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Legal Headline News 09/05/2016

Your daily list of law news:

Vanguard: The Panama Papers scandal promises to deepen around the world on Monday when a journalists’ group with access to the digital cache of documents is to put many of them online. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is to release the documents in a searchable database at 1800 GMT on Monday accessible to the public at offshoreleaks.icij.org.

BBC: A white South African judge has sparked a racism row after she purportedly said on social media that rape was part of the culture of black men. Judge Mabel Jansen said the gang-rape of babies, girls and women was seen as a “pleasurable” past-time. A petition has been launched to demand her removal as a judge. She said her comments had been taken out of context.

The Nation: Some Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials have been summoned to the agency’s Abuja headquarters in connection with the alleged N23.29billion bribe the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is probing. The EFCC has quizzed 16 top INEC officials, including 10 directors, over the scandal. Those invited are two Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and an administrative officer.

Jurist: A UN human rights experts on Saturday said that detainees in Sri Lanka are still experiencing torture as a tactic used by criminal and terrorism investigators seven years after the country’s civil war ended. The comments were made after a nine-day trip to the country where Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, conducted interviews with former detainees, and forensic tests were able to confirm the stories.

Legal Headline News 07/05/2016

Your daily list of law news:

BBC: A prominent Egyptian human rights lawyer has been arrested, in the latest government move against critics of a recent decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Malek Adly is accused of plotting a coup and spreading false information, he is among a group of lawyers who filed a lawsuit against a deal signed by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Arabia over the islands.

The Nation: The 2016 “Budget of Change” which was signed into law yesterday by President Muhammadu Buhari has a capital outlay of N6.06 trillion, N200 billion short of the N6.08 billion originally proposed by the executive.

Jurist:  UN top official Stephen O’Brien on Thursday called for the immediate investigation of recent airstrikes in Syria which may amount to war crimes for intentionally targeting civilians.

Vanguard: Thousands of South Africans took to the streets of Cape Town on Saturday demanding a relaxation of drugs laws to allow medicinal and recreational use of cannabis. 

Quote of the Day

An inspiring quote by Donnelly J

In the Concept of Human Rights from Donnelly J, Universal human rights in theory and practice.

The National Grazing Reserve Bill: “An ill wind that will blow no good”

By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

In recent times, the nation has been awash with news of a certain grazing bill pending before the National Assembly for consideration. Up till now, no one is sure as to the exact purpose for the said Bill, save that it was said to be meant to address the incessant Fulani attacks, especially on farms and local settlements. This Bill has been rejected by all concerned, especially because of its manifestly dangerous consequences on us as a nation.

The grazing bill

Perhaps the best way to start is to examine the details of the said Bill, as it affects everyone. The proposed Grazing Bill is for the establishment of national grazing routes and reserves for the Fulani herdsmen.

The essence of this Bill is to establish National Grazing Routes and Reserves Commission, which shall acquire lands in all the 36 states of the Federation for the purpose of grazing and ranching.

It is targeted to curb incessant conflicts between nomadic herdsmen and livestock farmers and settlers in Nigeria. The central objective is to foster national cohesion and eliminate intra-state conflicts. The bill, when enacted into law, will be known as the National Grazing Route and Reserve Commission. Its functions: When enacted into law, the commission is expected to establish cattle routes, farm camp and grazing reserves in different parts of the country.

Quote of the Day

“We canvass the view that law scholars in Nigeria should re-imagine the intellectual content and breadth of their fields of study. They should now be thinking of moulding and shaping future advocates who would have audience not only in Nigerian courts but also in the global community of courts “This is even more so since Nigerians are found in virtually all corners of the globe.

These Nigerians in the Diaspora are either engaged in transnational trades or businesses or other forms of endeavour. “The question may be posed: of what use would the Nigerian lawyer be to such global Nigerians  if the contract law curriculum, for example, does not transcend the traditional English Law assumptions?”

Justice Nweze of the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

At the monthly meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Abuja branch

Source

Legal Headline News 05/05/2016

Your daily list of legal news:

The Nation: The Senate yesterday resolved to enact a legislation prescribing  the death penalty for kidnappers. The resolution followed the submission and consideration of the report of the Joint Committee on Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence on the “unfortunate recurrence of kidnapping and hostage-taking in Nigeria.”

BBC: Two men who say Kenyan police forced them to undergo anal examinations to prove they had had gay sex have launched a court case, calling for the tests to be declared unconstitutional. In a statement, campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has called for a global ban on the practice, said: “Under international law, forced anal examinations are a form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment that may amount to torture.”

Vanguard: The Benue State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, yesterday, lodged a complaint at the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, over alleged killings and wanton destruction of property in the state by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

The Nation: Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, Thursday said that the controversial National Grazing Reserve Bill should be considered dead on arrival. The Land Use Act, she said, is unequivocal that all land is vested in the hands of governors to hold in entrust for the people. She insisted that any such law, promoted for compulsory acquisition or confiscation of land, will undoubtedly be unconstitutional and therefore void.

11 Secrets Successful People Know And Live By- By Gordana Biernat

Gordana Biernat is a writer and motivational speaker, based in Sweden, who shares motivational aphorisms to her followers @MyPowertalk. She shares 11 rules that have not just helped her but also the clients she works with.