An All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant and leader of the agitations for Middle-Belt Presidency come 2023, Moses Ayom, has abruptly withdrawn from the impending race, citing irregularities.

He attributed his decision to the last minute dumping of the zoning arrangement by the leadership of the APC.
Ayom, according to a statement by his media office in Abuja within the week, announced his withdrawal while breaking fast with members of the Interfaith Clerics Council of Nigeria, at an event centre he donated to the APC.

The party chieftain disclosed that his withdrawal from the race was in deference and total submission to the Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC.

He said, “On the basis of all these, I wish to state without any form of equivocation, that I am standing down my aspiration for the presidency of our country summarily. I wish to state very boldly that we shall return at the right time.”

It’s noteworthy that Adamu had penultimate week told newsmen at the Presidential Villa that the party had not taken any decision on zoning of the presidency.

When asked where the ruling party would be zoning its presidential ticket to, Adamu replied that such a decision was beyond the NWC and was the prerogative of the entire party membership, which he acknowledged was bigger than his position as the party National Chairman.

Ayom said part of the reasons he wanted to contest the election was to bring relief and succour to his people at the Niger-Delta, who according to him, “for decades had not experienced equity, fairness and justice.”

He opined, “A people that had suffered untold marginalisation and maltreatment in the form of economic and social deprivation arising from political slavery. The wanton destruction of lives and property through terrorism, banditry and kidnappings which had been meted out to the region is a classical example.”

On the failure of the party to zone the presidency to the Middle-Belt, Ayom replied that the APC ought to embrace equity and fairness, while expressing dismay at the failure of the party to reduce the N100 million presidential nomination and expression of interest forms of the party.

He said, “Furthermore, I made another passionate call to the leadership of our party a few days ago, to align with the call of Mr. President to avoid the pitfall of conceding the elections into the hands of the highest bidder.
“I called for the review of the high prices for nomination form, the highest in the history of the country. The Interfaith Clerics Council also wrote a letter and visited the National Chairman, asking for a review of the prices, all to no avail.” Ayom frowned.

The withdrawn aspirant advised the President not to jettison the economic diversification policy of his government. He said, “While I withdraw from the race, I want to remind President Muhammadu Buhari of the good decision he took to diversify the economy as soon as he took over the mantle of leadership of this country.

“The specific case of going into partnership with China to sign some MOU in 2016 is an issue here. The President made history by taking me along with Aliko Dangote to China for those deals aimed at diversifying the economy.

“In that business presidential trip, the Federal Government signed $6bn currency swap to facilitate trade between China and Nigeria and to reduce the pressure on foreign reserve. The second agreement, which was the $2.6 billion signed by Aliko Dangote in the mining sector, has started yielding fruits.

“The third was the contract signed by Rev. Moses Ayom on behalf of Granite and Marble, with World’s largest manufacturer of mining equipment, China’s SBM. It is heart-warming that great milestones achievements have been recorded, notably the recent commissioning of the fertilizer company by President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos, which is the second largest in the World.”

Nigeria’s politicians have apparently turned the political space to a laughing stock, or a comic stage. On a daily basis, a certain Nigerian must declare his intention to emerge as the country’s president come 2023. Funnily enough, one would declare today; the following day, he would withdraw his interest unannounced.

So, this very aspirant actually declared his interest owing to the APC’s initial zoning arrangement? That means, he can’t contest for power if the leadership structure isn’t zoned to his people?

A lab technician by the name, Kevin Berlin who worked at Gravity Diagnostics in Covington, Kentucky, USA in 2019 warned his colleagues that due to his medical condition of anxiety disorder and panic attacks he really didn’t want his colleagues to prank him at any time or organize any type of surprise birthday celebration party for him on his birthday which is the company’s tradition.

The company despite Kevin’s warning went ahead and pranked him and threw him a surprise birthday party and as a result of the prank and surprise party, Kevin did indeed experience a panic attack and anxiety disorder just as he told them earlier.

Kevin sued the company for damages and won the lawsuit and the company was mandated to pay him $450,000 as compensation for the damages he suffered.

This above incident just points to the fact that although pranks can be harmless and for entertainment purposes but if any harm is suffered by the victim be it mental, physical, emotional, or psychological, the prankster risks getting prosecuted for criminal or civil liabilities or even both.

The fact that we laugh at pranks or get entertained by them does not mean that some of these pranks can not land both the victim and the prankster in deep trouble. 

These pranks whereby the pranksters chase people around with fake guns, charge to beat up the victim, or advance to attack the victim all in the name of pranks put the victims’ lives at risk. People who suffer from an anxiety disorder, panic attacks, cardiac arrest, or any other medical conditions can get triggered as a result of it and this could lead them to serious medical conditions or even death. Those that are medically fit that decide to run as a result of the prank can miss their steps, fall, and sustain injuries.

pranksters don’t just stop by pranking the unsuspecting victims, they also go further to record the victim and post it online without the victim’s permission or consent thereby breaching the victim’s right to privacy and some go as much as invading their victim’s privacy just to prank him or her.

The act of recording the victim and posting them online without the victim’s knowledge or consent can be grounds for the prankster to be criminally prosecuted for the breach of privacy and invasion of the privacy and space of another. 

Other criminal actions that may arise as a result of these pranks include; harassment, stalking, disruption of the public peace, constitution of nuisance, etc. 

In the worst-case scenario, if the victim of the prank dies as a result of the prank, it does not matter in law that the prankster did not mean it to go that way, the prankster will be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter. 

Involuntary manslaughter has been defined as the unintentional death of an individual as a result of another person’s negligent actions. Basically, what it means is killing someone and not realizing your actions could cause death. ‘Unintentional’ is the keyword for involuntary manslaughter because the person did not mean or intend to kill the deceased and the Punishment for this crime as provided in S 325 of the criminal code act is life imprisonment. 

Even when criminal charges cannot be established against the prankster, the victim can trump up civil actions against the prankster for assault and battery or tort of negligence or sue for compensation if the victim suffered any loss or damages as a result of the prank. 

On this note, pranksters should desist from engaging in reckless pranks that put lives in danger and if they must, they should exercise due diligence and caution as they go about their crafts bearing in mind that huge legal consequences await them if their victim suffers any damage or decides to sue for civil liabilities and citizens should also know that they have rights of action against pranksters who have taken undue advantage of them to sue them for compensation for loss or injury they suffered as a result of the prank.  

Most importantly, pranksters should know or be reminded that some people go about with hidden medical conditions and not everyone they meet is medically fit, a person can die as a result of some of these pranks and if that happens, it will be presumed in law that the prankster has caused the death of the victim and he will be prosecuted for manslaughter.