Wednesday 18th June, 2014, is a day that will forever remain green in the memory of Great Zikites. It was the day the Students' Representatives Council (the legislature) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka purported to suspend Comrade Ibe Chukwunonso (the Executive President of UNIZIK's SUG) from office. The decision was reached because, the latter had failed twice, without justification to appear before the former which had summoned him to answer the allegations of embezzlement of The Union's funds levied against him.
In this article, I've chosen not to concern myself with the veracity of the allegations made against the SUG President, but will be solely concerned with examining the validity of the resolution of the SRC, legally speaking.
The Constitution of The SUG of UNIZIK in Section 78, makes provision for the process through which the President of the Union or any member of the Executive Council may be removed. A perusal of that section shows that the President may be impeached and not suspended. Indeed in keeping with the trite principle of law laid down in Alhaji Hashiru Matari v. Dangaladima, Jonah Onyebuchi Eze v. Federal Republic of Nigeria, and a plethora of other judicial authorities, a voyage through the entire gamut of the GROUND NORM of UNIZIK's legal system would show that resolution of the SRC to suspend Comrade Ibe Chukwunonso is unconstitutional.
The SRC seeks to justify its resolution in reference to the provisions of a purported Act of the SRC which conferred on it, the power to suspend any member of the Executive Council of the Union, who repeatedly fails to appear before it after being duly summoned.
With the greatest sense of respect to the SRC, I doubt the existence of any such Act. Be that as it may, even if such an Act were truly in existence, the President of the Union can't be punished legally under the rubrics of that purported Act. For by virtue of Section 18(2)(a) of the Constitution of SUG of UNIZIK, every member of the Union is entitled to fundamental rights enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended in 2011. If this is the case, then Section 36(8) & (12) of the CFRN which is a constitutional declaration of the Principle of Legality under which no person can be legally punished for any act or omission save in accordance with the provisions of a written law which publicly denounces the given act or omission absolves the President of culpability; see the case of Ifegbu v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2001) 3 NWLR [P.t 729] @ page 103.
The greater percentage of The Giants (ZIKITES) are unaware of the existence of the purported Act, assuming but not conceding that the said Act does exist. It thus follows that the resolution of the SRC suspending the President of the SUG is unconstitutional, illegal, and invalid for the afore stated reasons.
Yours in Service,
B.U CHINOZIEM-BEST (ESQ.)
4th Year Constituency Faculty of Law NAU, AWKA
In this article, I've chosen not to concern myself with the veracity of the allegations made against the SUG President, but will be solely concerned with examining the validity of the resolution of the SRC, legally speaking.
The Constitution of The SUG of UNIZIK in Section 78, makes provision for the process through which the President of the Union or any member of the Executive Council may be removed. A perusal of that section shows that the President may be impeached and not suspended. Indeed in keeping with the trite principle of law laid down in Alhaji Hashiru Matari v. Dangaladima, Jonah Onyebuchi Eze v. Federal Republic of Nigeria, and a plethora of other judicial authorities, a voyage through the entire gamut of the GROUND NORM of UNIZIK's legal system would show that resolution of the SRC to suspend Comrade Ibe Chukwunonso is unconstitutional.
The SRC seeks to justify its resolution in reference to the provisions of a purported Act of the SRC which conferred on it, the power to suspend any member of the Executive Council of the Union, who repeatedly fails to appear before it after being duly summoned.
With the greatest sense of respect to the SRC, I doubt the existence of any such Act. Be that as it may, even if such an Act were truly in existence, the President of the Union can't be punished legally under the rubrics of that purported Act. For by virtue of Section 18(2)(a) of the Constitution of SUG of UNIZIK, every member of the Union is entitled to fundamental rights enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended in 2011. If this is the case, then Section 36(8) & (12) of the CFRN which is a constitutional declaration of the Principle of Legality under which no person can be legally punished for any act or omission save in accordance with the provisions of a written law which publicly denounces the given act or omission absolves the President of culpability; see the case of Ifegbu v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2001) 3 NWLR [P.t 729] @ page 103.
The greater percentage of The Giants (ZIKITES) are unaware of the existence of the purported Act, assuming but not conceding that the said Act does exist. It thus follows that the resolution of the SRC suspending the President of the SUG is unconstitutional, illegal, and invalid for the afore stated reasons.
Yours in Service,
B.U CHINOZIEM-BEST (ESQ.)
4th Year Constituency Faculty of Law NAU, AWKA
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I'm loving this bruhaha going on. Let's see how it ends.
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