The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: Falana

  • Sylvester Oromoni’s Family hires Falana for legal war

     

    The family of the late Sylvester Oromoni Jnr. has faulted the legal advice by the Director of Public Prosection (DPP), Lagos State, which stated that the suspects in the murder saga had no case to answer.

     

    Father of the deceased student of Dowen College, Mr. Sylvester Oromoni, in reaction to the DPP’s advice, said the family would pursue the case legally to a logical conclusion to get justice.

     

    As a result, Mr. Oromoni in a statement, said the family has instructed the legal team led by Mr. Femi Falana (SAN),to put machinery in motion.

     

    The bereaved father called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Inspector-General of Police, civil society organisations and international bodies to wade in and ensure that justice was served.

    The statement read in part: “My attention has been drawn to the legal advice, dated January 4, 2022, on the untimely and brutal death of my beloved son, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr., who died on November 30, 2021.

     

    “I am appalled by the said legal advice being circulated on social media, as a copy was not obliged to us despite several request for same.”

     

    Oromoni expressed dismay at what he described as a “gang-up” by concerned authorities against the “innocent boy who died as a result of negligence by the management of Dowen College and the release of the five suspects when the police had not concluded investigations. Be that as it may, I am not surprised with the content of the said legal advice.

     

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    “This is because the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, had on December 31, 2021, said before the governor, the Attorney-General and the DPP that investigation had been concluded and that those arrested in connection with the murder had no case to answer.

     

    “It may interest you to know that the suspects were ordered to be remanded by the police for 21 days to have proper investigation by the same magistrate’s court in Lagos, which granted the five suspects bail.”

     

    Oromoni added that there was a clear oral statement from his son before he died and his schoolmates that he was tortured and given an unknown substance, suspected to be poison, which led to his death.

     

    “The management of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, has always claimed that my late son sustained injury while playing football.

     

    All the evidence gathered has shown that this is not the true story but a way to cover up their negligence.

     

    “Based on the outcome of the autopsy report which contradicts the story of Dowen College, it is my firm belief that there is a conspiracy among the officials,” he said.

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.sunnewsonline.com

  • Proposed NBC and NPC Amendment, an attempt to criminalise freedom of expression against the Nigerian constitution – Falana

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, in this interview with SAMSON FOLARIN, urges media professionals to mobilise public support against the proposed amendments of the National Broadcasting Commission Act and the Nigerian Press Council Act.

     

    How do you perceive the proposed amendments of the NBC Act and NPC Act?

     

    The timing is totally wrong as the atmosphere is currently polluted. The sponsors of the anti-media bills should have awaited the resolution of the ban on Twitter. However, the sponsors have not bothered to familiarise themselves with the struggle for freedom of expression in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries. The colonial regime promulgated the Official Ordinance which prescribed a 14-year jail term for anyone who leaked official documents on the exploitation of the resources of the colonial territory and thereby exposed the atrocities of the British Government. The Public Order Ordinance prohibited public protests against the alien regime. The Criminal Ordinance contained sedition which criminalised the publication, circulation or possession of any statement which exposed the colonial regime to ridicule, odium or embarrassment. Truth was not a defence under the law. The ruling class in the post-colonial regime decided to retain the obnoxious laws. The military junta enacted decrees to jail journalists, proscribe newspapers and close media houses for embarrassing any of the dictators.

     

    The proposed amendments of the two acts made provisions for journalists to be jailed for up to three years or fined up to N10m. How do these amendments compare with Decree 4 of 1984 enacted by Buhari when he was the head of state?

     

    The provisions of Section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act 2015 are more stringent than what is being proposed in the amendments. But the section has been annulled by the ECOWAS Court. To that extent, the provision of the law can no longer be invoked to prosecute any citizen or organisation in the country. The Buhari regime has subjected journalists to trial under the Treason Act, while others have been charged with treasonable felony.  Scores of journalists and other critics are standing trial for embarrassing some state governors. The National Broadcasting Commission has been used to close and suspend media houses and impose outrageous fines on them. It is against the background of intolerance that Twitter has been suspended.

     

    In the proposed amendment to the NBC Act, the NBC is given powers to determine public interest and impose sanctions on television stations, including fines and revocation of licences where it feels broadcasters have acted against its perception of public interest. What danger does this portend for our democracy?

     

    The controversial amendment of the NBC Code was not carried out by the NBC Board. The amendment has been challenged in court by an activist, Effiong Enibebe. The government has no defence to the case. That is what informed the proposal to empower the NBC to impose the prohibitive fines.

     

    The amendment to the NPC Act gives the Minister of Information powers to approve the NPC Code. Is this right when we have professional bodies like the NUJ, NGE, NPAN?

     

    The Federal Government cannot control the media to the extent that the Minister of Information will expropriate the powers of the state governments and the relevant professional bodies. Apart from Section 36 of the Constitution which protects the fundamental rights of Nigerians to freedom of expression, Section 22 of the Constitution has specifically tasked the media to promote accountability and transparency in government. Any act of the parliament that is inconsistent with either of the two constitutional provisions will be quashed.

     

    What is the best approach for the media to stop these amendments from going through?

     

    I know that the media succeeded in Ghana in ensuring that all anti-media laws were repealed. It may interest you to know that the Nigerian case of Arthur Nwankwo v. The State, wherein the Court of Appeal declared sedition law illegal, was one of the materials used by the media to make a successful case for the decriminalisation of the media in Ghana. The ECOWAS Court has quashed the anti-media law of 2017 enacted by the brutal Yahya Jammeh dictatorship.  A couple of years ago, I addressed judges and journalists on the urgent need to repeal all anti media laws. Happily, The Gambia is currently involved in the decriminalization of the media in that country. Frankly speaking, the Nigerian Union of Journalism, Guild of Editors and Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria ought to have amended their codes to take care of the excesses of social media. With respect to these amendments, the media should mobilise public support and propose alternative amendments for the regulation of social media. It is high time the media in Nigeria began a campaign for the decriminalisation of the freedom of expression.

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.punchng.com

  • Insecurity : “The Nigerian government has failed on security” – Falana

    Lagos lawyer Femi Falana’s wife, Mrs Funmi Falana, on Sunday said the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the 36 state governors should resign from office if they were helpless on the insecurity in the country.

    Falana, who is also a human rights activists, said governments had failed on security and something needed to be done, lamenting that “Nigerians are afraid to go out, Nigerians fear for their lives, they are afraid for their security. It is very sad. Nobody ever envisaged that Nigeria will get to a situation like this.”

    The human rights lawyer, who spoke in Iyin Ekiti, Ekiti State, during her yearly New Year celebration with motherless children, called on states yet to domesticate the Child’s Right Law to do so.

    She said, “There is the need to do something about the security of the citizens. A government that is unable to guarantee the security of the citizens is a failed government, so if they cannot protect the Nigerian people, the governments have failed.

    “We are using this opportunity to remind them that it is the constitutional responsibility of the government under Chapter Two of the constitution to provide security for the people. It is as if they are helpless, if they are helpless, let them resign and let us know that we don’t have government,” Falana said.

    Falana said that her yearly celebration with the children “is our way of giving back to the needy in the society because these people really need the expression of our love and also to let them know that they are important in t he society.”

    The matron of the children’s home, Mrs Olayinka Ajayi, said Falana’s contributions in the last few years had made significant impact in the lives of the children.

     

    Source : www.punchng.com