing for the deduction of costs and incidentals, at source, by any of the federal agencies, which had collected the income, theywent ahead to compound the absurdity, when the constitution also charged in 162(3) that, “Any amount standing to the credit of the federation account shall be distributed among the federal and state governments and the local government council in each state on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the national assembly”.

    As I have also previously argued on this page, only a spendthrift, would insist that all his income must be shared, without any savings. Yet, because the constitution has so provided, in section 162(3); the state governors have been in court to force the federal government to share the sovereign wealth fund, and the excess crude account, of course on the mantra that those savings are unconstitutional. While the state governments have a point, they however do not search the constitution for answers, as to why they operate as near never-do-wells, and as to why most of them with bowels in their hand, need to prostrate before the federal government, for so called bailouts, each time they face financial crises.

    But the permanent solution also lies in the constitution.This would involve the expansion of the economic activities of the states, while reducing the redundant economic prerogatives of the federal government. On this, many commentators, including this writer, have argued in favour of the reduction of the items in the exclusive legislative list, to the benefit of the concurrent and residual legislative list; so that state governors would engage in economic activities, instead of seeking the friendship of the President and the national assembly, to allow them borrow more money, without worrying as to how the money would be paid for, by the future generation;more sonow with recessionstarring the country in the face.

    Perhaps, it is now a matter of urgent national importance, for the President to raise his economic team, to meet thechallenges ahead. In making his choices, it is hoped that the President would seek out an economist, instead of an accountant, to lead the charge. For even though one is not an expert in this area, one can correctly guess, that what our nation needs is economic expansion, and the reflation of the economy strictly for productive purposes, even as the President pursues accountability in government.So, PMB must find a way to reflatethe economy, starve excessive liquidity squeeze, and deal with the constricting impact of the TSA,by raising a strong economic team.

    In steering the nation away from this potential economic recession, the federal, state and local governments must be wake-up to the scary level of unemployment, which is partly responsibility for the increase in violent crimes across the country. One way out would be to resort to the use of direct labour, in the execution of public works. PMB would hopefully realise that his fight against corruption is disempowering a lot of economic vandals, and there is the need to create alternative economic opportunities,to absorb those willing to work.While some of the provisions of the constitution may act as impediments to the immediate inauguration of virile economic activities, the President must seek ingenious ways, to stimulate and spread economic activities across the country

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Alleged N5b land fraud: Defendants fail to stall trial

    Justice Sendoten Ogunsanya of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, has refused to suspend hearing in a N5 billion alleged land fraud case brought against a former accountant at Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr. Michael Adenuga.

    Adenuga and his company, Covenant Apartment Complex Ltd., were arraigned in last May by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a three-count charge of stealing, forgery and use of false documents.

    The defendant’s counsel, Miss A. Funmilayo, informed the court that her boss, Dr Muiz Banire (SAN), who would have conducted the case, was in Abuja while another senior counsel, Mr. Ehis Agbogu, was hospitalised. She sought an adjournment.

    Ruling, Justice Ogunsanya upheld the prosecution’s argument that the defendant’s counsel announced her appearance when the case was called, only to inform the court when hearing resumed that she had just been briefed on the matter.

    She said: “Counsel who appears in any case is presumed to have full knowledge of the case and have full authority of the defendant. The court directs that the prosecution should continue with the case.”

    When hearing resumed last Tuesday, the two prosecution witnesses, Oye Oyeniran and Olubukola Adeyemi Oladiran, said Mr. Adenuga defrauded them and some other investors in a landed property worth about N5 billion.

    Adenuga and his company were alleged to have fraudulently converted a 22.68 hectares of land located in the Lekki area of Lagos between February 2008 and September 2011, to their use.

    According to EFCC, the property, situated at Ayetoro Ikota, in the Lekki area of Lagos, was owned by Covenant Sugarland Property Development Ltd., and Messrs Sunday and Joseph Oyeniran and was proposed to be developed as a residential neighbourhood to be called Sugarland Town.

    The defendants are also accused of forging a document titled: ”Contract of Sale between Covenant Apartment Ltd. and Kingview Realty Ltd., to facilitate the alleged theft, contrary to Section 363 and 364 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

    According to the EFCC, the said document was later presented by Adenuga to one of its officers, Mr. James Buzugbe, as genuine.

    The commission said the offences contravened sections 278 (1) and 285 (b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

    Mr  Oladiran, who was led in evidence by EFCC counsel Mr. Emmanuel Jackson, testified that he and other investors under his group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adenuga’s group to buy the land and that each group would raise half of the cost.

    Oladiran said after the land became fully owned by Covenant Sugarland Property Development Limited, Adenuga went behind them to obtain the signature of the original land owner, the Ojomu Chieftaincy Family on a “Deed of Assignment” made in his company’s name for 17.2 hectares of the land.

    He further alleged that Adenuga proceeded to obtain the Governor’s consent on the fraudulent “Deed of Assignment” document with a forged Survey Plan and through the scheme denied the government huge sum of money in statutory fees.

    “The said “Deed of Assignment” was registered as No 63 at Page 63 in Volume 2398 with the Lagos State Land Registry.

    “Within days of registering the “Deed of Assignment”, he approached and used the fraudulent document to obtain millions of Naira in financial facilities from Imperial Homes Mortgage Bank Limited (formerly known as GTHomes Limited)”, the witness testified.

    Three witnesses, Mr. Sunday Oyeniran, Engr. Oye Oyeniran and Olubukola Adeyemi Oladiran, have so far testified against Adenuga.

    They told the court how various sums of money were raised through investors to develop the project.

    The EFCC counsel also tendered through the last two witnesses some documents of draft payments made by the investors for the purchase of the property.

    The documents tendered and eventually admitted as evidence by the court include letters authorising the payments and the statements made by the witnesses to the EFCC after they discovered and reported the fraudulent diversion of the property by Adenuga.

    Justice Ogunsanya adjourned the matter to November 12.

     

  • Jos poll: Why Appeal Court overuled tribunal

    Jos poll: Why Appeal Court overuled tribunal

    For failing to take into cognisance the suigeneris nature of election petitions, which require strict compliance with the timings contained in the laws guiding election petition proceedings, the Court of Appeal sitting in Jos, Plateau State has set aside a ruling  of the Plateau State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

    The appellate court granted an interlocutory application by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the April 11 election, Simon Lalong.

    Governor Lalong and his Deputy Prof Sonni Gwanle Tyoden defeated Gyang Nyam Shom Pwajok (GNS) and his running mate, Yilji Gomwalk, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Aggrieved by the declaration, Pwajok,  Gomwalk and the PDP filed a petition before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal of Plateau vide PETITION NO. EPT/PL/GOV/2/2015 on May 2. Governor Lalong, the APC and INEC  are first, second and third respondents.

    The respondents filed their respective replies to the petition, each raising a preliminary objection on the grounds that the petitioners’ pleadings challenging, inter alia, the “generic, vague, nebulous and general” paragraphs of the Petition in breach of paragraph 4(1)(d) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and Order 13 Rules 4(1), 5 and 6(1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2009 .

    The provisions require parties to furnish sufficient particulars in their pleadings to avoid taking the other party by surprise.

    The appellant also filed a substantive application on June 12, praying the tribunal to strike out the petition and/or the offending paragraphs.

    However, at the pre-hearing session, by agreement of parties and in the light of the provisions of paragraph 12(5) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and the implication of the provision of Section 285(6) of the Constitution (as amended), the ribunal in its pre-hearing session report directed that all preliminary objections be argued and/or adopted with the final written addresses of parties in the petition and one composite judgment delivered by the tribunal.

    After the close of pre-hearing session, the petitioners on July 23 sought the tribunal’s leave to call an additional witness and to file the witness’ statement on oath. Among their prayers was an order granting leave for the hearing of the application outside the pre-hearing session.

    The pre-hearing session ended on June 29, while the application was filed on July 23.

    Earlier in the course of proceedings, and while seeking for more time to obtain documents from the INEC at the lower tribunal, the petitioners, through their lead counsel, Robert Clarke (SAN), told the tribunal that the documents earlier given to them were fake.

    After being granted leave to obtain fresh documents from INEC, the petitioners alleged that INEC refused to give them the documents they needed.

    The first and second respondents opposed the motion and filed counter-affidavits. They contended that no authentic report or document could emanate from the fake documents used by the petitioners.

    On August 1, the tribunal heard the application and delivered its ruling on August 5. Dissatisfied, the first respondent filed a Notice of Appeal on August 22.

    In the interlocutory appeal, Pwajok, Yilji Gomwalk, PDP, APC and INEC became the first, second, third, fourth and fifth respondents. Governor Lalong filed his  brief of argument. The fourth and fifth respondents did not file any respondent’s brief at the Court of Appeal. However, the first to third respondents filed their brief of argument. They also filed a preliminary objection contending that the appellant  cannot appeal against an interlocutory ruling or decision delivered or made by the trial tribunal.

    The appellant, through his lead counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), formulated these issues: “Whether   the   lower   tribunal   was   not in   error   when   it  failed to appreciate the essence of the provision of paragraph 47(1) of the First Schedule to Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) by holding that the first to third petitioners /respondents did not need to seek and obtain the tribunal’s leave to get their July 23 application heard and determined outside pre-trial session; whether having regard to the sui generis nature of election petition, the provisions of section 285(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and paragraphs 4(1 )(d); 4(5)(a), (b) and (c); 4(6) and 14(2) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), the tribunal was not wrong to have granted the first to third petitioners/respondents’ application filed on July 23, which thereby occasioned a miscarriage of justice to the appellants”.

    In its judgment delivered on September 22, the Court of Appeal Jos dismissed the objection of the first to third respondents. It allowed the appellant’s appeal and dismissed the application filed by the first to third respondents/petitioners.

    The Appellate Court further held that the tribunal was wrong when it failed to take into cognizance the sui generis (specially classified time bound proceedings) nature of election petitions which require strict compliance with the time-lines, which it held, must be adhered to.

    Counsel for Lalong, Mr. Jonathan Mawiyau, said: “I feel fulfilled because justice has been done according to law.  We had vehemently opposed the application because we believed that the grant of the prayers will automatically alter the content, structure and spirit of the petitioners’ complaints against the result and declaration of INEC respecting the April 11 2015 Governorship Election in Plateau State. It would certainly give a weak petition undeserved strength. We also believed that granting the prayers in the July 23 application will significantly amend the petition itself, albeit, outside the time-frame allowed by law for any amendments to be made.

    “There was ‘ingenuity’ in the tribunal’s decision that even before the application was filed, it had already, by virtue of its pre-hearing session report, granted leave to the petitioners to bring an application, making the application itself superfluous. That was a trap, which we had to escape, and to escape we had to appeal. Now that the Court of Appeal has fully agreed with our position and reasoning, we feel fulfilled.”

    On the effect of the judgment on the substantive matter before the Tribunal, Mawiyau said: “My  take is that we are now better positioned in our defence of the petition. Firstly, we have a Preliminary Objection before the lower Tribunal. Its ruling had in effect determined it even before it was argued. That was in spite of the fact that the same tribunal had, during the pre-hearing session, ruled that it would write a composite judgment touching the objection and the main petition. Now, there is an opportunity for the objection to be considered in the light of the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

    “Secondly, the tribunal can only refer to the so called expert’s evidence or the ‘forensic report’ and all those fake documents in the light of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, and strictly thereto.

    “If it is to be looked into at all, I am of the view that only the Supreme Court can do that since not even the Court of Appeal can look into it again,  particularly having regard to the sui generis nature of election petitions, which makes it most unlikely to have the time to refer the matter to any of the lower Courts.

    “I am more comfortable with that position since there, at the Supreme Court, the issues will be dealt with dispassionately.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Illegality of Fayose’s flat tax directive

    Illegality of Fayose’s flat tax directive

    The print media was awash on Tuesday, September 1, 2015 with reports of Gov. Ayo Fayose’s threat that no private school in Ekiti State will be allowed to commence school activities this Session unless it pays a tax of N150,000 and that anybody who buys one cow to be slaughtered for any ceremony will pay N1,000. It was further reported that the Governor vowed to shut four banks for ‘tax evasion’. Of all these issues, I intend to anatomise the issue of payment of N150,000 by each private school before the school will be allowed to re-open.

    For private schools with large population of employees, payment of N150,000 may even be a blessing in disguise, especially if the monthly personal income tax remittance is above the N150,000 mark. The opposite will, however, be the lot of small and medium schools with low staff population. Each of such schools is now being compelled to cough out N150,000 without regard to what the actual remittance should be or ought to be. The implication of the Governor’s Proclamation is that a private school with, for example, 10 members of staff, at salaries varying from N10,000 to N50,000 must pay the same N150,000 in the manner of another school with 30 members of staff with salaries ranging from N15,000 to N80,000.

    Flat tax has been defined by Tejutax at page 794 of her book, Tejutax Reference Book, Vol. 1, as a tax applied at the same rate to all levels of income. Flat tax means that everyone has to pay tax at just one and only one rate. In such a system, in place of a complex set of income tax brackets, a State declares a threshold above which all parties pay a fixed rate on all their income.

    As at today, the Federal Government of Nigeria and its federating States apply the progressive system of taxation and not the flat tax system. This is why the system is classified as Pay-As-You-Earn (P.A.Y.E.). Paragraph 7 of Part II of the Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution provides that:

    In the exercise of its powers to impose any tax or duty on – (a) capital gains, incomes or profits of persons other than companies; and  (b) documents or transactions by way of stamp duties the National Assembly may, subject to such conditions as it may prescribe, provide that the collection of any such tax or duty or the administration of the law imposing it shall be carried out by the Government of a State or other authority of a state.

    It was pursuant to this provision that the National Assembly made the Personal Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2011 whose principal Act is the Personal Income Tax Act, Cap. P8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 (otherwise called “PITA”). PITA was actually enacted in 1993 and it is an existing law pursuant to Section 315(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution.

    Of equal relevance is Paragraph 8 of Part II of the Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, which provides that:

    Where an Act of the National Assembly provides for the collection of tax or duty on capital gains, incomes or profits or the administration of any law by an authority of a state in accordance with paragraph 7 hereof, it shall regulate the liability of persons to such tax or duty in such manner as to ensure that such tax or duty is not levied on the same person by more than one state.

    This provision makes it clear that the Act made by the National Assembly shall regulate the liability of the residents of a state to such tax in such a manner as to ensure that such tax is not levied on the same person by more than one state. This provision is intended to prevent multiplicity of taxes but much more than that.

    Item 59, Part 1, Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, (which contains the Exclusive Legislative List) gives the National Assembly exclusive powers to legislate on taxation of incomes, profits and capital gains except as otherwise prescribed by this Constitution. The purport of these constitutional provisions is that the states are to enforce laws made by the National Assembly in relation to taxation of incomes, profits and capital gains.

    A state is required to impose tax or levy with respect to any of the 25 taxes and levies contained in the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act (Amendment Order), 2015.

    With respect to these 25 taxes and levies, Fayose’s proclamation is only related to income tax. Yours sincerely has shown that income tax cannot be charged arbitrarily; it can only be charged according to the relevant Act. I know as a fact that there is no law in Ekiti State, which makes it compulsory for each private school to pay N150,000 before resumption in a new session. Even if there is such a law, it will be unconstitutional because Section 1(3) of the 1999 Constitution provides that:

    If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this constitution, this constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.

    Taxes and levies cannot be charged by a rule of the thumb or by a Governor’s proclamation. There are guiding principles to taxation, which the State Governors and the Federal Government must imbibe if we want to have an equitable tax system. Let us consider the words of wisdom in the cases below:

    “It is the law that the language of a statute imposing a tax, duty or charge must receive a strict construction in the sense that there is no room for any intendment and regard must be had to the clear meaning of the words. If the state claims a tax under a statute it must show that the tax is imposed by clear and unambiguous words, and where the statute is in doubt it must be construed in favour of the subject, however much within the spirit of the law the case might otherwise be, but a fair and reasonable construction must be given to the language used without leaning to one side or the order” statement of law by Lord Atkinson in Ordmond Investment Co. v. Betts [1928] AC 143 at 162, adopted: per Ikpeazu J. in Aderawos Trading Co. Ltd. v. F.B.I.R. [1966] L.L.R. 196 at 200.”

    “It is a general principle of fiscal legislation that to be liable to tax the subject must fall clearly within the words of the charge imposing the tax, otherwise he goes free. It is also for the State to establish that the charge prima facie extends to the subject matter sought to be charged: per Lord Halsbury L.C. in Tennant v. Smith (Surveyor of Taxes) [1892] A.C. 150 at 154, HL.”

    A good tax system, therefore, should be part of the so-called democracy dividends. Ade Ipaye has outlined the essentials of a good tax system, in his book, Nigerian Tax, Law & Administration: A Critical Review, to include equity, certainty, convenience and administrative efficiency. Certainly, Gov. Fayose’s imposition of a new tax regime specifically for some citizens is not only discriminatory but uncertain.

    According to the National Tax Policy, governors are expected to play a similar role to that of the Presidency at state level. They would be responsible for the development of state Tax Policy which shall be complementary to the National Tax Policy. In addition, they are responsible for the enforcement of Federal and State tax laws in the States and carry out general oversight functions on tax and revenue authorities at the State and Local Government level. State Governors would be required to provide guidance and direction to the State Ministries of Finance, the State Boards of Internal Revenue Service and other relevant revenue generating agencies involved in tax administration in the States. They should also ensure adequate funding and autonomy is provided to these agencies in the discharge of their functions.

    State Governors, as stakeholders in the Tax System, have roles and responsibilities, among which are: (a) adherence to Constitutional Federalism and the Rule of Law at all times; (b) strict adherence to Constitutional provisions relating to fiscal matters; (c) strict adherence to the provisions to tax legislation in the administration of taxes; (d) commitment to the enforcement of tax laws in a legal Constitutional manner; (e) commitment to the creation and sustainable development of a stable, secure and workable tax system for Nigeria.

    The intendment of this piece is, therefore, not to encourage tax evasion or to avoid tax remittance, but to discourage State Governors from making tax laws – whether discriminatory or not – by executive fiat. This is my little contribution to tax law jurisprudence and I hope it will be useful to not only Ekiti people but to Nigerians as a whole.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Rights Commission to resolve herdsmen, farmers dispute

    Rights Commission to resolve herdsmen, farmers dispute

    The Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Bem Angwe, has inaugurated a working committee to resolve the perennial clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

    According to him,  for the past decade, the incidence of clashes between pastoralists and farmers have become a recurring issue.

    He said: “The central issue is the increasing scarcity of economic resources. Desertification and massive devastation of vegetation and soil, particularly in the arid zones in the far north, as well as lack of access to adequate water supply have necessitated the southward movement of pastoralists with their cattle all the year round.

    “Presently, some states are worse hit. These include Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Adamawa. The conflict is also taking a more dangerous dimension as it is dividing the affected people along ethnic and religious lines even though the primary issue is economic.

    “More recently, cattle rustling is fast becoming an organised crime in the affected areas while small arms proliferation has also become the order of the day with its attendant toll on the capacity of the state to provide its primary constitutional responsibilities of protecting life and property.

    “The historical relationship among the different peoples of northern Nigeria especially, has served to aggravate the matter as the political class, rather than providing lasting solution to this problem by engaging in massive environmental regeneration and development, continued to exploit this situation to serve their narrow political interest which in many instances reinforces the dividing lines among the affected people and communities.”

    Prof. Bem Angwe said: “A number of enquiries and studies have been commissioned by governments – federal and states – at different times, but the nation is yet to develop a multi-perspective, pragmatic work plan aimed at achieving a holistic and integrated approach to solve the problem.

    “The Commission, therefore, owes a statutory duty to address this issue because it substantially affects protection of right to life, property, environment, health as well as freedom from fear and murder, amongst others.

    He mentioned the Committee’s terms of reference to include: “To undertake a desk review of all the existing reports on this matter and draw up a list of issues and stakeholders mapping to guide the current exercise;  visit to some of the affected areas (including visits to relevant government officials and agencies); to interact with affected people in order to get their perspective on this matter; organisation of town hall meetings/community dialogue in the affected states – particularly, Kaduna, Nasawara, Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Adamawa. It also include holding a national conference in Abuja to bring together all the key stakeholders and representatives of the affected communities.

    “The conference proceedings and other feedbacks generated from all the above engagements would be brought together to make a policy recommendation to the federal and relevant state governments.

    The cnference will equally submit Draft Conference Report to the Executive Secretary on or before  October 31, 2016. “It is my hope you will justify the confidence reposed in you by ensuring a diligent discharge of this important national assignment,” Prof Angwe said.