Fmr. NBA 2nd VP, Ubani, Kicks Against FG Anti-Democratic Policies, FHC Practice Direction, NDLEA Drug Test

The chairman of Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public
Interest and Development Law, NBA-SPIDEL, Dr Monday Ubani has
kicked against what he described as the anti-democratic policies of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration, the recent
practice direction issued by the Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court and the plan by Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA,
to make drug test compulsory for intending couples.

In a statement on Monday, Dr. Ubani stated that while Buhari’s
growing undemocratic policies including the recent ban on Twitter
is been addressed through a lawsuit personally filed by him last
week, the FHC practice direction which grants the Federal Inland
Revenue Service, FIRS, the power and right to freeze the Bank
account/s and forfeit the property of a prospective Taxpayer and
the plan by NDLEA to make a drug test for intending couples, raises
a serious cause of concern.

He pointed out that Presiden Buhari and Buba Marwa even though
retired military personnel need a reminder that what we are
presently operating in Nigeria is civilian democracy and not a
military dictatorship where countless decrees and edicts are
churned out without any logic.

Ubani also stated that the whims and caprices of officeholders
have no place in a democracy, rather people are governed by laws,
rules, and regulations adequately prescribed and in clear adherence
to the protected rights of the citizens as prescribed by the
constitution which is the grundnorm.

Part of the statement reads: “ I am of the candid opinion that
Nigerians are feeling suffocated and imperiled with several
restrictive measures being churned out limiting their civic space
by the current administration. I feel alarmed and forced to voice
out my view on this before we are completely drowned by these
retrogressive and anti-democratic policies and pronouncements of
the present officials of the government in Nigeria.

“The recent ban on Twitter, the threat to prosecute Nigerians
and broadcasting media outfits who flout their lawless order not to
use Twitter, and the announcement of the Minister of Information to
license all social media platforms have received and are receiving
proper and effective reactions through strident criticisms and
invitation to judicial interventions by the aggrieved citizens.
However, two other pronouncements happened last week that should be
of great concern to human rights activists and the general members
of the public.

“One of them was The Federal High Court (Federal Inland Revenue
Service) Practice Directions, 2021 issued by the Chief Judge of
Federal High Court, Hon Justice John Tsoho in favor of a
prospective litigant, this time Federal Inland Revenue Service and
the pronouncement of the Chairman of National Drugs Law Enforcement
Agency, Retired Brig-Gen Buba Marwa suggesting drug test for
prospective couples before marriage and even before any
employment.

“President Buhari and Buba Marwa even though retired military
personnel need our reminder that what we are presently operating in
Nigeria is civilian democracy and not a military dictatorship where
countless decrees and edicts are churned out without any logic.

Whims and caprices of officeholders have no place in a
democracy, rather people are governed by laws, rules, and
regulations adequately prescribed and in clear adherence to the
protected rights of the citizens as prescribed by the constitution
which is the grundnorm.

“The Bar was indeed asleep when Assets Management Corporation of
Nigeria(AMCON) laws were amended with the prescriptive rules that
place a litigant above the adversary in any AMCON matter that
deserves the attention of the judiciary. The catastrophe in all
this is that the judiciary that a prospective litigant will run to
for a remedy, was clandestinely used to enact rules that place
AMCON on a higher pedestal against an adverse litigant in any
matter that involves both parties.

“It is sacrilegious as we have seen the collateral damage the
said rules and enactment have done on litigants in any case
involving AMCON. The side effect of the AMCON Rules is yet to abate
before another more dangerous and more destructive Practice
Direction was brought out by the Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court giving FIRS the upper hand in any case involving her and any
prospective litigant over tax issues.
“The summary of the Practice Direction is that it gives FIRS(The
Executive Arm of Government) the power and right to freeze the Bank
account/s and forfeit the property of a prospective Tax Payer any
time FIRS assesses a taxpayer whatever sum it deems fit.

“Having frozen the account/s and temporarily forfeited the
property/ies of the taxpayer, if the taxpayer desires to challenge
the assessment and the process adopted by FIRS, he will have to
deposit half of the sum assessed in an interest yielding account
before an audience will be granted by the court.

The illegality and draconian nature of this Practice Direction
should get any sane man in Nigeria thinking about the motive and
rationale behind it. The Practice Direction is questionable under
the following parameters;
“ It is an affront on the right of fair hearing to a citizen for a
law to take away constitutionally guaranteed rights without any
justification. S36(1) of 1999 Constitution as Amended guarantees
every citizen in Nigeria the Right to Fair Hearing which has been
taken away by this draconian Practice Direction that mandates
anyone who is challenging the tax assessment to first pay half of
the assessed sum before he or she can be heard by the court.

“It is a clear denial of Access to Justice for a litigant to be
told to comply with what he or she is challenging in court before
gaining access to the same judiciary that will determine his rights
and liabilities. This is evil and must not be allowed to stand in
any democratic country. Practice Direction by ranking as laws is on
the lowest ladder and cannot be used in whatever manner to wrestle
the rights of the citizens that are guaranteed by the
constitution.

“The arbitrary and abuse in the exercise of power by office
public holders should have put the Chief Judge in check before
issuing such a Practice Direction that makes a litigant like FIRS
to have upper hand in any controversy between them and another
litigant who has the right to challenge the exercise of their power
in assessment.

“We are here and we know how abusive and arbitrary office public
holders can be, especially against opponents and when pursuing
their personal interests. Tax assessor can just arbitrarily assess
a taxpayer, say one billion naira. This has happened severally
here. Going by that Practice Direction, the prospective tax payer
will have to cough out 500 million naira and pay it into an
interest-yielding account before such a body or person will have an
audience in court. If the body or person does not have much money,
he loses his property forfeited and all the money in his frozen
accounts to satisfy the bogus assessment. Where is this kind of
thing allowed in any sane society?

“The truth of the matter is that this Practice Direction must
not be allowed to stand. If the Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court refuses, and, or fails to see the danger and illegality of
issuing this Practice Direction, the court of the land should
determine this issue simpliciter. We are prepared for the war
ahead.

“On Buba Maruwa”s suggestion on the drug test before marriage
and employment, I am sure that no legislator whether at the State
level or Federal will take him serious on that. We all desire a
drug-free society and will vote for whatever legal measures that
should be used to reduce if not eradicate it completely but we will
not support any policy or measures that infringe on the rights of
law-abiding citizens. We commend and appreciate the efforts of the
current leadership of NDLEA in tackling drug problems in Nigeria,
but the leadership of Buba Marwa must learn to operate within the
law of the land as we are not under the military rule anymore. We
are yet to recover from their excesses while they were in power as
military rulers.

“Nigerians have made a choice for democracy and we insist that
they must enjoy all the ingredients of it especially on the aspect
that pertains to fundamental rights as guaranteed by the
constitution. Every attempt to restrict the civic space either now
or in the future will be decisively resisted by the Nigerian Bar
Association members that are alert.”

The chairman of Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public
Interest and Development Law, NBA-SPIDEL, Dr Monday Ubani has
kicked against what he described as the anti-democratic policies of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration, the recent
practice direction issued by the Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court and the plan by Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA,
to make drug test compulsory for intending couples.

In a statement on Monday, Dr. Ubani stated that while Buhari’s
growing undemocratic policies including the recent ban on Twitter
is been addressed through a lawsuit personally filed by him last
week, the FHC practice direction which grants the Federal Inland
Revenue Service, FIRS, the power and right to freeze the Bank
account/s and forfeit the property of a prospective Taxpayer and
the plan by NDLEA to make a drug test for intending couples, raises
a serious cause of concern.

He pointed out that Presiden Buhari and Buba Marwa even though
retired military personnel need a reminder that what we are
presently operating in Nigeria is civilian democracy and not a
military dictatorship where countless decrees and edicts are
churned out without any logic.

Ubani also stated that the whims and caprices of officeholders
have no place in a democracy, rather people are governed by laws,
rules, and regulations adequately prescribed and in clear adherence
to the protected rights of the citizens as prescribed by the
constitution which is the grundnorm.

Part of the statement reads: “ I am of the candid opinion that
Nigerians are feeling suffocated and imperiled with several
restrictive measures being churned out limiting their civic space
by the current administration. I feel alarmed and forced to voice
out my view on this before we are completely drowned by these
retrogressive and anti-democratic policies and pronouncements of
the present officials of the government in Nigeria.

“The recent ban on Twitter, the threat to prosecute Nigerians
and broadcasting media outfits who flout their lawless order not to
use Twitter, and the announcement of the Minister of Information to
license all social media platforms have received and are receiving
proper and effective reactions through strident criticisms and
invitation to judicial interventions by the aggrieved citizens.
However, two other pronouncements happened last week that should be
of great concern to human rights activists and the general members
of the public.

“One of them was The Federal High Court (Federal Inland Revenue
Service) Practice Directions, 2021 issued by the Chief Judge of
Federal High Court, Hon Justice John Tsoho in favor of a
prospective litigant, this time Federal Inland Revenue Service and
the pronouncement of the Chairman of National Drugs Law Enforcement
Agency, Retired Brig-Gen Buba Marwa suggesting drug test for
prospective couples before marriage and even before any
employment.

“President Buhari and Buba Marwa even though retired military
personnel need our reminder that what we are presently operating in
Nigeria is civilian democracy and not a military dictatorship where
countless decrees and edicts are churned out without any logic.

Whims and caprices of officeholders have no place in a
democracy, rather people are governed by laws, rules, and
regulations adequately prescribed and in clear adherence to the
protected rights of the citizens as prescribed by the constitution
which is the grundnorm.

“The Bar was indeed asleep when Assets Management Corporation of
Nigeria(AMCON) laws were amended with the prescriptive rules that
place a litigant above the adversary in any AMCON matter that
deserves the attention of the judiciary. The catastrophe in all
this is that the judiciary that a prospective litigant will run to
for a remedy, was clandestinely used to enact rules that place
AMCON on a higher pedestal against an adverse litigant in any
matter that involves both parties.

“It is sacrilegious as we have seen the collateral damage the
said rules and enactment have done on litigants in any case
involving AMCON. The side effect of the AMCON Rules is yet to abate
before another more dangerous and more destructive Practice
Direction was brought out by the Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court giving FIRS the upper hand in any case involving her and any
prospective litigant over tax issues.
“The summary of the Practice Direction is that it gives FIRS(The
Executive Arm of Government) the power and right to freeze the Bank
account/s and forfeit the property of a prospective Tax Payer any
time FIRS assesses a taxpayer whatever sum it deems fit.

“Having frozen the account/s and temporarily forfeited the
property/ies of the taxpayer, if the taxpayer desires to challenge
the assessment and the process adopted by FIRS, he will have to
deposit half of the sum assessed in an interest yielding account
before an audience will be granted by the court.

The illegality and draconian nature of this Practice Direction
should get any sane man in Nigeria thinking about the motive and
rationale behind it. The Practice Direction is questionable under
the following parameters;
“ It is an affront on the right of fair hearing to a citizen for a
law to take away constitutionally guaranteed rights without any
justification. S36(1) of 1999 Constitution as Amended guarantees
every citizen in Nigeria the Right to Fair Hearing which has been
taken away by this draconian Practice Direction that mandates
anyone who is challenging the tax assessment to first pay half of
the assessed sum before he or she can be heard by the court.

“It is a clear denial of Access to Justice for a litigant to be
told to comply with what he or she is challenging in court before
gaining access to the same judiciary that will determine his rights
and liabilities. This is evil and must not be allowed to stand in
any democratic country. Practice Direction by ranking as laws is on
the lowest ladder and cannot be used in whatever manner to wrestle
the rights of the citizens that are guaranteed by the
constitution.

“The arbitrary and abuse in the exercise of power by office
public holders should have put the Chief Judge in check before
issuing such a Practice Direction that makes a litigant like FIRS
to have upper hand in any controversy between them and another
litigant who has the right to challenge the exercise of their power
in assessment.

“We are here and we know how abusive and arbitrary office public
holders can be, especially against opponents and when pursuing
their personal interests. Tax assessor can just arbitrarily assess
a taxpayer, say one billion naira. This has happened severally
here. Going by that Practice Direction, the prospective tax payer
will have to cough out 500 million naira and pay it into an
interest-yielding account before such a body or person will have an
audience in court. If the body or person does not have much money,
he loses his property forfeited and all the money in his frozen
accounts to satisfy the bogus assessment. Where is this kind of
thing allowed in any sane society?

“The truth of the matter is that this Practice Direction must
not be allowed to stand. If the Chief Judge of the Federal High
Court refuses, and, or fails to see the danger and illegality of
issuing this Practice Direction, the court of the land should
determine this issue simpliciter. We are prepared for the war
ahead.

“On Buba Maruwa”s suggestion on the drug test before marriage
and employment, I am sure that no legislator whether at the State
level or Federal will take him serious on that. We all desire a
drug-free society and will vote for whatever legal measures that
should be used to reduce if not eradicate it completely but we will
not support any policy or measures that infringe on the rights of
law-abiding citizens. We commend and appreciate the efforts of the
current leadership of NDLEA in tackling drug problems in Nigeria,
but the leadership of Buba Marwa must learn to operate within the
law of the land as we are not under the military rule anymore. We
are yet to recover from their excesses while they were in power as
military rulers.

“Nigerians have made a choice for democracy and we insist that
they must enjoy all the ingredients of it especially on the aspect
that pertains to fundamental rights as guaranteed by the
constitution. Every attempt to restrict the civic space either now
or in the future will be decisively resisted by the Nigerian Bar
Association members that are alert.”