When money is involved, there should be a contract or a legal agreement binding all the parties even if the parties are Siamese twins, siblings, husband and wife, childhood friends, family members, church members etc. No matter how closely related you are, once there is money involved and parties have to work together, pull their resources together, and invest their time, resources and energy together in other to make money or to earn some profits, there should be a legal contract spelling out the responsibilities and duties of the partners or the parties involved, spell out who contributed what and how the profit or the return on investment should be shared amongst the parties once the profits start rolling in.
Why it is important to have a legal agreement or a contract drawn up even if you are going into business with your blood relative or long-time buddy because talking from experience, I have seen childhood friends turn into enemies through the course of their business dealing and they started dragging themselves in court over who gets what. Immediately one of the parties feels cheated, it will lead to resentment and sometimes leads to a court battle and it becomes complex to handle when there is no pre-existing contract that spelled out who gets what.
I have handled a series of briefs where the parties involved were ex-husbands and wives. They started a business together and when their relationship went sour since there was no contract in place regarding the business they started together they engaged themselves in a legal battle as to who gets what.
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There is this popular airline in Nigeria, they have the popularity for being the cheapest airline to fly with currently in Nigeria (I am intentionally leaving out the name of the airline but you should know them). The founders are childhood friends, born and raised in the same village but they are currently dragging each other in court over who gets what in the share and profit of the business. The case has been in court for years now and it’s not looking like it will not end anytime soon. The reason why they are fighting in court is that they placed their existing relationship as childhood friends in front and failed to draw up a legal agreement as to how to pool their resources together, fund the project and how they will be entitled to their return on investment. Their legal battle is having a serious impact on the company and if not resolved soon it will force the airline to be shut down.
The easiest way to avoid all these is to at least create a partnership agreement. This partnership agreement should contain the following;
- Name of the partnership or the business
- Names of the partners and their details
- Purpose of forming the partnership/ business
- Responsibilities/ job requirements of partners
- Financial contribution of partners
How and when proceeds or return on investment are to be shared amongst partners (who gets what and when).
Process of adding a new partner or removing an existing partner
How dispute is to be resolved amongst partners when a dispute arises
Duration of the partnership and how the partnership will be dissolved of the project is time bound
Agreement as to openness for the acquisition of the business, etc.
Once there is an agreement containing at least the above information, if there is a dispute or disagreement which is bound to arise, the partners will always refer to the agreement as a rule book, standing as a reference or guide so as see how to navigate the ship during the storm and if the disagreement becomes unresolved amongst the partners and it ends up in court, the court will always refer to the partnership agreement in settlement of the dispute.
Consult a lawyer today to draw up a partnership agreement or a contract for you and your partners before you invest or join that project.
Tiktok Content Creator Sentenced for Defamation and Cyberstalking
Meanwhile, a lady by the name of Okoye Blessing Nwakaego, who claims to be a TikTok content creator and influencer made a video sometime in December last year stating that Eniola Badmus, the Nollywood actress, is a pimp and that she’s into hook up. The lady claimed in the video that Eniola Badmus pimps young girls up for politicians and rich businessmen. The lady gave a vivid description of how Eniola Badmus approached her and her friend proposing to pimp them up for a sugar daddy.
Eniola Badmus reported the girl to the police and had her arrested. She was subsequently charged to court and the accused pled guilty to a two-count charge bothering on defamation and cyberstalking and was given an option of paying a fine of N150,000 in lieu of jail time.
The charge sheet read;
Count 1
That you, Okoye Blessing Nwakaego ” and, one Chimabia now at large, between the month of December 2022 to the month of July 2023, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court, did conspire with öne Chimabia surname unknown to commit felony to wit: cyberstalking and thereby committed an offense punishable under Section 27 of the Cybercrimes (prohibition, prevention, ETC) Act, 2015.
COUNT 2
That you, Okoye Blessing Nwakaego ‘ and one Chimabia now at large, between the month of December 2022 to the month of July 2023, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of the Honourable Court, did knowingly cause/the transmission of communication via Tiktok, gossip mill tv, remedy blog and other social media network, with your mobile line which is grossly offensive, false and for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience danger, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, illwill or needless anxiety to the prejudice of one Eniola Badmus and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 24(1)(b)(2)(a)(c) of the Cybercrimes (prohibition, prevention, ETC) Act, 2015.
Surprisingly, some netizens were shocked that the content creation video the lady made could land her in jail. Well, ignorance is not an excuse before the law. That you do not know that defamation, assassination of someone’s character online or sharing of fake news is a crime will not exculpate you from the criminal liabilities.
Defamation and cyberstalking are all criminal offenses punishable with up to three years jail terms as provided in sections 24 and 27 of the cybercrime act, 2015. Even if the lady in question was given an option of a fine and she escaped going to jail, she has gotten the life tag of an ex-convict.
Be careful of the news or the content you post or share on the internet, not everyone will overlook it or ignore you when you tell lies with their names or ridicule their personality so as to attract traffic to your page, just as Eniola Badmus decided not to overlook this defamation.