There appears to be a gross inconsistency between the purported anti-kidnapping
law and the Respondents 1999 Constitution (as amended). The legislation
authorizing a demolition without hearing persons so allegedly involved and
rendering other innocent inhabitants homeless is blatantly and rapaciously
unconstitutional and grossly incoherent with the provisions of the constitution.
Section 1 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states: “this Constitution is
supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons
throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria”
Section 4 (5) of the same Constitution directs that: “if any law enacted by the House
of Assembly of a State is inconsistent with any law validly made by the National
Assembly, the law made by the National Assembly shall prevail and that other law
shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void”.
The Respondent’s Constitution guarantees the right to be presumed innocent, the
right to be heard and the right own property. There is no provision in the Constitution
that guarantees punishment without being tried and convicted of an offence.
There is also an inconsistency between the anti-kidnapping law and the International
human right Treaties. A country that ratifies a treaty is legally obligated to protect
the rights it describes. It is trite that where a national law or legislation is inconsistent
with the international laws on fundamental rights or in derogation from fundamental
rights, such law is to the extent of its inconsistency null and void.
Article 4 of the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR) provides:
“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, in the enjoyment of those
rights provided by the State in conformity with the present Covenant, the State may
subject such rights only to such limitations as are determined by law only in so far
as this may be compatible with the nature of these rights and solely for the purpose
of promoting the general welfare in a democratic society”.
In Abacha and Others v Fawehinmi (2001) AHRLR 172 (NgSC 2000); the
African Commission ruled that “the African Charter on Human & Peoples Rights
(ACHPR) is domestically enforceable, with its status higher than any ordinary
legislation in Nigeria. It further held that the Charter possesses a greater vigor and
strength' than any other domestic statute….”
This implies that in the event of any conflict between the African Charter on Human
Rights & Peoples Rights (signed, ratified and domesticated by Nigeria in 1983) and
any Act of the National Assembly; the African Charter prevails.
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