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Do you know that it is a blessing to be a Nigerian or being born in Nigeria? I know most readers would not agree with me. Instead of being born in this complex state, called Nigeria, it would have been better to be born in any of the developed western countries such as; America, Asia, Europe or even in an African country like Gambia or Mozambique. A Country that is gradually losing grip of its past glory; even in the eyes of other Countries that once adored and respected Nigeria as a leading power-house in the whole of sub-saharan Africa. According to the Mo Ibrahim African Governance Index Report for the year 2011 ranked Nigeria 41st out of 53 African Countries in its governance index report in four various governance indicators. What actually happened to the giant of Africa?
A country that is full of greatness, wealth, creativity, industrious, honest, and hardworking people. I remember those glorious days growing-up as a kid; I always look forward to school with great nostalgia feelings. I will Who Are Julia Garner Parents hang my school lamp sack over my slender shoulders and happily collect my pocket money of 50 kobo for each day. I would judiciously save my daily 50 kobo(s) in my constructed wooden box. After one month of 'sowing', I would ask my mother to please unlock the save box as I waited patiently for my 'harvest'. You would not believe how much I have saved, which was shared into three portions; one for a new sandal, the second for folktale story books, and lastly for sweets. Trust children, I would quickly rush to the Mallam kiosk, to buy for myself cubes of Chocomilo sweet as much as the remaining balance could afford. Tell me how many children of present day would adopt my saving and spending culture despite the over 100 per cent inflation rate we are experiencing now?
Growing up then was very memorable, as the environment was relatively peaceful, pollution free, steady power supply and mild traffic. My parents made it a ritual to travel home (village) as a family once every year to see our Grandparents and other relatives as it was fun embarking on such trips. Unlike today, you have to psyche yourself for weeks and source for the funds to embark on such journey. Even as middle-class citizens, we could afford whatever we desire. Unfortunately, the Nigerian system of governance has systematically killed the 'Middle Class' status. It is either you are rich or poor. However you are going to make it rich, no one cares. I am not saying that we don't have incidence of corruption, crime or canny tendencies in the 70s or 80s, but such misdeeds were done in a bearable and pardonable manner. Unfortunately, most of us cannot bear or pardon the kind of misdeeds we witness these days. Ranging from the huge misappropriation of state funds by our Political office holders and Civil servants, Corrupt practices by our Legislators, the senseless murder of innocent citizens by our 'trigger happy' policemen and the incessant bloodletting by various ethnic and religious groups in the country. Nigeria has now been engulfed with terrorism acts with minimal achievements by our security agents in curbing the menace. However, we give kudos to the combined military forces in their recent efforts in tackling the security imbroglio of the Country. As a nation we must learn how to live in unity, peace and harmony.
Nigeria's independence in 1960 marked a new horizon for the country to establish herself in Africa and in the world at large. Pathetically, our elder statesmen never envisaged that the promising Nigeria of old could come to this abysmal state. Would we blame the discovery of crude oil in the late 60s as God's undoing? The Almighty creator has blessed us so abundantly in both rich human and natural resources to take care of our needs. A Country like Malaysia came on a fact finding mission to Nigeria in the 70s, and went home with palm kernels. It took them a great deal to plant, grow and harness the cash crop over time to be one of the highest exporters of palm oil and palm kernel fruits in the world. No wonder our brothers are rushing over to Malaysia to carve a living for themselves as the Country is better equipped with infrastructures and amenities. What has happened to our own Palm kernel, Cocoa, Groundnut, Coal, Steel, Tin, etc. Only if our government could re-invest in 2 or 3 of these naturals resources to an optimal level of production, this would definitely lead to foreign exportations that would yield good national revenue to the country. However, the only good invention we can boast of today apart from the crude oil and Gas is Cassava bread. Has the bread gotten to the markets, as am yet to have a bite? Kindly let us know where to get a loaf, who knows some foreign investors may be interested.
We are in a country where political office holders are being recycled all over and over again. Have our people lost consciousness of events of yester years? Please let me borrow some lines from Mr. Abuoma Chuka's master piece: "Sinners in Paradise" in the Nigerian's Daily Sun Newspapers of July 18, 2012 and I quote "Nigeria is the only 'paradise' where sinners are empowered to make Laws, assigned to be Ministers, selected as Governors, appointed to be Judges, employed to be Security personnel and force themselves as Presidents into the throne of our nation." If you think he is done, then you need to hear this; "Nigeria is a state where 'Saints' are in prisons while 'Sinners' are in paradise. 'Saints' are jobless in the streets, while 'Sinners' are enjoying in the 'Sanctuary'. Most interestingly, the Nigerian people have learnt their lessons and are now with their gauntlet, deciding who governs them by electing the right candidate(s). Remember that the people's mandate carried the day in the last gubernatorial elections in Imo state by pitching their tents with Owelle Rochas Okorocha over the incumbent and recently in the Edo state governorship elections that brought back Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in their July elections. Biblically speaking, we should know that the voice of the people is the voice of God.
I see the Nigerian people have woken up from their slumber to work and choose their leaders. What role is the church or other worship places playing to mold a good leader to salvage us from this problem of leadership? The Nigerian state, with over over 200 ethnic groups, have been that lucky not have plunged into another civil war despite all the failures and wrongs we are experiencing now, yet our so called leaders are yet to come out with the right solution. People of other countries could not understand our strong unity in the midst of insecurity and corruption as we still go about our daily activities unabatedly. I have that consolation that anything that has a beginning no matter how bad must have an end. Whatever that has gone wrong in the Nigeria state, would be a thing of the past and the people would be better for it.
However, to achieve this victory over stagnation, poverty, anarchy, unemployment, corruption, depression, hunger, despair, insecurity, etc, we must trust God Almighty for breakthroughs. Our good Lord has affirmed to us in 2nd Chronicles 16:9; "the Lord keeps close watch over the whole World, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him… " How strong is our heart to keep on trusting and believing in Him? It is high time we started coming out from our shells of ignorance, complaints and despair to make a difference in solving our national problems. Nigeria needs good and visionary leadership in providing a sense of direction in achieving individual and collective goals that would help to harness, manage, utilize and distribute the limited resources to cater for the basic needs of the masses. Can we really find a true leader that would do the work of good governance devoid of corruption and selfish interest in this country? By doing your own bit, the people (voice of God) would divinely identify you to help salvage this quagmire we find ourselves. That brings me to words of Sidney Powell; "Try to forget yourself in the service of others. For when we work for others, our efforts return to bless us." Certainly, Nigeria needs a God-fearing, Visionary, Committed and Charismatic leader(s) that would lead us to the promise land.
The Nigerian state should be a great paradise indeed and I am proud to be one of its inhabitants. We have all what it takes to be one of the best developed and growing economies in the world. However, the first step of re-invigorating and reforming our people must be through the Churches or Worship places as the case may be. Let the Church(s) continue to recite the National prayers; "Prayer for Nigeria in Distress" and "Prayer against Bribery and Corruption" in order to fight this impasse. It has worked for us in the past and it would presently, because there is awesome power in prayers.
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Doing something that benefits someone else is simply the only reason why you or anyone else will make money as human needs are insatiable. We live in a world where constant fear of poverty envelopes our self consciousness, hence the need to generate income. You would agree with me that only one source of income in a place like Nigeria, most populous black Nation in the world, is never enough as our staggering economy cannot be relied upon. We have to create other opportunities to salvage our human wants and replenish the 'scarce' under-utilized resources that are surplus.
As a graduate for more than 5 years, I have come to terms of getting a second career to make ends meet as the government has failed in her responsibility in creating jobs for a growing population work force. Unfortunately, some employers enslaved their employees by paying them peanuts as graduates despite the high cost of living in notably cities like Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu, etc in Nigeria as these employees are at the mercy of their bosses for fear of being out of job. However, credit must be given to some Non Governmental Agencies (NGOs) in organizing workshops such as Small Scale and Medium business program for training the unemployed to acquire a skill with assistances from corporate firms. This should be done from time to time as continuity is a key factor to sustain the dream.
Back to my second career, I have developed a niche for myself in investing my time, energy and money in online business. One may think I am talking about the advanced fee fraud (better known as 419) in Nigerian parlance. Far from it, as people involved in it does not have a sustained income and they live in the constant fear of being apprehended by the anti-graft authorities. Perhaps, their worst disadvantage is that they rob themselves of their resourcefulness and the ability to earn money legitimately. Making money online in the legal way not only generates income for you but make you a specialist where your expertise is in demand for a service charge of course. Making money Online is exactly as it is in off line businesses, where you can only get paid by; manufacturing say a drilling machine which benefits a construction company, giving someone a hair cut or by providing a business services that benefits and adds value to another person's life. According to some facts, the total amount of Online transactions in 2008 amounted to about USD $204 billion and is estimated to grow to USD $267 billion in year 2010 (Source: Credit Suisse; World leading Financial Services group). The popular website Yahoo.com which offer you email services for free is worth over USD $34.90 billion. Right now, there are several good things going on around you, but you can never be able to take advantage of them or enjoy them if you do not even know that they exist. These are secrets of life as if you are not informed, you are deformed. A good case is making money on the Internet which I am going to educate you.
Do you know that the popular Search Engine, Google.com is worth $174.83 billion, and it is currently the biggest media company in the world? It is bigger than notables like Time Warner, the company which owns Time Magazine, CNN & America Online; it is bigger than Viacom, the owners of MTV and Paramount Pictures. In fact, Google is worth more than all the companies quoted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange combined! This includes Mobil, OANDO Plc, Guinness Plc Nigerian Breweries Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank and all the other banks quoted combined! A single Google.com share costs more than $450 and it is projected to reach $600 a piece sometime next year – that's more than N50, 000 a piece (compare this to that of say Zenith bank that sold for about N55 – when the going was good.). The owner of NewsCorp, Rupert Murdoch paid $580 million to purchase MySpace.com. Can you also believe MySpace.com is free to use? Some years back, Google paid a whopping $1.65 Billion to acquire YouTube.com. YouTube.com just like MySpace also has nothing for sale too – it is completely free to register and use. The domain name Business.com was sold for a record $7,000,000! In case you have no idea, domain names cost just $8/yr to obtain! Now, why would rich investors put in so much money to acquire websites which have nothing for sale?" Besides, "How are these websites worth so much and how did that much money came about?" Have you wondered why corporate organizations like; The Punchonlineweb.com, Thisdayonline.com, Channelstv.com and even Nairaland.com continue to have strong readership and viewership to their websites? The answers to these questions are the secrets of making money online, and the reasons why the Internet is so overwhelmingly profitable.
The good news is that our dreams in making it big must come from our determination to succeed. You do not need to start big as complex as Google, Yahoo or even Zenox Computers. According to Napoleon Hill "if you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way". What you need is the smart and reasonable way of earning good income in our own 'small' way as a beginner. Let me introduce you to simple and profitable internet business opportunities to start earning money in Nigeria – Beginning today! These I have researched for your benefits despite all the costly mistakes I made in the past to arrive at this point.
Getting started with Google AdSense or AdWords for publishers and advertisers respectively is a Google advertising programme that allow individuals or corporate organizations to promote their products or goods and services to the world through registered websites by engaging website owners to allow for a space to place these adverts (AdWords) on their monetize blog or websites for on-line visitors to view and click on these adverts thereby generating money for both the advertiser and website owners. Google AdWords are those little text boxes that appear to the right side of your search results on Google.com. It is a very efficient advertising system developed by Google. It costs you only $5 dollars to register and you are charged only when someone clicks on your advert. The minimum cost per click is about $0.05 (5 cents). Hence, the Google AdWords is suitable for Companies that wishes to advertise their goods and services. Google AdSense on the other hand is for publishers that promote their ideas or goods and services for the world to patronize from. How do I mean? You learn on how you can make money from Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisements. You are paid each time a visitor visits your website and clicks on any Google AdSense advert you have displayed on your website.
This is not a joke. Remember I told you that Google.com is worth over $100 Billion; well this is one of the ways they make their money. Here they serve as 'agents' between people who want to attract visitors to their websites and people who have advertisement space on their own website. It doesn't matter if what you have is a free website or not. A check would be sent to you when you earn up to $100 monthly.
To get full benefit of this programme highlighted above you must own a Blog or Website as a platform as an individual or corporate organization. As a corporate entity you will definitely showcase your goods and services on net for people to know more about your business, example of such companies are Cadbury Plc, The Guardian Newspapers, Guinness Plc, etc. While that of individuals, you specialize in an area that is unique to you. I mean you can write on anything in your area of interests and get it published online. Gone are those days when we raise huge capital and queue for our books to be edited and get published. Now you can publish a book of more than a thousand pages without spending a dime. And with one of such books online you could be making a fortune by selling it online. I know it may sound difficult sitting down and writing a book but you can also resell some e-book that has reselling rights by buying one of them. There are thousands of written materials already out there with full Resell Rights. A product or material with resell rights means that you can sell the material to other people without it being illegal to do so – as if you actually wrote it! This sounds interesting?
Remember you can write absolutely on anything! You can write on any area where you have specialized knowledge. By specialized knowledge I do not mean designing the latest fast train on earth! There is certainly some knowledge you have that is unique to you which someone else can benefit from. It could be knowledge in; Relationships, Events Management, Fish Farming, Stock Market Investments, Video Games, Mentoring, GSM Repairs, Health Tips, Cooking Recipes, Insurance, Match Making, FOREX, Securing VISA, etc. As you write on your areas of specialization, get it published on line via your website or blog and market it to interested buyers in Compact Discs or any device. I will teach you on how to catch on these market opportunities available to us.
We presently live in very uncertain times now with all sorts of uprising in the nation and very terrible consequences to people who do not adapt quickly.
If you are really aware of what is presently happening in this country today, you will know that you can have a 'secure' job on Monday but by Tuesday you're out of it – irrespective of your position in the establishment. Remember that the CEOs of seven banks have been arrested by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following Lamido Sanusi led CBN investigations on these banks and one of them now serving jail term due to misappropriation of bank funds and on non-performing loans given.
Job security today does not lie in working for any 'big, secure' establishment. It lies in your own ability to do something on your own – at any given time. To be financially secure today, you have to adapt to the new nature of things. You have gerard gravano to adapt to The Era of Zero Job Security and the Age of Mega Successful Small businesses.
You will agree with me that Nigeria is still a developing country and unfortunately we are still passing through stages of development despite our 50 Years Independence! Hence, the earlier we sought for a change the better for us and that of our generations unborn.
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You can ask those who are seeking employment in almost all areas, and they can recite a long list of challenges faced by job seekers on a daily basis. Businesses closing or suspending hiring for the foreseeable future, competition for open positions has never been fiercer and the outlook for the national economy is not in this dark generation. Now more than ever, job seekers must be ingenious in their efforts to paid employment and few websites offer more of these resources than employersfield. Why should you add employersfield to your toolkit of job search? Here are some very good reasons:
Resources – employersfield, you can create a profile that potential employers, and offers a multitude of articles on topics that exactly job seekers need, such as how to create a persuasive letter, How to Make Your Resume Stand Out and much more. There is also a wide range of travel blogs and user groups in different categories that users can participate and you can interact, which is valuable when you need it most.
Connections – The importance of establishing links to find a job can not be overestimated. Often, the most unlikely and roundabout connections that will help you land an interview. Over 25 million professionals use employersfield to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. Whether you're looking for an old classmate or another professional in your field, registering on the site open all these links to you, with the business opportunities presented.
exclusive job offers – The use of newspaper advertisements of job search is reduced. More jobs than ever online. employersfield exclusive job offers job search and advanced features allow you to scroll through the posts across the country in a wide range of areas. Users can search by location, company, title, latest offers and other parameters, so that they can offer you the most relevant positions.
Sharing of ideas on the question and answer boards – Employersfield Q and A feature allows users to ask questions and get answers from other users and experts on a wide range of practical and esoteric themes. The function of employersfield Q & A is indicative of the commitment to use all the tools they need for their careers and gain a competitive advantage in a market very tight.
Competitive advantage – if you compete for a job with another group of candidates, you have an advantage when you are recommended by a connection, connected to others in society or interconnections.
There are many other sites that help people find a job, but very few can compete with Jobs in Nigeria, Bank jobs in Nigeria, Vacancies in Nigeria, Employment for students, Nigerian Job search, Oil and gas jobs in Nigeria resources and job postings. If your goal is to find hot Nierian and global job vacancies then, employersfield can help you meet and achieve those goals and even more.
MessageLabs, (a market leader in the messaging and web security market, owned by Symantec) reports not only a significant increase in spam email messages since last year, but this increase is up to approximately 10% of all email messages carrying some sort of hoax, scam, or virus. These messages have soared in numbers, in comparison to the last few weeks in December 2008 when the average number of spam email messages were only at 2%. For the year overall this increase in scam messages is three times higher than the number of messages in 2008.
During the first few weeks of 2009, many of these fraudulent email messages included the subject line of "Congratulations New Year Winner" or "You are a lottery winner." These messages are obviously a new trick on an old scam, one that many of us think of as the Nigerian email scam, the 419 scam, or the Advanced Fee scam. The bigger the net the bigger the fish, and email spammers are throwing out a really big net.
Not only are email users being attacked by many more messages than ever before, but these messages are but they are actually being written better. They are easier to read and the tricks to lure you into providing information or accessing a webpage are becoming more believable. elizabeth boyd car accident Silly mistakes like changing a small letter or misspelling a word; tricks we have come to rely on to quickly identity any spam mail that sneaks through our email and antivirus suites are not as common leaving consumers with the need to rely more heavily on their computers systems and their own knowledge.
"The new year means new opportunities for spammers," says Paul Wood, Senior Analyst, MessageLabs.
Why is there such an increase in fraudulent messages? The current economic climate could be a factor. With more and more people finding it difficult to get credit or avoiding credit; identity thieves may also be finding it more difficult, not only to obtain credit but to obtain the valuable information that they require to create their new identities. Secondly, unfortunately there are still people who fall for these scams, which is why information and education about the number of them, the types and the consequences are so important. No matter how many times it may be shown on the news (television, articles, or newspapers) many people are lured into the scheme or figure that it could never happen to them.
How can we avoid being caught in the spammers net? Set your email preferences at high to "catch" them before they catch you. If you are worried about missing an important message, don't. Most programs hold the messages for your review and then allow you to keep the ones you want to trash the ones you don't. When using this form of protection it is very important that you don't get caught by the bait thrown out there in the subject line. If it's not from someone you know or do business with you can bet it is spam, since right now 10% of all messages are. Next, many hard drives and antivirus suites offer spam protection also. Be sure to utilize those services and check your settings. Don't be a new victim to an old scam or caught in the net thrown out into the world of the wide wide web, use the technology and information available to you to stay ahead of the spammers game.
Hunting for the perfect job for an individual requires time, effort and knowledge. In other for anyone to have a stress free search for a job, everyone should first consider the following information before you proceed with your job search:
You need to figure exactly what kind of job you are applying for before embarking on a job search. When you gate crash for a job test or interview, only to realize that the job was not for your qualifications, then you would have wasted your time.
Think about your interests, preferred work environment as well as time for you family. These are important to consider as their have been cases of people resigning after a couple of weeks of employment.
2. there is need to prepare the necessary documents or career CV and portfolio. Several copies of your CV, certificates and documents should all be prepared and ready.
3. Know where to look for jobs. There are various places to search for jobs. Here are some of these best list:
Job website.
One of the most common is the search for job vacancies using the Internet. Besides the fact that surfing the Internet for the posts is less time consuming for personal, it may also be the cheapest way to search for jobs.
The Internet do not only help you find the right vacancies faster, it also helps you to find list of other international job vacancies more easily.
Daily Newspapers:
One of the most commonly used when it comes to job vacancies research. Local Newspapers have a lot of jobs that are went for residents in a particular environment. The job listings are more directed to local residence where the newspapers are printed. And of course it is one of the oldest ways of searching for jobs.
Careers and job employment centers:
They usually offer jobs for 16-18 years and you can hardly find jobs 21 years and above. Although it is usually filled with job vacancies, they mainly focus on the young applicants.
Job listings have a more regular updates. So you need to visit it regularly to find the right job.
Job magazines:
This is the best place for professionals to seek for job. They are periodically updated and as such job listings are specific professionals who need employment in their area of practice.
Office premises:
Some reputable organizations have job listing boards where vacancies are posting for everyone to see. So you may need to visit some of these office to get an update on their available job vacancies.
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The reason given by unknown persons who sent Short-Message Service (SMS) through their cellphone to four journalists operating in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory a fortnight ago is as important or dangerous, against the background of the increase in the spate of gruesome murder of journalists, as the end which the message sought to achieve.
The unknown persons said they were out to kill the four journalists because their consistent reports against the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu had succeeded in making the government to eventually sack him. The former speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh was reported to have openly said that her worst enemies are journalists emphasizing in a more direct way that "I will not talk to you people (journalists); you are my worst enemies forever until I go to my grave." There are a lot of people who would not come out in the open to declare their hatred for journalists but who would brook no sympathy when it comes to eliminating them.
Open attacks and molestation of journalists carrying out their legitimate duties by even security operatives attached to the latter-day big men or women have added serious dimension to the total unsafe terrain in which journalists have been operating. The immediate example of this daylight inhuman treatment against journalists were the recent detention, for nearly three hours, in a disused enclosure, of a Peoples Daily newspaper reporter, Mrs. Adeola Tukuru by the security details of Aviation Minister, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze.
Not quite long after that, a female Magistrate, Mrs. Zainab Bashir ordered journalists who have gathered to cover a case in her court out of the courtroom and went as far as ordering her security details to handcuff one of them, a correspondent of The Guardian newspaper, Mr. Lemmy Ugbegbe. Magistrate Zainab bellowed to her security men "Handcuff him and take him to prison. Tomorrow, I will listen to contempt charge against him. I am not a friend of journalists…let me teach them a lesson."
Just on Wednesday last week, unidentified people attacked the Daily Trust newspaper bureau office in Jos, Plateau state capital, smashing the window-panes and destroying other valuables without a clue as to the mission of the attackers. All these speak volumes about the pent up anger and virulent hatred, which have led to a wave of killings of journalists across the country. Central to such killings is the politics which is firmly rooted in personal and group vendetta.
Before 1986, Nigerian journalists only had the luxury of hearing the story of murder of journalists from the distance lands. That was when they used to hear of the shooting of Mr. Charles Horman, a freelance journalist in Chile on September 17, 1973 in United States, having been found to be too dangerous to live because he knew too much of America's principal role in the over-throw of Salvador Allede. That was when they used to hear about the death squads visiting the homes or offices of journalists who wrote "bad" stories about the government in Chile, Guatemala and El Salvador, shooting every moving thing to death in broad daylight.
That was when they used to hear about how Walter Tobago of The Corriers newspaper was gunned down in 1980 and a number of journalists working for the largest newspaper in Japan, Asahi Shimbun were tied to trees and stoned to death. Even at that, journalists in Nigeria, in concert with what late Dele Giwa said in Daily Times of July 4th, 1979 "Every journalist, be it in Akure or somewhere in Soviet Union, should feel concerned at the wanton killing of any journalist anywhere in the world," empathized with their colleagues in those far away countries.
All through the 30 months in which Nigeria went through civil war, there was no reported incidence of murder of journalist, except an isolated case of the detention of Lateef Jakande for an editorial he wrote in the Nigerian Tribune calling for a return to civil rule. Throughout the colonial era when the fight for self-rule was fiercely fought on the pages of newspapers, the colonialists never raised their guns against journalists.
The worst situation journalists in Nigeria had faced before and immediately after independence in 1960, and even during the long military regimes were detentions in prisons, solitary confinements and at most, physical torture, like Minere Amakari of the Nigerian Observer who, in 1974, was flogged and his head crudely shaved with broken bottle for daring to publish a story on the teachers' strike in Rivers state at the time the state governor, Alfred Diette Spiff was celebrating his birthday.
However, Nigerians woke up on Sunday, October 19, 1986 to be confronted with the murder, through letter-bomb, of the ace Editor-In-Chief of the bobbling Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa. The nation was not only shocked at the strange development but rose in unison to condemn it. Ever since then, when the nation went into another long military interregnum, there was only a single incidence of the murder of Bagauda Kaltho of The News magazine. Besides that, the only professional hazards journalists went through were intimidation, molestation, harassment, humiliation, frustration, dehumanization, detention without trial, closure of media houses, threats to life and several others.
Ironically, just when the nation decided to embrace democracy, which was, of course, championed by journalists, the killing of journalists began. The report, last year (2009), of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) placed Nigeria far below the chart of the countries confirmed to be unsafe for journalists to practice their profession against the background of the high rate at which they were being mowed down in cold blood, usually by unknown assailants.
The countries that were rated high as the "unfavourable" territories for journalists because of conflicts and war are Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somali, while other countries that are classified as simply "Unfavourable" because of government policies or individuals' or groups' interests are Mexico, Columbia, Pakistan, Philippines, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Nepal, Venezuela, Russia, China, Cuba, Palestine, Hunduras, Iran and Burma. And in Sub Saharan Africa, the situation is worse in war-turn countries like Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Eritrea.
In some of these countries that have entered the record of IFJ, like Ethiopia, only four journalists were killed. Nigeria trailed far behind in the record of IFJ only because it was in that year (2009) that the political correspondent of The Guardian, Mr. Bayo Ohun was assassinated. He was murdered by unknown assailants on September 21, 2009. Before then however, there were cases of the cold blooded murder of Tunde Oladipo of The Guardian and Omololu Falobi of The Punch.
In 2008 too, Mr. Abayomi Ogundeji and Godwin Agbroko all of Thisday newspaper were also killed in cold blood in Lagos. Specifically, Mr. Ogundeji, a member of the editorial board of Thisday newspaper and former editor of Comet on Sunday was shot dead by unknown gunmen at a police check-point in Lagos on August 27, 2008. A lady, Miss Tunmise, who was with him when he was killed and who volunteered to be a star witness in the case at the Coroner inquest instituted by the Lagos state government was also shot dead in Sagamu, Ogun state on June 28, 2009 (ten months after the assassination of the journalist). Her assassination came barely two days after she bluntly refused to follow some police men who had gone to force her to a police station for interrogation.
Between 2009 and now, Nigeria has been having a harvest of death of journalists through physical elimination. They are the judicial correspondent of The Nation newspaper, Mr. Edo Sule Ugbagwu in Lagos, who was shot in the head at his number 39 Church street, Shasha-Akowonjo in Lagos at 7.00pm on Saturday April 24, 2010; Nathan S. Dabak and Gyang Bwede, deputy editor and reporter respectively, of Life Bearer newspaper, a publication of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN). They were murdered in the latest wake of crisis in Nasarawa-Gwom area of Jos North local government of Plateau state.
On June 25, 2009 police in the Task Force team of the Delta state ministry of Land and Urban development forced six reporters who were covering the demolition of illegal structures in Alaba area to lay face-down in a gutter that was oozing with offensive odour. The military people who forced themselves into power may have a way of explaining why they came down hard on journalists, because, for one thing, they are not trained to tolerate "insubordination" from "bloody" civilians like journalists, but what reason would a democratically elected civilian government offer for the far more worse environment it has so far provided the media practitioners?
In other word, it is true that journalists saw hell in the hands of the military guys in power, but they never witnessed the kind of serial murder which the democratic dispensation is now offering them; the democratic dispensation on whose platform ideas are supposed to thrive over and above pettiness.
Journalists who are essentially the carriers and nurturers of gamut of ideas towards the flourishing of true democracy seem to be at the receiving end of the system. The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, in empathizing with Nigerian journalists, condemned the series of killing and observed: "impunity gives the green light to criminals and murderers, and empowers those who have something to hide."
Of course, those who have something to hide and are on the loose to eliminate journalists who have passed the stage "in which all they do is to report what a man says" (Dele Giwa 1979), according to IFD, are terror-government or authority, drug barons and politicians. Ki-Moon insists that government has the duty to protect media workers, saying, "This protection must include investigating and prosecuting those who commit crime against journalists."
Analysts are miffed that despite a series of protests, demonstrations, complaints and appeals by various interests groups, especially the journalists themselves, the government has not bulged; it has not considered it as its duty to protect media workers and above all, to consider the negative consequences of the rising incidence of assassination of journalists in Nigeria amongst the comity of nations.
Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by its president, Malam Mohammed Garba, has gone from pillar to post crying itself hoarse, but all that the government has done and is still doing is to abandon the protection of journalists or investigation of the spate of killings of same to the Nigerian police who have the unenviable history of not been able to unravel and bring to justice any one of hundreds of murder cases that piled up across the country. The News Editor of Daily Independent newspaper, Habib Aruna laments that the government's silence on this image denting antics of the marauding murderers is not helping matters, adding: "We (journalists) are in a society that does not like what we are doing. The society is in darkness and we (journalists) represent the civilized world. We are the light and, unfortunately, they do not want light."
While the government is still at tea-table feigning ignorance of the magnitude of the problem at hand, the Enugu state commissioner for Inter-ministerial Affairs, Mr. Okezie Nwanjoku warned that the rising spate of killings of journalists is an embarrassment to the entire nation, adding: "It is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Nigeria that journalists are being killed in a country that is not at war or in any crisis," Nwanjoku said.
While CELEBRITY NEWS sympathizers of journalists, Mr. Ifeanyi Okonkwo and Action Congress (AC) describe journalists in the present circumstances in which they operate as endangered species because of their fight against the societal ills, the chairman of Enugu correspondents' chapel of NUJ, Mr. Tony Edike expressed worry that a silent war has been declared by "unknown" enemies against journalists, asking: "What have we done to deserve these gruesome murders? We don't get allocations or contracts."
Analysts are of the opinion that from experience, any murder case that is left in the hands of the police for action is as good as a dead case, because they have this uncanny way of continuing to investigate murder case till the second coming of the Christ. They expressed the urgent need for the United Nations, Civil Society Groups and other international human rights bodies to intervene in the slide towards total anarchy against journalists, by goading the reluctant Nigerian government to urgently embark on measure aimed at protecting journalists from harassment, intimidation, threat to life and above all, the menace of assassination.
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The reason given by unknown persons who sent Short-Message Service (SMS) through their cellphone to four journalists operating in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory a fortnight ago is as important or dangerous, against the background of the increase in the spate of gruesome murder of journalists, as the end which the message sought to achieve.
The unknown persons said they were out to kill the four journalists because their consistent reports against the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu had succeeded in making the government to eventually sack him. The former speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh was trenton thornton reported to have openly said that her worst enemies are journalists emphasizing in a more direct way that "I will not talk to you people (journalists); you are my worst enemies forever until I go to my grave." There are a lot of people who would not come out in the open to declare their hatred for journalists but who would brook no sympathy when it comes to eliminating them.
Open attacks and molestation of journalists carrying out their legitimate duties by even security operatives attached to the latter-day big men or women have added serious dimension to the total unsafe terrain in which journalists have been operating. The immediate example of this daylight inhuman treatment against journalists were the recent detention, for nearly three hours, in a disused enclosure, of a Peoples Daily newspaper reporter, Mrs. Adeola Tukuru by the security details of Aviation Minister, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze.
Not quite long after that, a female Magistrate, Mrs. Zainab Bashir ordered journalists who have gathered to cover a case in her court out of the courtroom and went as far as ordering her security details to handcuff one of them, a correspondent of The Guardian newspaper, Mr. Lemmy Ugbegbe. Magistrate Zainab bellowed to her security men "Handcuff him and take him to prison. Tomorrow, I will listen to contempt charge against him. I am not a friend of journalists…let me teach them a lesson."
Just on Wednesday last week, unidentified people attacked the Daily Trust newspaper bureau office in Jos, Plateau state capital, smashing the window-panes and destroying other valuables without a clue as to the mission of the attackers. All these speak volumes about the pent up anger and virulent hatred, which have led to a wave of killings of journalists across the country. Central to such killings is the politics which is firmly rooted in personal and group vendetta.
Before 1986, Nigerian journalists only had the luxury of hearing the story of murder of journalists from the distance lands. That was when they used to hear of the shooting of Mr. Charles Horman, a freelance journalist in Chile on September 17, 1973 in United States, having been found to be too dangerous to live because he knew too much of America's principal role in the over-throw of Salvador Allede. That was when they used to hear about the death squads visiting the homes or offices of journalists who wrote "bad" stories about the government in Chile, Guatemala and El Salvador, shooting every moving thing to death in broad daylight.
That was when they used to hear about how Walter Tobago of The Corriers newspaper was gunned down in 1980 and a number of journalists working for the largest newspaper in Japan, Asahi Shimbun were tied to trees and stoned to death. Even at that, journalists in Nigeria, in concert with what late Dele Giwa said in Daily Times of July 4th, 1979 "Every journalist, be it in Akure or somewhere in Soviet Union, should feel concerned at the wanton killing of any journalist anywhere in the world," empathized with their colleagues in those far away countries.
All through the 30 months in which Nigeria went through civil war, there was no reported incidence of murder of journalist, except an isolated case of the detention of Lateef Jakande for an editorial he wrote in the Nigerian Tribune calling for a return to civil rule. Throughout the colonial era when the fight for self-rule was fiercely fought on the pages of newspapers, the colonialists never raised their guns against journalists.
The worst situation journalists in Nigeria had faced before and immediately after independence in 1960, and even during the long military regimes were detentions in prisons, solitary confinements and at most, physical torture, like Minere Amakari of the Nigerian Observer who, in 1974, was flogged and his head crudely shaved with broken bottle for daring to publish a story on the teachers' strike in Rivers state at the time the state governor, Alfred Diette Spiff was celebrating his birthday.
However, Nigerians woke up on Sunday, October 19, 1986 to be confronted with the murder, through letter-bomb, of the ace Editor-In-Chief of the bobbling Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa. The nation was not only shocked at the strange development but rose in unison to condemn it. Ever since then, when the nation went into another long military interregnum, there was only a single incidence of the murder of Bagauda Kaltho of The News magazine. Besides that, the only professional hazards journalists went through were intimidation, molestation, harassment, humiliation, frustration, dehumanization, detention without trial, closure of media houses, threats to life and several others.
Ironically, just when the nation decided to embrace democracy, which was, of course, championed by journalists, the killing of journalists began. The report, last year (2009), of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) placed Nigeria far below the chart of the countries confirmed to be unsafe for journalists to practice their profession against the background of the high rate at which they were being mowed down in cold blood, usually by unknown assailants.
The countries that were rated high as the "unfavourable" territories for journalists because of conflicts and war are Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somali, while other countries that are classified as simply "Unfavourable" because of government policies or individuals' or groups' interests are Mexico, Columbia, Pakistan, Philippines, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Nepal, Venezuela, Russia, China, Cuba, Palestine, Hunduras, Iran and Burma. And in Sub Saharan Africa, the situation is worse in war-turn countries like Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Eritrea.
In some of these countries that have entered the record of IFJ, like Ethiopia, only four journalists were killed. Nigeria trailed far behind in the record of IFJ only because it was in that year (2009) that the political correspondent of The Guardian, Mr. Bayo Ohun was assassinated. He was murdered by unknown assailants on September 21, 2009. Before then however, there were cases of the cold blooded murder of Tunde Oladipo of The Guardian and Omololu Falobi of The Punch.
In 2008 too, Mr. Abayomi Ogundeji and Godwin Agbroko all of Thisday newspaper were also killed in cold blood in Lagos. Specifically, Mr. Ogundeji, a member of the editorial board of Thisday newspaper and former editor of Comet on Sunday was shot dead by unknown gunmen at a police check-point in Lagos on August 27, 2008. A lady, Miss Tunmise, who was with him when he was killed and who volunteered to be a star witness in the case at the Coroner inquest instituted by the Lagos state government was also shot dead in Sagamu, Ogun state on June 28, 2009 (ten months after the assassination of the journalist). Her assassination came barely two days after she bluntly refused to follow some police men who had gone to force her to a police station for interrogation.
Between 2009 and now, Nigeria has been having a harvest of death of journalists through physical elimination. They are the judicial correspondent of The Nation newspaper, Mr. Edo Sule Ugbagwu in Lagos, who was shot in the head at his number 39 Church street, Shasha-Akowonjo in Lagos at 7.00pm on Saturday April 24, 2010; Nathan S. Dabak and Gyang Bwede, deputy editor and reporter respectively, of Life Bearer newspaper, a publication of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN). They were murdered in the latest wake of crisis in Nasarawa-Gwom area of Jos North local government of Plateau state.
On June 25, 2009 police in the Task Force team of the Delta state ministry of Land and Urban development forced six reporters who were covering the demolition of illegal structures in Alaba area to lay face-down in a gutter that was oozing with offensive odour. The military people who forced themselves into power may have a way of explaining why they came down hard on journalists, because, for one thing, they are not trained to tolerate "insubordination" from "bloody" civilians like journalists, but what reason would a democratically elected civilian government offer for the far more worse environment it has so far provided the media practitioners?
In other word, it is true that journalists saw hell in the hands of the military guys in power, but they never witnessed the kind of serial murder which the democratic dispensation is now offering them; the democratic dispensation on whose platform ideas are supposed to thrive over and above pettiness.
Journalists who are essentially the carriers and nurturers of gamut of ideas towards the flourishing of true democracy seem to be at the receiving end of the system. The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, in empathizing with Nigerian journalists, condemned the series of killing and observed: "impunity gives the green light to criminals and murderers, and empowers those who have something to hide."
Of course, those who have something to hide and are on the loose to eliminate journalists who have passed the stage "in which all they do is to report what a man says" (Dele Giwa 1979), according to IFD, are terror-government or authority, drug barons and politicians. Ki-Moon insists that government has the duty to protect media workers, saying, "This protection must include investigating and prosecuting those who commit crime against journalists."
Analysts are miffed that despite a series of protests, demonstrations, complaints and appeals by various interests groups, especially the journalists themselves, the government has not bulged; it has not considered it as its duty to protect media workers and above all, to consider the negative consequences of the rising incidence of assassination of journalists in Nigeria amongst the comity of nations.
Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by its president, Malam Mohammed Garba, has gone from pillar to post crying itself hoarse, but all that the government has done and is still doing is to abandon the protection of journalists or investigation of the spate of killings of same to the Nigerian police who have the unenviable history of not been able to unravel and bring to justice any one of hundreds of murder cases that piled up across the country. The News Editor of Daily Independent newspaper, Habib Aruna laments that the government's silence on this image denting antics of the marauding murderers is not helping matters, adding: "We (journalists) are in a society that does not like what we are doing. The society is in darkness and we (journalists) represent the civilized world. We are the light and, unfortunately, they do not want light."
While the government is still at tea-table feigning ignorance of the magnitude of the problem at hand, the Enugu state commissioner for Inter-ministerial Affairs, Mr. Okezie Nwanjoku warned that the rising spate of killings of journalists is an embarrassment to the entire nation, adding: "It is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Nigeria that journalists are being killed in a country that is not at war or in any crisis," Nwanjoku said.
While sympathizers of journalists, Mr. Ifeanyi Okonkwo and Action Congress (AC) describe journalists in the present circumstances in which they operate as endangered species because of their fight against the societal ills, the chairman of Enugu correspondents' chapel of NUJ, Mr. Tony Edike expressed worry that a silent war has been declared by "unknown" enemies against journalists, asking: "What have we done to deserve these gruesome murders? We don't get allocations or contracts."
Analysts are of the opinion that from experience, any murder case that is left in the hands of the police for action is as good as a dead case, because they have this uncanny way of continuing to investigate murder case till the second coming of the Christ. They expressed the urgent need for the United Nations, Civil Society Groups and other international human rights bodies to intervene in the slide towards total anarchy against journalists, by goading the reluctant Nigerian government to urgently embark on measure aimed at protecting journalists from harassment, intimidation, threat to life and above all, the menace of assassination.
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Our chief concern here is to discuss the legal consequences of the current spate of party defection by members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC). We shall leave the task of recounting Nigeria's history on carpet crossing to historians and shall not be bordered by it. We shall also not allow ourselves to be drawn into arguments as to the morality/propriety of carpet crossing.
The media is awash with the news of the defection of 37 PDP members of the House of Representatives to the APC. Already, five PDP governors have dumped the party for the APC. The collapse of the PDP as the ruling party in Nigeria and as Africa's biggest political party seems imminent as unconfirmed reports say that twenty-two senators are planning to also dump the party for the APC.
Nigerian law on carpet crossing begins and ends with the provisions of Sections 68(1)(g) and 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These sections provide that:
"a member of the Senate or House of Representatives or State House of Assembly shall not vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if being a person whose election into the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which the House was elected.
Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member of a merger of two or more political parties by one of which he was previously sponsored."
It is interesting to note that unlike the purport of above provisions, Sections 135 and 180 of the said Constitution which provides for circumstances under which the President or his Vice, and a Governor or his Deputy could cease to hold office does not mention party defection as a ground for vacating or ceasing to hold office.
From the above provisions therefore, Nigerian law on carpet crossing could be summarized as follows:
1. A Legislator in Nigeria could lose or vacate his seat in parliament if he defects from the party that sponsored him into the Legislative House to another party.
2. A Nigerian Governor, Deputy Governor, President or Vice President cannot vacate or cease to hold office for defecting from the political party that sponsored him into office to another.
3. Before a Legislator in Nigeria could be made to lose his seat in parliament for defecting to a party other than the one that sponsored him into the House, the principal officer of that Legislative House( the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the Speaker of the State House of Assembly as the case may be) or a member of that Legislative House must first present evidence satisfactory to the Legislative House concerned that a member has defected from the political party that sponsored him into the House to another political party and has by operation of law vacated his seat in Parliament.
4. It follows from the above that if there is no satisfactory evidence presented to the Legislative House on a member's defection, the member who is alleged to have defected can still retain his seat. He will however continue to be known and addressed as a member of the party that sponsored him into the House.
5. A Legislator in Nigerian can cross carpet to a party other than the one that sponsored him into the House and still keep his seat if he can prove that his defection was as a result of a division within his former party.
6. Also, a Legislator in Nigeria will not lose/vacate his seat even though he has defected from the party sponsored him to another party if he can prove that his membership of a new party is as a result of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.
The position that while a Legislator in Nigeria is liable to lose his seat in parliament for cross carpeting to another party, the President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor is not liable and cannot be forced to vacate or cease to hold office for the same reason was endorsed by the Nigerian Supreme Court in the case of AGF V. Atiku Abubarkar (2007)4 S.C (pt.11)62 where the issue before the court was whether the Vice President's defection from the PDP( on whose platform he was elected into office) to the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) meant that he had automatically vacated and ceased to hold that office.
The Supreme Court held that it is only Legislators that are liable to vacate their seats in parliament for defection to a different party from the one that sponsored them into office. The supreme held that the constitution does not envisage or provide for the vacation /cessation of the office of the President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor for defection from the party that sponsored them into office to another party. The donald sutherland spouse Apex court held therefore that Vice-President Atiku Abubarkar was entitled to keep and/or in office even though he had effected from the PDP to the ACN.
Again, the position that a legislator may lose his seat in parliament for cross carpeting to another political party has been affirmed by the court in some decisions. For instance, the Federal High Court of Nigeria sitting in Akure in the case of Hon. Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde v. The Ondo State House of Assembly & Ors. sacked Mr. Abegunde, a House of Representatives member representing Akure North and South, Ondo State for defecting from the Labour Party to the ACN. Mr Abegunde had been elected into the House under the auspices of the Labour Party in the April 2011 General Elections. He however, defected to the ACN during the currency of the tenure of the House. The court held that Mr Abegunde had vacated his seat and ceased to be a member of the House by operation of law. This decision was affirmed and upheld by the Court of Appea in Re Hon. Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde v. The Ondo State House of Assembly & Ors. (2014) LPELR-23683(CA),Appeal No.CA/AK/110/2012.
Again, in the case of Hon. Michael Dapialong v. Chief (Dr) Joseph Chibi Dariye, Appeal No. S.C 39/2007 the Supreme Court took judicial notice of the fact that between 25th and 26th July,2006, fourteen members of the twenty-four members of the Plateau State House of Assembly including the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker thereof defected from the PDP platform on whose they were elected to the House in 2009 to the Advanced Congress of d Democrats(ACD) as a result of which the said 14 members were held to have vacated their seats by operation of law.
Relying on the Supreme Court decision in AGF V. Atiku Aburbakar therefore, we can safely conclude that the five PDP Governors that had defected to the APC can validly do so without being liable to vacate or cease to hold their offices. This is because the Constitution simply does not penalize the President, Vice President, a Governor or Deputy Governor who dumps the party that sponsored him into office for another party. Also, unlike Legislators, these members of the executive arm of Government are not required to proffer explanations or reasons to justify defection.
By a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, titled 'Communication of Change of Political Party' and dated the 18tth December, 2013, the 37 defecting Federal Lawmakers explained that their defection from the PDP to the APC was as a result of the internal crisis within the PDP. The Lawmakers also premised their defection from the PDP to the APC on the fact that the PDP has broken into two factions: the New PDP and the Old PDP. The so-called New PDP consisting of the dissatisfied and disgruntled members of the party, the majority of whom have defected to the APC.
It is to be recalled that in Agundade's case, he had argued that given the internal crisis, division and factionalization within the Labour Party, he was entitled by virtue of the proviso in Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution to defect from the Labour Party to the ACN without losing or having to vacate his seat in the House. The court however ruled that since he could not prove division or factionalization within the Labour Party, he was not entitled to keep or retain his seat after he decamped to the ACN. That he vacated his seat upon defection to the ACN by operation of law.
The proviso to the provisions of Section 68(1) (g) and 109(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution are to the effect that although a Legislator would ordinarily lose his seat if he defects to a party different from the one that sponsored him into the Legislative House, he is entitled to keep his seat if he can prove that:
1. He defected to a new party as a result of division within the party that sponsored him into the house.
2. His membership of the new party is as a result of the merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.
Before we proceed to examine whether the internal crisis rocking the PDP falls within the proviso to Sections 68(1)(g) and 109(1) (g) of the Constitution, it is pertinent to determine what constitutes division in a political party. The constitution does not define word "division". The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English, 6th Edition, defines division as a disagreement or difference in opinion or way of life etc especially between members of a society or an organization.
According to Professor Okey Okon of the South Central University, California, USA, division could arise from:
1. Ideological differences and
2. Organizational differences.
Organizational differences denote conflict, division, crisis etc arising as a result of the way and manner the party is run, operated or managed. In fact, all conflicts and crises arising from the management and operation of the organic structure of the political party fall under the category of organizational differences. Conflict, division or crises arising from organizational differences bordering on such issues as internal democracy mechanism of the party, conduct of primaries election, funding, election of principal officers of the party, adoption of candidates as party flag bearer for election, handling of party finances, planning and execution of election campaign strategies etc come under organizational differences.
It is a notorious fact that the PDP has from inception been bedeviled by internal crises caused by the occurrence of undemocratic practices within the party. The defecting 37 Federal Legislators have alleged that their defection from the PDP to APC was as a result of division and internal crises within the party and that they are entitled to keep their seats in parliament. We do not know the particulars of the alleged division or crises within the PDP but if their allegations are true then they are entitled to keep their seats in parliament.
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Our chief concern here is to discuss the legal consequences of the current spate of party defection by members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC). We shall leave the task of recounting Nigeria's history on carpet crossing to historians and shall not be bordered by it. We shall also not allow ourselves to be drawn into arguments as to the morality/propriety of carpet crossing.
The media is awash with the news of the defection of 37 PDP members of the House of Representatives to the APC. Already, five PDP governors have dumped the party for the APC. The collapse of the PDP as the ruling party in Nigeria and as Africa's biggest political party seems imminent as unconfirmed reports say that twenty-two senators are planning to also dump the party for the APC.
Nigerian law on carpet crossing begins and ends with the provisions of Sections 68(1)(g) and 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These sections provide that:
"a member of the Senate or House of Representatives or State House of Assembly shall not vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if being a person whose election into the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which the House was elected.
Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member of a merger of two or more political parties by one of which he was previously sponsored."
It is interesting to note that unlike the purport of above provisions, Sections 135 and 180 of the said Constitution which provides for circumstances under which the President or his Vice, and a Governor or his Deputy could cease to hold office does not mention party defection as a ground for vacating or ceasing to hold office.
From the above provisions therefore, Nigerian law on carpet crossing could be summarized as follows:
1. A Legislator in Nigeria could lose or vacate his seat in parliament if he defects from the party that sponsored him into the Legislative House to another party.
2. A Nigerian Governor, Deputy Governor, President or Vice President cannot vacate or cease to hold office for defecting from the political party that sponsored him into office to another.
3. Before a Legislator in Nigeria could be made to lose his seat in parliament for defecting to a party other than the one that sponsored him into the House, the principal officer of that Legislative House( the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the Speaker of the State House of Assembly as the case may elizabeth boyd car accident be) or a member of that Legislative House must first present evidence satisfactory to the Legislative House concerned that a member has defected from the political party that sponsored him into the House to another political party and has by operation of law vacated his seat in Parliament.
4. It follows from the above that if there is no satisfactory evidence presented to the Legislative House on a member's defection, the member who is alleged to have defected can still retain his seat. He will however continue to be known and addressed as a member of the party that sponsored him into the House.
5. A Legislator in Nigerian can cross carpet to a party other than the one that sponsored him into the House and still keep his seat if he can prove that his defection was as a result of a division within his former party.
6. Also, a Legislator in Nigeria will not lose/vacate his seat even though he has defected from the party sponsored him to another party if he can prove that his membership of a new party is as a result of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.
The position that while a Legislator in Nigeria is liable to lose his seat in parliament for cross carpeting to another party, the President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor is not liable and cannot be forced to vacate or cease to hold office for the same reason was endorsed by the Nigerian Supreme Court in the case of AGF V. Atiku Abubarkar (2007)4 S.C (pt.11)62 where the issue before the court was whether the Vice President's defection from the PDP( on whose platform he was elected into office) to the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) meant that he had automatically vacated and ceased to hold that office.
The Supreme Court held that it is only Legislators that are liable to vacate their seats in parliament for defection to a different party from the one that sponsored them into office. The supreme held that the constitution does not envisage or provide for the vacation /cessation of the office of the President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor for defection from the party that sponsored them into office to another party. The Apex court held therefore that Vice-President Atiku Abubarkar was entitled to keep and/or in office even though he had effected from the PDP to the ACN.
Again, the position that a legislator may lose his seat in parliament for cross carpeting to another political party has been affirmed by the court in some decisions. For instance, the Federal High Court of Nigeria sitting in Akure in the case of Hon. Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde v. The Ondo State House of Assembly & Ors. sacked Mr. Abegunde, a House of Representatives member representing Akure North and South, Ondo State for defecting from the Labour Party to the ACN. Mr Abegunde had been elected into the House under the auspices of the Labour Party in the April 2011 General Elections. He however, defected to the ACN during the currency of the tenure of the House. The court held that Mr Abegunde had vacated his seat and ceased to be a member of the House by operation of law. This decision was affirmed and upheld by the Court of Appea in Re Hon. Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde v. The Ondo State House of Assembly & Ors. (2014) LPELR-23683(CA),Appeal No.CA/AK/110/2012.
Again, in the case of Hon. Michael Dapialong v. Chief (Dr) Joseph Chibi Dariye, Appeal No. S.C 39/2007 the Supreme Court took judicial notice of the fact that between 25th and 26th July,2006, fourteen members of the twenty-four members of the Plateau State House of Assembly including the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker thereof defected from the PDP platform on whose they were elected to the House in 2009 to the Advanced Congress of d Democrats(ACD) as a result of which the said 14 members were held to have vacated their seats by operation of law.
Relying on the Supreme Court decision in AGF V. Atiku Aburbakar therefore, we can safely conclude that the five PDP Governors that had defected to the APC can validly do so without being liable to vacate or cease to hold their offices. This is because the Constitution simply does not penalize the President, Vice President, a Governor or Deputy Governor who dumps the party that sponsored him into office for another party. Also, unlike Legislators, these members of the executive arm of Government are not required to proffer explanations or reasons to justify defection.
By a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, titled 'Communication of Change of Political Party' and dated the 18tth December, 2013, the 37 defecting Federal Lawmakers explained that their defection from the PDP to the APC was as a result of the internal crisis within the PDP. The Lawmakers also premised their defection from the PDP to the APC on the fact that the PDP has broken into two factions: the New PDP and the Old PDP. The so-called New PDP consisting of the dissatisfied and disgruntled members of the party, the majority of whom have defected to the APC.
It is to be recalled that in Agundade's case, he had argued that given the internal crisis, division and factionalization within the Labour Party, he was entitled by virtue of the proviso in Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution to defect from the Labour Party to the ACN without losing or having to vacate his seat in the House. The court however ruled that since he could not prove division or factionalization within the Labour Party, he was not entitled to keep or retain his seat after he decamped to the ACN. That he vacated his seat upon defection to the ACN by operation of law.
The proviso to the provisions of Section 68(1) (g) and 109(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution are to the effect that although a Legislator would ordinarily lose his seat if he defects to a party different from the one that sponsored him into the Legislative House, he is entitled to keep his seat if he can prove that:
1. He defected to a new party as a result of division within the party that sponsored him into the house.
2. His membership of the new party is as a result of the merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.
Before we proceed to examine whether the internal crisis rocking the PDP falls within the proviso to Sections 68(1)(g) and 109(1) (g) of the Constitution, it is pertinent to determine what constitutes division in a political party. The constitution does not define word "division". The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English, 6th Edition, defines division as a disagreement or difference in opinion or way of life etc especially between members of a society or an organization.
According to Professor Okey Okon of the South Central University, California, USA, division could arise from:
1. Ideological differences and
2. Organizational differences.
Organizational differences denote conflict, division, crisis etc arising as a result of the way and manner the party is run, operated or managed. In fact, all conflicts and crises arising from the management and operation of the organic structure of the political party fall under the category of organizational differences. Conflict, division or crises arising from organizational differences bordering on such issues as internal democracy mechanism of the party, conduct of primaries election, funding, election of principal officers of the party, adoption of candidates as party flag bearer for election, handling of party finances, planning and execution of election campaign strategies etc come under organizational differences.
It is a notorious fact that the PDP has from inception been bedeviled by internal crises caused by the occurrence of undemocratic practices within the party. The defecting 37 Federal Legislators have alleged that their defection from the PDP to APC was as a result of division and internal crises within the party and that they are entitled to keep their seats in parliament. We do not know the particulars of the alleged division or crises within the PDP but if their allegations are true then they are entitled to keep their seats in parliament.
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Why It’s Easier to Succeed With usaa insurance tulsa Than You Might Think
Do you know that it is a blessing to be a Nigerian or being born in Nigeria? I know most readers would not agree with me. Instead of being born in this complex state, called Nigeria, it would have been better to be born in any of the developed western countries such as; America, Asia, Europe or even in an African country like Gambia or Mozambique. A Country that is gradually losing grip of its past glory; even in the eyes of other Countries that once adored and respected Nigeria as a leading power-house in the whole of sub-saharan Africa. According to the Mo Ibrahim African Governance Index Report for the year 2011 ranked Nigeria 41st out of 53 African Countries in its governance index report in four various governance indicators. What actually happened to the giant of Africa?
A country that is full of greatness, wealth, creativity, industrious, honest, and hardworking people. I remember those glorious days growing-up as a kid; I always look forward to school with great nostalgia feelings. I will hang my school lamp sack over my slender shoulders and happily collect my pocket money of 50 kobo for each day. I would judiciously save my daily 50 kobo(s) in my constructed wooden box. After one month of 'sowing', I would ask my mother to please unlock the save box as I waited patiently for my 'harvest'. You would not believe how much I have saved, which was shared into three portions; one for a new sandal, the second for folktale story books, and lastly for sweets. Trust children, I would quickly rush to the Mallam kiosk, to buy for myself cubes of Chocomilo sweet as much as the remaining balance could afford. Tell me how many children of present day would adopt my saving and spending culture despite the over 100 per cent inflation rate we are experiencing now?
Growing up then was very memorable, as the environment was relatively peaceful, pollution free, steady power supply and mild traffic. My parents made it a ritual to travel home (village) as a family once every year to see our Grandparents and other relatives as it was fun embarking on such trips. Unlike today, you have to psyche yourself for donald sutherland spouse weeks and source for the funds to embark on such journey. Even as middle-class citizens, we could afford whatever we desire. Unfortunately, the Nigerian system of governance has systematically killed the 'Middle Class' status. It is either you are rich or poor. However you are going to make it rich, no one cares. I am not saying that we don't have incidence of corruption, crime or canny tendencies in the 70s or 80s, but such misdeeds were done in a bearable and pardonable manner. Unfortunately, most of us cannot bear or pardon the kind of misdeeds we witness these days. Ranging from the huge misappropriation of state funds by our Political office holders and Civil servants, Corrupt practices by our Legislators, the senseless murder of innocent citizens by our 'trigger happy' policemen and the incessant bloodletting by various ethnic and religious groups in the country. Nigeria has now been engulfed with terrorism acts with minimal achievements by our security agents in curbing the menace. However, we give kudos to the combined military forces in their recent efforts in tackling the security imbroglio of the Country. As a nation we must learn how to live in unity, peace and harmony.
Nigeria's independence in 1960 marked a new horizon for the country to establish herself in Africa and in the world at large. Pathetically, our elder statesmen never envisaged that the promising Nigeria of old could come to this abysmal state. Would we blame the discovery of crude oil in the late 60s as God's undoing? The Almighty creator has blessed us so abundantly in both rich human and natural resources to take care of our needs. A Country like Malaysia came on a fact finding mission to Nigeria in the 70s, and went home with palm kernels. It took them a great deal to plant, grow and harness the cash crop over time to be one of the highest exporters of palm oil and palm kernel fruits in the world. No wonder our brothers are rushing over to Malaysia to carve a living for themselves as the Country is better equipped with infrastructures and amenities. What has happened to our own Palm kernel, Cocoa, Groundnut, Coal, Steel, Tin, etc. Only if our government could re-invest in 2 or 3 of these naturals resources to an optimal level of production, this would definitely lead to foreign exportations that would yield good national revenue to the country. However, the only good invention we can boast of today apart from the crude oil and Gas is Cassava bread. Has the bread gotten to the markets, as am yet to have a bite? Kindly let us know where to get a loaf, who knows some foreign investors may be interested.
We are in a country where political office holders are being recycled all over and over again. Have our people lost consciousness of events of yester years? Please let me borrow some lines from Mr. Abuoma Chuka's master piece: "Sinners in Paradise" in the Nigerian's Daily Sun Newspapers of July 18, 2012 and I quote "Nigeria is the only 'paradise' where sinners are empowered to make Laws, assigned to be Ministers, selected as Governors, appointed to be Judges, employed to be Security personnel and force themselves as Presidents into the throne of our nation." If you think he is done, then you need to hear this; "Nigeria is a state where 'Saints' are in prisons while 'Sinners' are in paradise. 'Saints' are jobless in the streets, while 'Sinners' are enjoying in the 'Sanctuary'. Most interestingly, the Nigerian people have learnt their lessons and are now with their gauntlet, deciding who governs them by electing the right candidate(s). Remember that the people's mandate carried the day in the last gubernatorial elections in Imo state by pitching their tents with Owelle Rochas Okorocha over the incumbent and recently in the Edo state governorship elections that brought back Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in their July elections. Biblically speaking, we should know that the voice of the people is the voice of God.
I see the Nigerian people have woken up from their slumber to work and choose their leaders. What role is the church or other worship places playing to mold a good leader to salvage us from this problem of leadership? The Nigerian state, with over over 200 ethnic groups, have been that lucky not have plunged into another civil war despite all the failures and wrongs we are experiencing now, yet our so called leaders are yet to come out with the right solution. People of other countries could not understand our strong unity in the midst of insecurity and corruption as we still go about our daily activities unabatedly. I have that consolation that anything that has a beginning no matter how bad must have an end. Whatever that has gone wrong in the Nigeria state, would be a thing of the past and the people would be better for it.
However, to achieve this victory over stagnation, poverty, anarchy, unemployment, corruption, depression, hunger, despair, insecurity, etc, we must trust God Almighty for breakthroughs. Our good Lord has affirmed to us in 2nd Chronicles 16:9; "the Lord keeps close watch over the whole World, to give strength to those whose hearts are loyal to him… " How strong is our heart to keep on trusting and believing in Him? It is high time we started coming out from our shells of ignorance, complaints and despair to make a difference in solving our national problems. Nigeria needs good and visionary leadership in providing a sense of direction in achieving individual and collective goals that would help to harness, manage, utilize and distribute the limited resources to cater for the basic needs of the masses. Can we really find a true leader that would do the work of good governance devoid of corruption and selfish interest in this country? By doing your own bit, the people (voice of God) would divinely identify you to help salvage this quagmire we find ourselves. That brings me to words of Sidney Powell; "Try to forget yourself in the service of others. For when we work for others, our efforts return to bless us." Certainly, Nigeria needs a God-fearing, Visionary, Committed and Charismatic leader(s) that would lead us to the promise land.
The Nigerian state should be a great paradise indeed and I am proud to be one of its inhabitants. We have all what it takes to be one of the best developed and growing economies in the world. However, the first step of re-invigorating and reforming our people must be through the Churches or Worship places as the case may be. Let the Church(s) continue to recite the National prayers; "Prayer for Nigeria in Distress" and "Prayer against Bribery and Corruption" in order to fight this impasse. It has worked for us in the past and it would presently, because there is awesome power in prayers.
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5 Real-Life Lessons About Who is Brian Griese’s wife Brook McClintic
The reason given by unknown persons who sent Short-Message Service (SMS) through their cellphone to four journalists operating in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory a fortnight ago is as important or dangerous, against the background of the increase in the spate of gruesome murder of journalists, as the end which the message sought to achieve.
The unknown persons said they were out to kill the four journalists because their consistent reports against the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu had succeeded in making the government to eventually sack him. The former speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh was reported to have openly said that her worst enemies are journalists emphasizing in a more direct way that "I will not talk to you people (journalists); you are my worst enemies forever until I go to my grave." There are a lot of people who would not come out in the open to declare their hatred for journalists but who would brook no sympathy when it comes to eliminating them.
Open attacks and molestation of journalists carrying out their legitimate duties by even security operatives attached to the latter-day big men or women have added serious dimension to the total unsafe terrain in which journalists have been operating. The immediate example of this daylight inhuman treatment against journalists were the recent detention, for nearly three hours, in a disused enclosure, of a Peoples Daily newspaper reporter, Mrs. Adeola Tukuru by the security details of Aviation Minister, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze.
Not quite long after that, a female Magistrate, Mrs. Zainab Bashir ordered journalists who have gathered to cover a case in her court out of the courtroom and went as far as ordering her security details to handcuff one of them, a correspondent of The Guardian newspaper, Mr. Lemmy Ugbegbe. Magistrate Zainab bellowed to her security men "Handcuff him and take him to prison. Tomorrow, I will listen to contempt charge against him. I am not a friend of journalists…let me teach them a lesson."
Just on Wednesday last week, unidentified people attacked the Daily Trust newspaper bureau office in Jos, Plateau state capital, smashing the window-panes and destroying other valuables without a clue as to the mission of the attackers. All these speak volumes about the pent up anger and virulent hatred, which have led to a wave of killings of journalists across the country. Central to such killings is the politics which is firmly rooted in personal and group vendetta.
Before 1986, Nigerian journalists only had the luxury of hearing the story of murder of journalists from the distance lands. That was when they used to hear of the shooting of Mr. Charles Horman, a freelance journalist in Chile on September 17, 1973 in United States, having been found to be too dangerous to live because he knew too much of America's principal role in the over-throw of Salvador Allede. That was when they used to hear about the death squads visiting the homes or offices of journalists who wrote "bad" stories about the government in Chile, Guatemala and El Salvador, shooting every moving thing to death in broad daylight.
That was when they used to hear about how Walter Tobago of The Corriers newspaper was gunned down in 1980 and a number of journalists working for the largest newspaper in Japan, Asahi Shimbun were tied to trees and stoned to death. Even at that, journalists in Nigeria, in concert with what late Dele Giwa said in Daily Times of July 4th, 1979 "Every journalist, be it in Akure or somewhere in Soviet Union, should feel concerned at the wanton killing of any journalist anywhere in the world," empathized with their colleagues in those far away countries.
All through the 30 months in which Nigeria went through civil war, there was no reported incidence of murder of journalist, except an isolated case of the detention of Lateef Jakande for an editorial he wrote in the Nigerian Tribune calling for a return to civil rule. Throughout the colonial era when the fight for self-rule was fiercely fought on the pages of newspapers, the colonialists never raised their guns against journalists.
The worst situation journalists in Nigeria had faced before and immediately after independence in 1960, and even during the long military regimes were detentions in prisons, solitary confinements and at most, physical torture, like Minere Amakari of the Nigerian Observer who, in 1974, was flogged and his head crudely shaved with broken bottle for daring to publish a story on the teachers' strike in Rivers state at the time the state governor, Alfred Diette Spiff was celebrating his birthday.
However, Nigerians woke up on Sunday, October 19, 1986 to be confronted with the murder, through letter-bomb, of the ace Editor-In-Chief of the bobbling Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa. The nation was not only shocked at the strange development but rose in unison to condemn it. Ever since then, when the nation went into another long military interregnum, there was only a single incidence of the murder of Bagauda Kaltho of The News magazine. Besides that, the only professional hazards journalists went through were intimidation, molestation, harassment, humiliation, frustration, dehumanization, detention without trial, closure of media houses, threats to life and several others.
Ironically, just when the nation decided to embrace democracy, which was, of course, championed by journalists, the killing of journalists began. The report, last year (2009), of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) placed Nigeria far below the chart of the countries confirmed to be unsafe for journalists to practice their profession against the background of the high rate at which they were being mowed down in cold blood, usually by unknown assailants.
The countries that were rated high as the "unfavourable" territories for journalists because of conflicts and war are Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somali, while other countries that are classified as simply "Unfavourable" because of government policies or individuals' or groups' interests are Mexico, Columbia, Pakistan, Philippines, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Nepal, Venezuela, Russia, China, Cuba, Palestine, Hunduras, Iran and Burma. And in Sub Saharan Africa, the situation is worse in war-turn countries like Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Eritrea.
In some of these countries that have entered the record of IFJ, like Ethiopia, only four journalists were killed. Nigeria trailed far behind in the record of IFJ only because it was in that year (2009) that the political correspondent of The Guardian, Mr. Bayo Ohun was assassinated. He was murdered by unknown assailants on September 21, 2009. Before then however, there were cases of the cold blooded murder of Tunde Oladipo of The Guardian and Omololu Falobi of The Punch.
In 2008 too, Mr. Abayomi Ogundeji and Godwin Agbroko all of Thisday newspaper were also killed in cold blood in Lagos. Specifically, Mr. Ogundeji, a member of the editorial keith wuornos board of Thisday newspaper and former editor of Comet on Sunday was shot dead by unknown gunmen at a police check-point in Lagos on August 27, 2008. A lady, Miss Tunmise, who was with him when he was killed and who volunteered to be a star witness in the case at the Coroner inquest instituted by the Lagos state government was also shot dead in Sagamu, Ogun state on June 28, 2009 (ten months after the assassination of the journalist). Her assassination came barely two days after she bluntly refused to follow some police men who had gone to force her to a police station for interrogation.
Between 2009 and now, Nigeria has been having a harvest of death of journalists through physical elimination. They are the judicial correspondent of The Nation newspaper, Mr. Edo Sule Ugbagwu in Lagos, who was shot in the head at his number 39 Church street, Shasha-Akowonjo in Lagos at 7.00pm on Saturday April 24, 2010; Nathan S. Dabak and Gyang Bwede, deputy editor and reporter respectively, of Life Bearer newspaper, a publication of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN). They were murdered in the latest wake of crisis in Nasarawa-Gwom area of Jos North local government of Plateau state.
On June 25, 2009 police in the Task Force team of the Delta state ministry of Land and Urban development forced six reporters who were covering the demolition of illegal structures in Alaba area to lay face-down in a gutter that was oozing with offensive odour. The military people who forced themselves into power may have a way of explaining why they came down hard on journalists, because, for one thing, they are not trained to tolerate "insubordination" from "bloody" civilians like journalists, but what reason would a democratically elected civilian government offer for the far more worse environment it has so far provided the media practitioners?
In other word, it is true that journalists saw hell in the hands of the military guys in power, but they never witnessed the kind of serial murder which the democratic dispensation is now offering them; the democratic dispensation on whose platform ideas are supposed to thrive over and above pettiness.
Journalists who are essentially the carriers and nurturers of gamut of ideas towards the flourishing of true democracy seem to be at the receiving end of the system. The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, in empathizing with Nigerian journalists, condemned the series of killing and observed: "impunity gives the green light to criminals and murderers, and empowers those who have something to hide."
Of course, those who have something to hide and are on the loose to eliminate journalists who have passed the stage "in which all they do is to report what a man says" (Dele Giwa 1979), according to IFD, are terror-government or authority, drug barons and politicians. Ki-Moon insists that government has the duty to protect media workers, saying, "This protection must include investigating and prosecuting those who commit crime against journalists."
Analysts are miffed that despite a series of protests, demonstrations, complaints and appeals by various interests groups, especially the journalists themselves, the government has not bulged; it has not considered it as its duty to protect media workers and above all, to consider the negative consequences of the rising incidence of assassination of journalists in Nigeria amongst the comity of nations.
Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by its president, Malam Mohammed Garba, has gone from pillar to post crying itself hoarse, but all that the government has done and is still doing is to abandon the protection of journalists or investigation of the spate of killings of same to the Nigerian police who have the unenviable history of not been able to unravel and bring to justice any one of hundreds of murder cases that piled up across the country. The News Editor of Daily Independent newspaper, Habib Aruna laments that the government's silence on this image denting antics of the marauding murderers is not helping matters, adding: "We (journalists) are in a society that does not like what we are doing. The society is in darkness and we (journalists) represent the civilized world. We are the light and, unfortunately, they do not want light."
While the government is still at tea-table feigning ignorance of the magnitude of the problem at hand, the Enugu state commissioner for Inter-ministerial Affairs, Mr. Okezie Nwanjoku warned that the rising spate of killings of journalists is an embarrassment to the entire nation, adding: "It is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Nigeria that journalists are being killed in a country that is not at war or in any crisis," Nwanjoku said.
While sympathizers of journalists, Mr. Ifeanyi Okonkwo and Action Congress (AC) describe journalists in the present circumstances in which they operate as endangered species because of their fight against the societal ills, the chairman of Enugu correspondents' chapel of NUJ, Mr. Tony Edike expressed worry that a silent war has been declared by "unknown" enemies against journalists, asking: "What have we done to deserve these gruesome murders? We don't get allocations or contracts."
Analysts are of the opinion that from experience, any murder case that is left in the hands of the police for action is as good as a dead case, because they have this uncanny way of continuing to investigate murder case till the second coming of the Christ. They expressed the urgent need for the United Nations, Civil Society Groups and other international human rights bodies to intervene in the slide towards total anarchy against journalists, by goading the reluctant Nigerian government to urgently embark on measure aimed at protecting journalists from harassment, intimidation, threat to life and above all, the menace of assassination.
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11 Ways to Completely Ruin Your tyler mcphillips
Our chief concern here is to discuss the legal consequences of the current spate of party defection by members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC). We shall leave the task of recounting Nigeria's history on carpet crossing to historians and shall not be bordered by it. We shall also not allow ourselves to be drawn into arguments as to the morality/propriety of carpet crossing.
The media is awash with the news of the defection of 37 PDP members of the House of Representatives to the APC. Already, five PDP governors have dumped the party for the APC. The collapse of the PDP as the ruling party in Nigeria and as Africa's biggest political party seems imminent as unconfirmed reports say that twenty-two senators are planning to also dump the party for the APC.
Nigerian law on carpet crossing begins and ends with the provisions of Sections 68(1)(g) and 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These sections provide that:
"a member of the Senate or House of Representatives or State House of Assembly shall not vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if being a person whose election into the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which the House was elected.
Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member of a merger of two or more political parties by one of which he was previously sponsored."
It is interesting to note that unlike the purport of above provisions, Sections 135 and 180 of the said Constitution which provides for circumstances under which the President or his Vice, and a Governor or his Deputy could cease to hold office does not mention party defection as a ground for vacating or ceasing Mike Chen Biography to hold office.
From the above provisions therefore, Nigerian law on carpet crossing could be summarized as follows:
1. A Legislator in Nigeria could lose or vacate his seat in parliament if he defects from the party that sponsored him into the Legislative House to another party.
2. A Nigerian Governor, Deputy Governor, President or Vice President cannot vacate or cease to hold office for defecting from the political party that sponsored him into office to another.
3. Before a Legislator in Nigeria could be made to lose his seat in parliament for defecting to a party other than the one that sponsored him into the House, the principal officer of that Legislative House( the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the Speaker of the State House of Assembly as the case may be) or a member of that Legislative House must first present evidence satisfactory to the Legislative House concerned that a member has defected from the political party that sponsored him into the House to another political party and has by operation of law vacated his seat in Parliament.
4. It follows from the above that if there is no satisfactory evidence presented to the Legislative House on a member's defection, the member who is alleged to have defected can still retain his seat. He will however continue to be known and addressed as a member of the party that sponsored him into the House.
5. A Legislator in Nigerian can cross carpet to a party other than the one that sponsored him into the House and still keep his seat if he can prove that his defection was as a result of a division within his former party.
6. Also, a Legislator in Nigeria will not lose/vacate his seat even though he has defected from the party sponsored him to another party if he can prove that his membership of a new party is as a result of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.
The position that while a Legislator in Nigeria is liable to lose his seat in parliament for cross carpeting to another party, the President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor is not liable and cannot be forced to vacate or cease to hold office for the same reason was endorsed by the Nigerian Supreme Court in the case of AGF V. Atiku Abubarkar (2007)4 S.C (pt.11)62 where the issue before the court was whether the Vice President's defection from the PDP( on whose platform he was elected into office) to the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) meant that he had automatically vacated and ceased to hold that office.
The Supreme Court held that it is only Legislators that are liable to vacate their seats in parliament for defection to a different party from the one that sponsored them into office. The supreme held that the constitution does not envisage or provide for the vacation /cessation of the office of the President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor for defection from the party that sponsored them into office to another party. The Apex court held therefore that Vice-President Atiku Abubarkar was entitled to keep and/or in office even though he had effected from the PDP to the ACN.
Again, the position that a legislator may lose his seat in parliament for cross carpeting to another political party has been affirmed by the court in some decisions. For instance, the Federal High Court of Nigeria sitting in Akure in the case of Hon. Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde v. The Ondo State House of Assembly & Ors. sacked Mr. Abegunde, a House of Representatives member representing Akure North and South, Ondo State for defecting from the Labour Party to the ACN. Mr Abegunde had been elected into the House under the auspices of the Labour Party in the April 2011 General Elections. He however, defected to the ACN during the currency of the tenure of the House. The court held that Mr Abegunde had vacated his seat and ceased to be a member of the House by operation of law. This decision was affirmed and upheld by the Court of Appea in Re Hon. Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde v. The Ondo State House of Assembly & Ors. (2014) LPELR-23683(CA),Appeal No.CA/AK/110/2012.
Again, in the case of Hon. Michael Dapialong v. Chief (Dr) Joseph Chibi Dariye, Appeal No. S.C 39/2007 the Supreme Court took judicial notice of the fact that between 25th and 26th July,2006, fourteen members of the twenty-four members of the Plateau State House of Assembly including the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker thereof defected from the PDP platform on whose they were elected to the House in 2009 to the Advanced Congress of d Democrats(ACD) as a result of which the said 14 members were held to have vacated their seats by operation of law.
Relying on the Supreme Court decision in AGF V. Atiku Aburbakar therefore, we can safely conclude that the five PDP Governors that had defected to the APC can validly do so without being liable to vacate or cease to hold their offices. This is because the Constitution simply does not penalize the President, Vice President, a Governor or Deputy Governor who dumps the party that sponsored him into office for another party. Also, unlike Legislators, these members of the executive arm of Government are not required to proffer explanations or reasons to justify defection.
By a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, titled 'Communication of Change of Political Party' and dated the 18tth December, 2013, the 37 defecting Federal Lawmakers explained that their defection from the PDP to the APC was as a result of the internal crisis within the PDP. The Lawmakers also premised their defection from the PDP to the APC on the fact that the PDP has broken into two factions: the New PDP and the Old PDP. The so-called New PDP consisting of the dissatisfied and disgruntled members of the party, the majority of whom have defected to the APC.
It is to be recalled that in Agundade's case, he had argued that given the internal crisis, division and factionalization within the Labour Party, he was entitled by virtue of the proviso in Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution to defect from the Labour Party to the ACN without losing or having to vacate his seat in the House. The court however ruled that since he could not prove division or factionalization within the Labour Party, he was not entitled to keep or retain his seat after he decamped to the ACN. That he vacated his seat upon defection to the ACN by operation of law.
The proviso to the provisions of Section 68(1) (g) and 109(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution are to the effect that although a Legislator would ordinarily lose his seat if he defects to a party different from the one that sponsored him into the Legislative House, he is entitled to keep his seat if he can prove that:
1. He defected to a new party as a result of division within the party that sponsored him into the house.
2. His membership of the new party is as a result of the merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.
Before we proceed to examine whether the internal crisis rocking the PDP falls within the proviso to Sections 68(1)(g) and 109(1) (g) of the Constitution, it is pertinent to determine what constitutes division in a political party. The constitution does not define word "division". The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English, 6th Edition, defines division as a disagreement or difference in opinion or way of life etc especially between members of a society or an organization.
According to Professor Okey Okon of the South Central University, California, USA, division could arise from:
1. Ideological differences and
2. Organizational differences.
Organizational differences denote conflict, division, crisis etc arising as a result of the way and manner the party is run, operated or managed. In fact, all conflicts and crises arising from the management and operation of the organic structure of the political party fall under the category of organizational differences. Conflict, division or crises arising from organizational differences bordering on such issues as internal democracy mechanism of the party, conduct of primaries election, funding, election of principal officers of the party, adoption of candidates as party flag bearer for election, handling of party finances, planning and execution of election campaign strategies etc come under organizational differences.
It is a notorious fact that the PDP has from inception been bedeviled by internal crises caused by the occurrence of undemocratic practices within the party. The defecting 37 Federal Legislators have alleged that their defection from the PDP to APC was as a result of division and internal crises within the party and that they are entitled to keep their seats in parliament. We do not know the particulars of the alleged division or crises within the PDP but if their allegations are true then they are entitled to keep their seats in parliament.
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The brilliant blog 7532 