Femi Falana, human rights activist, says filing an appeal
against a court judgement does not suspend its order.
Falana was reacting to the attempt of Femi Adesina, presidential
spokesman, to justify the continuous detention of IbrahIm
El-zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).
Adesina had said El-Zakzaky was still in detention because the
presidency filed an appeal against the federal high court order for
the release of the IMN leader.
The senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said the “mere filing of an
appeal does not operate as a stay of action”, adding that the
appeal filed has not suspended the orders of the court for the
release of Zakzaky from “unlawful detention”.
He added that the order of the court cannot be stayed pending
the determination of an appeal.
“Before now, the federal government had invoked ‘national
security’ to justify its contemptuous conduct. Apparently
embarrassed by the allegation of disobedience of court orders, the
federal government has now turned round to give the misleading
impression that the filing of an appeal is a justification for not
releasing the Elzakzakys from detention, ” Falana said.
“With respect, it is trite law that the mere filing of an appeal
does not operate as a stay of action in respect of the judgment of
a court. In the instant case, the filing of the appeal referred to
by Mr. Adesina has not varied or suspended the orders of the
federal high court for the release of the Elzakzakys from unlawful
detention.
“It may interest Mr. Adesina to know that the order of a court
for the release of a citizen from custody cannot be stayed pending
the determination of an appeal. Hence, the federal government did
not deem it fit to file any motion for stay of execution of the
orders of the federal high court.
“Even under the defunct military junta in Nigeria, the Court of
Appeal dismissed the motion for stay of execution in the case of
Nigerian Army vs Mowarin (1992) 4 N.W.L.R. (pt 235) 345.
“According to Kalgo J.C.A. (as he then was): “the refusal of the
application will not cause any injury to the applicant, but if the
application is granted, the respondent will continue to suffer
personally in detention after the court has declared her detention
unlawful ab initio.”
He, therefore, advised the federal government to comply with the
court order without any further delay “since neither the court of
appeal nor the high court had stayed the orders for the release of
Zakzaky.”
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NOUN
National Open University of Nigeria
Why children’s communication disorder persists in
Nigeria- Don
Authorities and community leaders have been urged to prioritise
the need to develop child language and continue to pay deserving
attention to language disabilities and general communication
disorder for a proper child upbringing, a professor of Linguistics
in Child Language and Communication Disorder at the National Open
University of Nigeria (NOUN), Shirley Yul-Ifode, has advised.
She said there is an absence of attention in the area of
children’s communication pattern and disorder in Nigeria, which
practically makes the inculcation of societal values and traditions
in the children difficult and thereby breeds the resultants social
vices.
Yul-Ifode stated this on Wednesday, 24th July, 2019 at the NOUN
headquarters in Abuja, while presenting her Inaugural Lecture on
the topic: “The Child Beyond the Breath of Life: Our Corporate
Concern.”
delivered before the multitude of guests from in and outside the
university.
The lecture, which the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof.
Abdalla Uba Adamu, said was the university’s 14th in the series,
was part of the requirement of any lecturer who attains the rank of
professorship in the academic journey.
Yul-Ifode said the consequences of a communication disordered
person transcend the communication activity, “because of the
relationship between the developing child and his language, the
medium of communication, which is an index of normal/healthy
development, maladjustment, as well as some developmental
disorders.”
“Any family that goes beyond the breath of life and pays
attention to the language development of a child will be able to
identify deviations not only in the communication patterns, when
they arise, but also in other areas of the development of the child
for early intervention,” she added.
Yul-Ifode, a native of Emevor town in Delta State, admonished
parents to quickly provide help and support to a child identified
with such disorders to minimise the effect of the attendant
limitation placed on people with communication disorder.
She lamented that the various organisations involved with
persons with disabilities have continued to operate in isolation in
the country, leaving stakeholders with only occasions as World
Disability Day, Children’s Day, World Autism Day to meet.
She advised that interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary forum
should be organised to brainstorm on the way forward for the
special children in Nigeria.
Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adamu, while commenting on the lecturer,
described her as someone who took an unusual step presenting her
Inaugural Lecture by developing her research into reality.
He urged the Faculty of Arts of the university to think of
establishing a Research Centre of Communication Disorders, due to
the critical need of such to address the ubiquitous instances of
language disabilities and communication disorder.
He said with about N90 million funds reserved for institutions
based researches by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND),
other faculties of the university should begin to develop ways of
partnerships towards relevant researches on specific areas of
learning.
Adamu described the topic as apt, stressing that “we all faced
language disorder in our lives and with our children,” which made
the presentation “absolutely wonderful and inspiring.”
Ibrahim Sheme
Director, Media and Publicity
NOUN