The Press: Between Freedom and Responsibility, By Onikepo Braithwaite

World Press Freedom Day: Freedom of Expression and the Press is Not Absolute  Last Friday was World Press Freedom Day, and consequently, it seems apposite for me to, once again, examine the topic of Freedom of the Press and Expression vis-à-vis the issue of regular allegations of abuse of these fundamental rights of others by […]

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The Process and Flaws of the Impeachment Law, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Definition of Impeachment The term ‘Impeachment’ refers to a legislative, and not a judicial process; the process by which the Legislature charges certain public officials for ‘gross misconduct’, and if such official is found guilty, they are removed from office by the Legislature. In fact, Sections 143(10) & 188(10) the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic […]

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The Judiciary: Unequal ‘Co-Equal’ Arm, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Last Thursday, I attended the Valedictory session held in honour of Honourable Justice Amina Adamu Augie, CFR, Justice of the Supreme Court, who stepped down from the Apex Court having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70 on September 3, 2023, after 45 years of meritorious service on the Bench, in accordance to Section 291(1) of the 1999 […]

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NBA Conference: The Good and the Ugly, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Lawyers: Getting it Wrong! The theme of the 2023 Nigerian Bar Association’s Annual General Conference (NBA AGC), ‘Getting it Right, Charting the Course for Nigeria’s Nation Building’, was appropriate and extremely relevant to the phase in life which Nigeria currently finds herself in, with the precarious state of the nation and the advent of a new Government. […]

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Magistracy: Their Poverty, Our Pain, By Onikepo Braithwaite

A considerable amount of light has been shed on the plight of judicial officers of superior courts of record, their meagre remuneration and poor conditions of service. However, not much has been said about the even worse conditions of service that judicial officers of the lower (I would rather not use the term ‘inferior’) courts, particularly the […]

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Minimum Wage, Untrained Police Prosecutors, et al, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Two issues caught my attention last week – the alleged approval of an increase in the salaries of political office holders, which turned out to be false; and the continuous use of Police Prosecutors who are non-Lawyers in the Magistrate Courts. Can RMAFC be that Insensitive? Last week, RMAFC (Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission) was […]

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The Judiciary: Beyond A Senator’s Faux Pas, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Senator Bulkachuwa’s Faux Pas  In my piece of 28/5/2019 titled “Election Tribunals: Hopes and Fears”, I had written about the application made by the legal team of the 2019 Petitioner at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that Hon. Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, then President of the Court of Appeal, recuse herself […]

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Obi, LP Membership and 2023 Polls, By Onikepo Braithwaite

As the days go by and important events occur, we continue to see how inadequate and poorly drafted the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended in 2018) (the Constitution) is, leaving room for Government and the people to give provisions whatever interpretation suits their purposes. Many of our laws, also suffer the same […]

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Lessons from the APC, PDP Primaries, By Onikepo Braithwaite

I’m sure that Nigerians, at least, I know that I have, learnt several lessons from the recently concluded PDP and APC Party Primaries. Here are a few lessons that I learnt. Lesson 1: Cash is King Firstly, that ‘Cash is King’! Section 121 of the Electoral Act 2022 (EA) which criminalises bribery and corruption in […]

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Electoral Act 2022: Unresolved Issues, By Onikepo Braithwaite

By now, Nigerians are used to the fact that our country is like a never-ending “Nollywood” television drama series. We move from one unnecessary saga/drama to the other, which mostly turn out to be, not particularly to the benefit of the people. Over the years, I think we have all learnt that these dramas are […]

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Kalu, GTBank: A Tale of Two Judgements, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Supreme Court: Orji Kalu v EFCC I don’t know whether to say, as we say in Hausa, ‘Na sha mamaki’ (I was amazed)! or in Yoruba slang, ‘giri gbe mi’ (literal- convulsion carried me; I convulsed; slang – I was shocked) – because these days nothing really should be shocking; there do not seem to […]

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Of Magistrates, Corruption and Incompetence, By Onikepo Braithwaite

About six weeks ago, we were all shocked when we heard of the invasion of the residence of Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili, JSC by some ‘unlawful’ law enforcement agents’, including Police and Military personnel, using a spurious search warrant as the authority for their illegal act. Recently, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Ibrahim […]

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NYSC, Law School: A Case for Urgent Review, By Onikepo Braithwaite

NYSC In January, 2017, I wrote a piece titled “Has NYSC Run Its Course?”. It was about the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme which was established by the NYSC Decree No. 24 of May 22, 1973 during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon, as a one year programme for fresh University graduates “to promote […]

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For the Buhari Administration, APC, Dishonesty as Policy Choice, By Onikepo Braithwaite

The popularity and credibility of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration seemed to have started to wane almost from its inception; and six and a half years later, one and a half years to the end of the administration, it may almost be an impossibility to redeem its image – its ratings and that of the APC […]

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Beyond Zoning, the President Nigeria Needs, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Happy belated 61st Independence Day Nigerians – well, whatever that means; or should it be Sad Independence Day instead, since majority of Nigerians are mostly unhappy, and feel that there isn’t much to celebrate, unless we want to engage in self-delusion. My question to every successive Nigerian Government, be it our Founding Fathers, the Military, […]

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Why Politicians Prefer Election Tribunal to Electronic Voting, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Greetings from Port Harcourt Greetings from the metropolitan garden city of Port Harcourt – well at the time of writing this piece anyway. I came to attend the 4th Memorial Emmanuel Chinwenwo Aguma, SAN, KSC Lecture/Public Discussion (he is the immediate past Attorney-General of Rivers State, who joined the saints triumphant on August 10, 2018 […]

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E-Transmission of Results and Senators’ Unclean Hands, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Justice for the ‘Queen’s College 3’ Before I go into the word for today, I would like to make a brief observation – we have definitely not forgotten – it’s been about four years since my fellow QC (Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos) Girls, Praise Sodipo, Vivian Osuniyi and Bithia Itulua, lost their lives as a […]

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APC, PDP: Two Parties, the Same Coin, By Onikepo Braithwaite

As the country plunges deeper into chaos, Nigerians are watching Politicians and the ruling class actively causing, partaking and fuelling anarchy in Nigeria. Defections to the APC I was extremely amused when I heard President Buhari’s comment that Zamfara Governor, Dr Bello Matawalle, defected to the APC (All Regressives Congress) because of their exemplary performance […]

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Amnesty, Criminality and Rule of Law, By Onikepo Braithwaite

Last week, the three incidents which caught most of Nigeria’s attention, were the arrest of fugitive from justice, Nnamdi Kanu, and his repatriation to Nigeria to come and continue his trial (and possibly face additional charges); the raid/excessive attack on Yoruba secessionist, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho’s residence in Ibadan, and the passing of the […]

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