By
Abia Friday
The Federal Republic of Agbada was a very peaceful and progressive country. it was beautiful and every state was a tourist destination for both locals and foreigners. More than 95% of the country's youth population was gainfully engaged –some with good paying jobs and others in beneficial vocational training institutes and tertiary institutions. This is essentially why the country was reckoned with in the international community.
The government was not hard on its citizens and the citizens on their part respected the government. People could easily criticize the leaders in the areas they were not doing well without any consequences as the government guaranteed everyone their rights of freedom of speech among others. There was no discrimination with respect to the employment of any person: the major concern for employers was the capacity and the competence of the employee to get the job done. There was even a legislative enactment –the Anti-discrimination Act, which made provisions for punitive sanctions for any employer who had regard to the tribe or ethnic group of any citizen or any other criteria at all other than the capacity and competence of the individuals before employing them. Nobody was concerned about the kind of religion that is practiced, whether Christianity, Islam, or traditional belief; the government only put measures in place to ensure that the practice of one religion by a citizen does not restrict or prevent the ability of another citizen to exercise his/her own right which goes to bring to the shores the jurisprudential concept of jural correlative which means, where your right stops, that of another begins. All these were the case under the leadership of Dr. Kweku Benson in the Federal Republic of Agbada.
However, the tenure of Dr. Kweku Benson as the President of the Federal Republic of Agbada was coming to an end and the ban on campaign was lifted so that those who had interest in contesting for the post of president could start campaigning and canvassing for votes. Two major candidates, Mr. John Ali from the northern part of the country and Retired General Abuka Lai form the Southern part were in the race for the Lion’s Cave which is the administrative headquarters of the Federal Republic of Agbada. Both candidates promised heaven and earth to the citizens but eventually, Mr. John Ali emerged the winner of the election. Rtd. General Abuka Lai accepted defeat as it was not in the nature of the people of Agbada to question the results of the election and create tension and panic amongst the people.
Two days after Mr. John Ali was sworn in as President, the former President, Dr. Kweku Benson and Rtd. General Abuka Lai were both assassinated in cold blood. The citizens were startled as that has never happened in history of the country. They never knew they had just enthroned a dictator. Soon, the evil plans of their new leader began to unfold. All the service chiefs were again assassinated and all forms of importations were banned and a regulation was made to the effect that it was only the Government who could import anything. All news agencies were nationalized giving the government the sole right over the mass media. The President made all the laws in operation and any legislator or citizen who criticized the government was arrested and detained in prison and used as labour in the nearby government farms. The President believed that there was no room for waste of man power and sometimes he would order the execution of some of these illegal prisoners publicly and of course without trial. Little by little job opportunities drastically depreciated from 95% to 25% because most of the foreign investors started moving to other countries where their business could thrive. More foreigners were not allowed to come into the country to do business as the government claims to be protecting its people and that they were in lack of nothing.
Under the administration of the Mr. John Ali everybody suffered and poverty became the order of the day except those who were in the government. There were limited job opportunities for the citizens and the few jobs left were given to the relations of those in government or to those who were considered to be loyal to the government of Mr. John Ali. For the men in the country, going into armed robbery was not lucrative as there was nothing tangible to steal. The women could not make a living out of prostitution either, because it was only a man who had fed well that would consider patronizing prostitutes. Young and old had swollen bellies as evidence of kwashiokor. No religion was accepted by the government because the government believes that if any such religion was allowed it would reduce or totally take away the forced loyalty and respect the people have for the nation. During elections, any person who shows interest in contesting for President was assassinated in a mysterious way, so, nobody would dream of contesting and talk less of putting that into action. A person who does not exist would be framed by the government to be contesting with the incumbent President John Ali when in reality it is only one person contesting. The country was in shambles. Agitation was a dead thought.
Mr. Bakko who read history has just returned from his studies overseas and has formed a 13 man group called Agbada Freedom Movement (AFM) with the primary aim of overthrowing the government. The plan was that all of them would join the Agbada army then carefully recruit other likeminded soldiers to the group. The group kept on growing and in 1 year the group that started with 13 men now had more than 2,000 soldiers. Mr. Bakko who is now Colonel Bakko and few other educated soldiers got the building plan of the Lion’s Cave and studied it for the ultimate attack and assassination of the President so that freedom can be restored to the country. After 6months of careful study of the building plan of the Lion’s Cave, the only barrier of the soldiers now was for the soldiers of the Agbada Freedom Movement (AFM) to get an execution order from the head of the AFM, Col. Bakko. On the deal day, more than 1,000 soldiers moved into the Lion’s Cave shooting, firing, and destroying anything that could be destroyed until the whole Lion’s Cave was no longer recognizable. But, the evil President used the underground tunnel which he had built to escape the attack. Col. Bakko seeing that the attack was futile disappeared from the country. All the soldiers who were involved in the attack have been arrested and this time, the government has decided to prosecute each and every one of them rather than the usual prison without trial. Sergeant Jack has been promised that he would not be tried if he can confess to the crime and stand as witness against the other offenders. He has confessed to the crime and was used as a star witness against other offenders. Now, Sergeant Jack is being prosecuted and the confession he made to committing the crime is being used against him but his counsel is objecting to the legality and admissibility of such evidence. Comment on the following:
The government was not hard on its citizens and the citizens on their part respected the government. People could easily criticize the leaders in the areas they were not doing well without any consequences as the government guaranteed everyone their rights of freedom of speech among others. There was no discrimination with respect to the employment of any person: the major concern for employers was the capacity and the competence of the employee to get the job done. There was even a legislative enactment –the Anti-discrimination Act, which made provisions for punitive sanctions for any employer who had regard to the tribe or ethnic group of any citizen or any other criteria at all other than the capacity and competence of the individuals before employing them. Nobody was concerned about the kind of religion that is practiced, whether Christianity, Islam, or traditional belief; the government only put measures in place to ensure that the practice of one religion by a citizen does not restrict or prevent the ability of another citizen to exercise his/her own right which goes to bring to the shores the jurisprudential concept of jural correlative which means, where your right stops, that of another begins. All these were the case under the leadership of Dr. Kweku Benson in the Federal Republic of Agbada.
However, the tenure of Dr. Kweku Benson as the President of the Federal Republic of Agbada was coming to an end and the ban on campaign was lifted so that those who had interest in contesting for the post of president could start campaigning and canvassing for votes. Two major candidates, Mr. John Ali from the northern part of the country and Retired General Abuka Lai form the Southern part were in the race for the Lion’s Cave which is the administrative headquarters of the Federal Republic of Agbada. Both candidates promised heaven and earth to the citizens but eventually, Mr. John Ali emerged the winner of the election. Rtd. General Abuka Lai accepted defeat as it was not in the nature of the people of Agbada to question the results of the election and create tension and panic amongst the people.
Two days after Mr. John Ali was sworn in as President, the former President, Dr. Kweku Benson and Rtd. General Abuka Lai were both assassinated in cold blood. The citizens were startled as that has never happened in history of the country. They never knew they had just enthroned a dictator. Soon, the evil plans of their new leader began to unfold. All the service chiefs were again assassinated and all forms of importations were banned and a regulation was made to the effect that it was only the Government who could import anything. All news agencies were nationalized giving the government the sole right over the mass media. The President made all the laws in operation and any legislator or citizen who criticized the government was arrested and detained in prison and used as labour in the nearby government farms. The President believed that there was no room for waste of man power and sometimes he would order the execution of some of these illegal prisoners publicly and of course without trial. Little by little job opportunities drastically depreciated from 95% to 25% because most of the foreign investors started moving to other countries where their business could thrive. More foreigners were not allowed to come into the country to do business as the government claims to be protecting its people and that they were in lack of nothing.
Under the administration of the Mr. John Ali everybody suffered and poverty became the order of the day except those who were in the government. There were limited job opportunities for the citizens and the few jobs left were given to the relations of those in government or to those who were considered to be loyal to the government of Mr. John Ali. For the men in the country, going into armed robbery was not lucrative as there was nothing tangible to steal. The women could not make a living out of prostitution either, because it was only a man who had fed well that would consider patronizing prostitutes. Young and old had swollen bellies as evidence of kwashiokor. No religion was accepted by the government because the government believes that if any such religion was allowed it would reduce or totally take away the forced loyalty and respect the people have for the nation. During elections, any person who shows interest in contesting for President was assassinated in a mysterious way, so, nobody would dream of contesting and talk less of putting that into action. A person who does not exist would be framed by the government to be contesting with the incumbent President John Ali when in reality it is only one person contesting. The country was in shambles. Agitation was a dead thought.
Mr. Bakko who read history has just returned from his studies overseas and has formed a 13 man group called Agbada Freedom Movement (AFM) with the primary aim of overthrowing the government. The plan was that all of them would join the Agbada army then carefully recruit other likeminded soldiers to the group. The group kept on growing and in 1 year the group that started with 13 men now had more than 2,000 soldiers. Mr. Bakko who is now Colonel Bakko and few other educated soldiers got the building plan of the Lion’s Cave and studied it for the ultimate attack and assassination of the President so that freedom can be restored to the country. After 6months of careful study of the building plan of the Lion’s Cave, the only barrier of the soldiers now was for the soldiers of the Agbada Freedom Movement (AFM) to get an execution order from the head of the AFM, Col. Bakko. On the deal day, more than 1,000 soldiers moved into the Lion’s Cave shooting, firing, and destroying anything that could be destroyed until the whole Lion’s Cave was no longer recognizable. But, the evil President used the underground tunnel which he had built to escape the attack. Col. Bakko seeing that the attack was futile disappeared from the country. All the soldiers who were involved in the attack have been arrested and this time, the government has decided to prosecute each and every one of them rather than the usual prison without trial. Sergeant Jack has been promised that he would not be tried if he can confess to the crime and stand as witness against the other offenders. He has confessed to the crime and was used as a star witness against other offenders. Now, Sergeant Jack is being prosecuted and the confession he made to committing the crime is being used against him but his counsel is objecting to the legality and admissibility of such evidence. Comment on the following:
- What crime was committed by the soldiers?
- What is the nature of evidence that is required to ensure their conviction?
- What is the admissibility of the evidence of Sergeant Jack against other soldiers?
- Can the confession of Sergeant Jack be used against him even though he made the confession because of the promise that he would not be prosecuted?
Photo credit: travel.jumia.com
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