A guy by name Andrew (last name intentionally withheld) was arrested yesterday by the police in Delta state, before he was arrested, he was first beaten by touts, tied to a tree and his clothes shredded into pieces and they left the guy almost naked. The worst of the worst of jungle justice melted on him before he was handed over to the police authorities.

No, he didn’t steal in the market place and no he wasn’t caught with human body parts for rituals  neither did he rape some minor as you may be thinking right now; his offense was that he made an arrangement for a sex date with a married woman who accepted to go on the date with him without him knowing that the woman has set him up. 

At the agreed location point of him picking up the woman, he was accosted by some youths that the woman had arranged with and the rest was hell for him yesterday. 

Netizens and interlopers are clamoring that the guy should be jailed, that the police should make sure he didn’t leave their custody until he is charged to court and jailed for having the effrontery to make sexual advances toward a married woman. 

Unfortunately, those clamoring that the guy should be jailed for what some of them called “trying to sleep with a married woman” are really ignorant of what the Nigerian law says in this regard: Adultery is not an offense under the Nigerian criminal justice system which Delta state as a jurisdiction falls under, neither is making sexual advances toward a married woman a crime. He can only be jailed if he was caught having a “forceful” carnal knowledge of the woman or sexual harassing the woman physically; but that is not the case, he only arranged a sex date with the woman. 

For the guy to have been beaten, tied to a tree with ropes and his clothes shredded amounts to unwarranted jungle justice and the guy has a right of legal action against the youths who attacked him and also against the police who arrested him afterwards. 

While I’m not here to talk about the morality or otherwise of making sexual advances toward a married woman rather I’m here as a lawyer to discuss it’s legality or otherwise, but for what its worth, making sexually advances toward not just a married woman but to someone who is not sexually interested in you on who is clearly not into you is morally  bad and In in some cases illegal and you could be sued for sexual harassment but this is not the case here. 

According to the press report, the guy and the lady were friends on Facebook and he decided to spice things up by arranging a sex date with the lady who is married, the lady in turn set the guy up to be beaten. 

For the guy to be subjected to such inhuman and degrading treatment of not just been beaten and tied up and also his pictures circulated in the internet space and all round mental and psychological torture and trauma, he (paradoxically) have a right of action against his maltreaters because he didn’t break any law neither did he commit any crime by setting up a sex date with a lady who is married and let’s assume he broke some laws (which he didn’t) jungle justices are illegal and have been highly condemned in all cases by the court and those found melting out jungle justice have been punished even with jail term by the court in numerous occasions.

Let’s not forget that justice is a three way street, it’s tripartite; justice for the victim, justice for the accused and justice for the society and justice won’t be said to have been done or manifestly be seen to be done if any of the three parties here suffers any form of hardship.

Nigerians woke up in the early hours of Saturday, 16th February 2019 to shockingly learn that conducting the Presidential and National Assembly (NASS) elections billed for that very day was no longer feasible, hence was outrightly postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to a fresh day, precisely on 23rd February 2019.

We were not unaware that prior to the unannounced decision taken by the INEC led by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, virtually every sensitive material cum gadget had already been distributed to the various localities across the federation where they were meant to be used for the scheduled polls.

As at then, concerned, discerning and patriotic Nigerians were baffled over the safety of the sensitive materials to be used for the national ritual, knowing full well that they deserved tremendous technical and physical security watch.

The INEC could currently boast of the use of Electronic Card Reader otherwise known as ‘Smart card reader’ during elections in Nigeria. Since the inception of the INEC in Nigeria’s political terrain, the leadership of the institution had been working assiduously toward ensuring that the country could boast of free, fair and credible elections.

This may be the reason the former Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega thought it wise to initiate the said device prior to the last general elections, which has been in use till date.

Though Prof Jega may have succeeded in coming up with a novel idea by introducing the aforementioned gadget, it’s worth noting the current boss of the body, Prof. Yakubu has an enormous task ahead of him towards ensuring the laudable invention wouldn’t end up being a curse in disguise.

It’s not anymore news that the ongoing use of the device in question has been bedeviled by several shortcomings to include malfunctioning, inadequate power supply and what have you.

The INEC, inaugurated in 1998, has since inception encountered too many controversies and predicaments in the run up to elections in the country, most notably the April 2007 and 2015 general elections respectively. The ongoing challenges faced by the use of card readers seem to have added to the numerous plights of the commission.

A Smart card reader is an electronic device that reads smart cards such as the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card and Voter’s card, as the case may be. There are so many forms of smart card readers used for different purposes.

In the banking industry, we have smart card readers that read the ATM cards. But here, we’re concerned about the electoral smart card reader. The electoral smart card reader is a portable electronic voter authentication gadget, configured to read only the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) issued by the INEC.

The device, which displays the authentic information of the prospective voter via the use of fingerprint, was designed specifically for the accreditation process or authentication of eligible voters before voting.

The machine is usually configured or programmed to only read the PVCs of a particular polling unit as well as work only on election day(s). The card reader has obviously helped in confirming the eligibility of the prospective voters. It has equally assisted in checking excesses as regards double/multiple registration.

Among all, it enables the electoral exercise to be carried out faster since it can accredit as many intending voters as possible within a shortest interval; suffice it to say that it saves time.

In addition, it enables the officials of the INEC to conduct the election easily or with ease unlike the manual system whereby the personnel would be required to put in or exhaust all their energies, thereby creating room for effectiveness and efficiency.

This implies that, if properly utilized, it warrants the electoral umpire to engage fewer individuals or ad-hoc staff for any impending election thereby saving reasonable funds. Hence, the card reader isn’t just labour effective, but equally cost effective.

Although the benefits inherent in the use of the smart card reader cannot be overemphasized, it’s worthy to acknowledge that the challenges that accompany it cannot be overlooked if truly we are concerned about embracing a society that can wholly boast of credible polls.

It’s not anymore news that, while in use, the card reader has reportedly malfunctioned in various quarters across the Nigerian State ever since it came into existence in the country, thereby making the INEC officials in charge of the concerned polling units to resort to manual voting.

To this end, there’s need for creation of a special technically-inclined unit within the INEC quarters. Such unit/department to be manned by an expert must contain all it takes as regards servicing or sustenance of the said gadget. The unit would go a long way to eradicate the ‘fire brigade’ approach, which isn’t unusual in Nigerian society.

It would also help to create a mobile technical committee that would monitor the functionality of the card readers throughout any election as well as ensure that the various polling units involved are well equipped with the needed materials including electricity supply gadgets prior to the election.

There would also be a need for the unit to be more concerned about providing special electronic chargers or charging devices at the various voting centres so that the card readers wouldn’t need to depend on power supply as long as the voting lasts.

Above all, there is a need for the device to be manufactured in the country henceforth. There are capable hands that can actualize it; all the government needs to do is to empower them via the proposed technical unit.

Nigeria can’t continue to import what she can produce, especially at this moment we are concerned about diversification. I therefore call on INEC to embrace the fullness of technology so that the awaited society would be embraced soonest.

Similarly, since the gadgets are usually configured against the original date of the scheduled elections, apt and well experienced hands ought to be involved in re-configuring them towards ensuring that lapses aren’t created in the process.

Nigerians need nothing less than safe card readers for credible and peaceful polls as expected come 2023. Hence, the INEC shouldn’t be reminded that it’s expected to do everything humanly possible to guarantee the required safety.