Hottestgistnaija.com
There has been criticisms, comments and tensions since d declaration of the President, warning ballot box snatchers with a threat to life.
I have decided to look at this from constitutional stand point because the constitution remains the Supreme law of the land and as such, all other laws including the electoral law are secondary to the constitution.
Some have argued that the declaration by the president is a threat to life and as such a violation of the right to life guaranteed in section 33 of the constitution.
It should be noted that no right is absolute. Every right is a privilege because the constitution itself has stipulated circumstances when a person could not alleged a violation of his or her rights.
While it is true that the electoral law has stipulated punishments for electoral malpractices, this stipulations cannot overuse the express exceptions stipulated in section 33 of the constitution. In fact, depending on the nature of the case, the exceptions in section 33 superceed the provisions of the electoral law.
The fundamental question now is whether ballot box snatching falls under the umbrella of exceptions mentioned in section 33 of the constitution? There are three exceptions stipulated in section 33 when the right to life could be justifiably violated. They are:
1. For d defence of any person from unlawful violence or defense of property
2. In order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained
3. For the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny
Looking at the above exceptions, it is very clear that the life of a ballot box snatchers could be lawfully violated under paragraph 2 and 3 above.
First, snatching of a ballot is an offence under the electoral law. Thus, a ballot box snatcher is exposing his life to risk because by paragrahy 2 above, a security agent is under duty to prevent snatching of ballot box and in the process of arresting an offender in that case, a snatcher may be killed without violating the right to life
Also, by paragraph 3 above, snatching of ballot box could amount to an act of insurrection. An act of Insurrection includes, revolt, uprising, disobedience to express authority and much more. Therefore, snatching of ballot box is an act of uprising capable of truncating our nascent democracy
In conclusion, the declaration by the president is just a warning telling Nigerians that ur right to life could justifiably be inflicted within the framework of the Nigerian Constituion?
Lastly, my questions to u are:
Do u have intention of snatching a ballot box? If no, why worrying?
Do u have intention of snatching a ballot box? If yes, be worried
