The electoral act was signed into law some weeks back after much back and forth between the legislators and the presidency but it seems the act was marred with a lot of inconsistencies with the constitution and in this regard, whenever a law is inconsistent with the constitution which is the ground norm; the fons et origo where other laws drive its validity and origin from, the law will be declared null and void to the extent of its inconsistency with the constitution. 

Section 1(3) of the constitution specifically provides for clause; If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.

This means that if a section of the law does not align with the constitution or a chapter or even a paragraph of law conflicts with a constitutional provision, that section, chapter or paragraph will be declared null and void for the reason of being in a clash with the constitution.

Is any section or clause in the electoral act inconsistent with the constitution? 

Analyzing the provisions of the constitution side by side with that of the electoral act of 2022 in this regard will be a herculean task since it is sub-judice. 

The Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State in a judgment delivered on Friday has stated that the provision of S.84(12) of the electoral act is inconsistent with the constitutional provisions of Sections 66(1)(f), 107(1)(f), 137(1)(f) and 182(1)(f), to this effect, the court in its wisdom held that this section can not stand and asked the Attorney General of the Federation to delete this section by the reason of its inconsistency with the constitution. 

Her Lordship, Justice Evelyn Anyadike based her ratio decidendi on section 66(1)(f) which states that if a person is employed in the public service of the Federation or of any State, the person must resign or withdraw or retire from such employment 30 days before the date of the election. In other words, public service appointees seeking to contest elections are to resign at least 30 days to the date of the election. 

By this constitutional provision, my Lordship deemed it to conflict with the electoral act but my Lordship did not cast her learned mind to the cases of DADA v. ADEYEYE (2005) 6 NWLR (Pt. 920) 1 at 19 ASOGWA v. CHUKWU (2003) 4 NWLR (Pt. 811) 540 OJONYE V. ONU & ORS (2018) LPELR-44223) which may serve as a locus classicus in this regard where the appellate Courts have held that political appointees or political office holders are not public servants as provided for under the Constitution and therefore there are not the ones S.66(1)(f) is referring to. The people this section of the constitution is referring are public servants duly employed into the governmental civil services and can be called civil servants in every sense of it and they are not political appointees like Commissioners, Ministers, Special Assistants, Advisers and every other category of political appointees that falls into this caliber. 

To this extent, my Lordship May have been persuasively deceived by the initiators of this suit, having made my Lord believe that political appointees come under those s.66(1)(f) was referring to. 

Therefore, s.84(12) cannot be declared null and void as it is not in any way inconsistent with any constitutional provision and it can only be said to be the handiwork of political gladiators who just want to bend the law in broad daylight for it to suit their political ambitions. 

Internet/computer hacking constitutes the most recent cybercrimes. The act, best described as a monster, has over the past decade been of great concern to the teeming cyber subscribers.

Prior to the invention of the internet, criminals had to dig through people’s trash or intercept their mails to steal their personal information. Now that all the required information is available online, criminals presently use the internet to steal people’s identities, either via trick or infecting their devices with malware.

Most cybercrimes are committed by individuals or small groups, though large organized criminal groups also take advantage of the Internet. These so-called professional criminals find new ways to commit old or ancient crimes. They treat cybercrimes like a business and form global criminal communities.

Criminal communities share strategies and tools and can combine forces to launch coordinated attacks. They even have an underground marketplace where cyber criminals can purchase and sell stolen information or identities.

It’s very difficult to track cybercriminals down, because the internet makes it easier for people to do things anonymously and from any location on the globe. Needless to say that, many computers used in various destinations have actually been hacked and are being controlled by someone far away.

For hackers who want to come clean and turn away from crime out of pretense, one option is to work for the people they used to torment by becoming their security consultants or employees. These sets of hackers are referred to as “Grey-Hat hackers”.

In the past, they were addressed as “Black-Hat hackers” who used their computer expertise to break into systems and steal information illegally while posing as a friend or dedicated employee/consultant.

But presently, some of them are acting as “White-Hat hackers” who specialize in testing the security strength of their clients’ information systems. If the interest of this set of hackers is to be paid, they will attempt to hack into a company’s network and then present the affected company with a report detailing the existing security loopholes of the establishment and how those anomalies could be tackled.

The advantage of the white-hat pattern is that they can use their skills for a good cause and help stop other cybercriminals, since keeping up with security and cybercriminals is a fulltime job and many companies can’t afford financially to have someone totally dedicated to it.

Another recent devastating aspect of internet hacking is the “social engineering” routine. Social engineering is a tactic used by cybercriminals that use lies and manipulations to trick people into revealing their personal information. The attackers under this pattern frequently involve very convincing fake stories to lure victims into their trap.

Some of these tricks include: sending victims an email that claims there’s problem with their account and has a link to a fake website, trying to convince victims to open email attachments that contain malware, pretending to be a network/account administrator and asking for the victim’s password to perform maintenance activity, as well as claiming that the victim has won a prize but must give their credit card information or bank account details in order to receive it, just to mention but a few.

The recent antics of cybercriminals, which are barbaric and inhumane, call for constant and consistent update of advanced anti-hacking computer software by software producers, and the adequate dissemination of the said software to the apt quarters.

Presently, most developing countries across the global community are less-privileged in regard to advanced anti-hacking or anti-malware software. In view of this, they are expected to act fast in this regard.

These mostly affected nations, such as Nigeria, could boast of world class experts on software programming. This set of professionals, especially the young ones, needs to be encouraged by the government by setting up an industry that would enable them to commercialize their expertise.

The Communication agency of the countries is supposed to have a thoroughly equipped internet-based communication unit comprising well experienced experts and consultants. Such a unit, meant to function as a spy, would help to checkmate activities being carried out by every internet user at all nooks and crannies of the country on a daily basis.

Legislation must equally be used to checkmate the daily ugly activities of the criminals. Hence, the legislators in the concerned nations are required to sit up towards doing the needful.

There would be a need to set up a special court to be made up of uncompromising judicial custodians to prosecute anyone accused of any form of cybercrime, particularly internet hacking that has hitherto countless countries a colossal economic loss.

Most importantly, every computer/internet firm owner ought to endeavour to engage an expert on Ethical Hacking. Our various schools at all levels, the tertiary institutions in particular, should on their part take teachings on internet hacking more seriously in the ongoing general studies on Computer Literacy.

The fact remains that if the relevant authorities commence from the foundation level to educate the young ones on the needful as regards the lingering Information Technology (IT) menace, when they eventually become in-charge of any enterprise in the future, they wouldn’t be taken unawares.

Above all, people either as individuals or entities are advised to set strict passwords, change them regularly as well as never endeavour to share any of the pass-codes with whosoever toward averting any form of regret or trauma.

Yes, the internet has hitherto done a great good to the wider society as we pass through the digital age, but the teeming users are rather advised to remain very mindful as they make good use of it on a daily basis.

The social media yesterday was taken over by a video of the wife of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, and the wife of Willie Obiano, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano exchanging slaps at the inauguration ceremony of Prof. Charles Soludo, the new governor of the state.

According to the videos we’ve seen, it was Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu that did the slapping, she slapped Mrs. Obiano. There’s more to the video and more background story, but Mrs. Ojukwu can claim the defense of provocation which is a valid defense in criminal trials as it is seen in the video that Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano left her seat and approached the seat of Mrs Ojukwu to confront her and engaged her in verbal exchange.

The act of Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu slapping Mrs. Willie Obiano despite the defense of provocation constitutes a crime known to the law as assault and battery.

An assault can be defined to be the act of inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon another person. It can also be said to be a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both.

Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact with another person. The term battery refers to a specific type of criminal charge involving the unauthorized application of force against another person’s body which results in the actual infliction of physical injury.

For example, to throw a stone at a person is an assault but if the stone falls upon the person causing any physical injury to the person is the battery.

The act of slapping another individual is assault and battery which is a crime punishable under Nigeria’s legal system.

The offense of assault and battery is provided in law as it is defined in Section 252 of the Criminal Code Act as:

“ a person who strikes, touches, or moves, or otherwise applies a force of any kind to the person of another, either directly or indirectly, without his consent, or with his consent, if the consent is obtained by fraud, or who by any bodily act or gesture attempts or threatens to apply the force of any kind to the person of another without his consent, in such circumstances that the person making the attempt or threat has actually or apparently a present ability to effect his purpose, is said to assault that other person, and the act is called an assault”.

Under the Nigerian legal system, assault and battery are treated as the same crime

The punishment for the offense of assault and battery was at the other hand provided in Section 351 of the Criminal Code Act, which states that any person who unlawfully assaults another is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable, if no greater punishment is provided, to imprisonment for one year.

To this effect, the act of Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu slapping Mrs. Obiano is a misdemeanor punishable with a one-year jail term according to s.351 of the criminal code which Anambra state where the act took place as a jurisdiction falls under.

Readers should note that this piece aims to buttress the actions of the two ladies from the legal point of view using evidence available to us at the time of writing this and it is never to apportion blame or go into the background of who is right and who is wrong amongst the two respected ladies.