By: EMMA ARUBI, Warri A Warri based legal practitioner, Fabius Jemide Atie, has said that the police cannot bar the Ijaws, Urhobos and
By: EMMA ARUBI, Warri
A Warri based legal practitioner, Fabius Jemide Atie, has said that the police cannot bar the Ijaws, Urhobos and Itsekiris ethnicities in Delta State from calling each other customary tenants as pronounced by competent courts of jurisdiction and other relevant authorities in the country.
Mr. Atie made this declaration in a statement made exclusively to New Nigeria Newspapers in Warri, saying, baring such usage is an affront on the decisions of erudite judges of the various courts particularly the Supreme Court of Nigeria that has decided cases to that effect that there are ‘customary tenants’.
According to him, “the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 5 Headquarters, does not have the powers to bar the usage of the word ‘customary tenant’. It is ultra vires his powers to do so. He cannot make his office a court and sit as an appellate court against the decisions reached by the Supreme court and all other various courts that have used the phrase.
It would be recalled that the A.I.G Zone 5, Headquarters Benin City, Edo State, Salman Dogo Garba recently admonished the three feuding tribes to desist from the usage of the term to endear a peaceful coexistence in the Warri axis of Delta State.
But the legal practitioner insisted that while “the A.I.G has the right to his opinion, he is not a lawmaker that has made law to that effect.
“He cannot assume the power of a legislator as he is strictly in the business of executing the law so made by the National Assembly, state house of assembly and orders made by court.
” His order of baring such usage is an affront on the decisions of erudite judges of the various courts particularly the Supreme Court of Nigeria that has decided cases to that effect that there are customary tenants.
“With due respect, the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 5 Headquarters does not have the powers to bar the usage of the word ‘customary tenant’.
” It is ultra vires his powers to do so. He cannot make his office a court and sit as an appellate court against the decisions reached by the Supreme court and all other various courts that have used the phrase.
“Secondly, why will the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 5 Headquarters limit his bar to people of Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri speaking people of Delta State?
“Why did he not generalize the bar to all parts of Delta State if really he is serious of not making it to favour a particular group or groups of people? Is it only in Warri North, South and Warri South-West that we have people that have issues involving ownership of land that have been adjudge ‘customary tenants’? The answer is a big NO! The third reason is that in other parts of Delta State, people have been declared ‘customary tenants”, he posited.
He further pointed out that there have been many judgments on lands in the whole parts of Nigeria, particularly in the western parts of Nigeria, where the Inspector General of Police is from.
“If such usage can go on in the west un-hindered, then this bar is selective justice which with due respect can never be enforced, stressing that there is no offence known to law that a user of such phrase can be charged with.
“There is no definition of the usage of the phrase ‘customary tenant’ as an offence in any written law. That is the principle of law in the case of AOKO V FAGBEMI (1961) ANLR 400.It is an elementary principle of law that you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stay. It will surely fall. That is the position of the court in the case of UAC V. MCFOY 3 ALL E.L R. 1169.
“The bar will create injustice to those who have the benefit of such judgment wherein it was used. In the situation where people do not want to accept that they are ‘customary tenants’ when the courts have already pronounce them to be so, such persons are the ones fanning the ember of crises not the person in whose favour such judgment was pronounced”, he emphasized.
“Section 4 of the Police Act 2020 states that the functions of the police which include the prevention of crime and investigation of the same. It is also to ensure that the law of the land cum judgments are obeyed. Any one that disobeys the judgment of the court can be prosecuted in a competent court and judgment delivered by the court.
“The Assistant Inspector General of Police should limit himself to the functions of the executive and not that of the legislature and/or the judiciary. The police under the command of the Inspector General of Police knows what to do if it is really desirous of preventing a breakdown of law and order.
“The police ought to look at those who are not ready to accept their adjudge status as ‘customary tenants’ and advise them to accept it instead of looking for a means for them to change such status. If their refusal leads to a breakdown of law and order, then they should be prosecuted instead of finding a soft ground for them to land”, he concluded.
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