Our attention is drawn to a circular by the Chief of Army
Staff, Tukur Buratai, commanding soldiers to embark on an action he tagged
'Op-Second Eleven’ and which is organised for the "enforcement of
government movement restriction order" over Coronavirus.
Our sincere wishes had been that the military would follow
the path of reason to jettison such a misguided ambition, which clearly has no
legal standing within the Nigerian jurisprudence. However, we are disturbed by
the updates we are receiving about the brutality, physical assault and attack
unleashed on citizens by soldiers in the name of enforcing government orders.
We assert that even the President of Nigeria has no power
whatsoever to call out the armed forces and unleash them on peaceful citizens
except in exceptional circumstances which does not fall in this instance.
It remains trite law that armed forces or the military have
no right to dabble into civil activities except perhaps, to exercise their
right of franchise during elections and vote in their barracks. By virtue of
Section 217 (1) and (2) of the 1999 constitution, the functions for which the
military is established are:
(a) Defending the nation from external aggression;
(b) Maintaining its territorial integrity and securing its
borders from violation on land, sea or air;
(c) Suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil
authorities, to restore order when called upon to do so by the President, but
subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National
Assembly; and
(d) Performing such other functions as may be prescribed by
an Act of the National Assembly.
In the case of APC V PDP & ORS CA/EK/EPT/GOV/1/2015,
LN-e-LR/2015/14 (CA), the Court of Appeal warned that: "Even the item (2)
(c) which talk about suppression of insurrection and acting in aid of civil
authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the president,
appears to be applicable only in the event of insurrection, to restore order
and, even then, the military must be invited by the President, upon fulfilment
of specified conditions, prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly."
The court further held that: "Even the president of
Nigeria has no powers to call out the armed forces and unleash them (military
officers) on a peaceful citizenry and even in the event of insurrection or
insurgency, the call on the armed forces to aid civil authorities to restore
order, must be with the approval of the National Assembly which must provide
conditions as specified in Sections 217 (2) and 218 (4) of the 1999 constitution,
(as amended)."
This point was also established in the case of Yusuf V.
Obasanjo (2005) 18 NWLR (pt. 956) 96 at 174-175, when, His Lordship, Salami JCA
(as he then was) said:
“It is up to the police to protect our nascent democracy and
not the Military, otherwise the democracy might be wittingly or unwittingly
militarised. This is not what the citizenry bargained for, after wrestling
power from the military in 1999. Conscious steps should be taken to
'civilianise' the polity and thereby ensure survival and substance of
democracy”.
Against the foregoing, we hereby call on any Nigerian who
has been or is being unlawfully harassed by the military in the process of
enforcing government directive to immediately reach out to us via our email:
revolutionarylawyersforum@gmail.com and we will bring the full weight of the
law against such erring military officer.
Tope Akinyode is the National President, Revolutionary
Lawyer's Forum
0 Comments