NON OBSERVANCE WITH RULE OF LAW IS A WASTE OF HUMAN RESOURCES

THE LAW IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSON

I can safely say that here in Nigeria even under a Military Government, the law is no respecter of person, principalities, government or powers and that the courts stand between the citizens and the government alert to see that the state or government is bound by the law and respects the law. Under our law, it is the court that has the jurisdiction and power to declare the Respondent, Chief Emeka Ojukwu a trespasser on the premises situate at No. 29 Queen’s Drive Ikoyi after due hearing on relevant evidence.

– Oputa, JSC. Military Governor v. Ojukwu (1986) – SC.241/1985

LAWS ARE MADE FOR MEN, NOT MEN FOR LAWS

Laws are made for men and not men for laws. The administration of justice involves the administration of the purest principles of law among men for the good of men in its fairest conception. Man is fallible, so are the thoughts of man. This fallible nature of man demands that whenever the errors of thoughts and thought processes surface and are exposed and brought to the attention of its authors, there should be power or jurisdiction to depart from the errors and tread the correct path.

— Obaseki, JSC. Odi v Osafile (1985) – SC.144/1983

SELF-HELP CANNOT OPERATE WHERE RULE OF LAW OPERATES

In the area where rule of law operates, the rule of self help by force is abandoned. Nigeria being one of the countries in the world even in the third world which proclaim loudly to follow the rule of law, there is no room for the rule of self help by force to operate. Once a dispute has arisen between a person and the government or authority and the dispute has been brought before the court, thereby invoking the judicial powers of the state. it is the duty of the government to allow the law to take its course or allow the legal and judicial process to run its full course.

– Obaseki, JSC. Military Governor v. Ojukwu (1986) – SC.241/1985

SELF-HELP IS FORBIDDEN – FOLLOWING DUE PROCESS OF LAW – REGAINING POSSESSION

Oputa, JSC in his judgment in Ojukwu’s case (1986) 17 NSCC 304 at 322 referred to Lord Denning’s dicta in the case of Agbor v. Metropolitan Police Commissioner (1969) 1 WLR 703 at page 707 where the learned Lord Justice stated that:- “The plain fact here is that Mr & Mrs Agbor claim as of right to be entitled to possession of the ground floor of this house. They occupied it on February 4. They entered by stealth. They used a key that had been left behind. But they did it under a claim of right. It may be that they had no such right as they claimed. But, even so, the proper way to evict her was by application to the courts of law. No one is entitled to take possession of premises by a strong hand or with a multitude of people. That has been forbidden ever since the Statute of Richard II against forcible entry. This applies to the police as much as to anyone else. It applies to the government departments also. And to the Nigerian High Commission. If they are entitled to possession, they must regain it by due process of law. They must not take the law into their own hands. They must apply to the courts for possession and act only on the authority of the courts.”