THE LEGAL WATCHMEN MOVES TO A NEW ERA.

    To our ardent fans and readers, even those behind-the-scene secretly acclaiming to be our fans, we wish to announce to you that The Legal Watchmen, after a nice spell of success with Blogger account, following the melange of complaints from our readers, has taken a quantum leap from our  present conservative Blogger account to the more stylish Wordpress account. Henceforth, we will no longer be attuned with the former site www.legalwatchmen.blogspot.com, but now to be recognized with our new site www.legalwatchmen.wordpress.com. Our migration, does not mean a total black out of the previous site as reference can still be made to it. Let us understand that this successful move is not the end in itself, neither is it the beginning of the end, but perhaps, the end of the beginning of an old era into the dawn of a new era for The Legal Watchmen.

C'EST LA VIE.

      A French expression that implies,‘‘SUCH IS LIFE’.  A carnival of naked souls dancing through blooming thorns and hopping through muffled shrills...that is the life we live! Remember how you feel when people make statements like ‘such is life’.Some call it a bed of roses,some call it a dice because of its unpredictability. Others call it a stage while for others,a bumpy ride. After a tested argument,one immersed in the waters of experience I beg to call it an IRONY!!!!!

 A scholar,OKPAMEN.E,once purported life to be the dichotomy between expectation and reality.In an air of utmost bewilderment I asked myself how many of my expectations have actually turned out as premeditated? Alas, all I got was a cocoon waiting to hatch. I was awe-stricken!.

     Dear friends,life is not as white as it is painted..it is a plenary of vagaries.It is erratic,unbelievable,unfathomable and of course an IRONY. Some sick and "about-to-die" debaters open their maggot-infested buccal cavities to interdict and malign my humble belief that the origin of man has always been ironical .Why wouldn't I call it an irony when we live in a world where:

* Those whose accounts have climbed monetary 'Kilimanjaros' lack the

acumen to innovate and create while those who swindle progressively

downwards from one financial hiccup to the other have bright plans and

dreams but actualize them.

* Those who lie contentedly at the bottom of the intellectual

foodchain pass out with flying colours while those who are tagged

‘‘walking encyclopedias’’ see their results and lament .

* Those who swim in the waters of carnality fellowship with success

while the ardent believers of the faith have frustration and misery

looking straight into their eyes.

* Those who get recurrent A's and excellent grades graduate and end up

jobless,feeding themselves with the sight of a well designed A-4 paper

with the word ‘‘distinction’’ written boldly across while those worse off in grades go on to create economic empires.

*Those who fervently serve God continue with their wonderful

fellowships in their graves while the dyed-in-wool spiritual

non-entities live so long that they even tell their skulduggery and

unwholesome escapades even to successive filial generations.

*Those who are  adorned with "plain Jane" attributes and  enjoy the warmth of handsome husbands,while the

untowardly-legged tout marry  the Agbani Daregos".

*Those with the confidence of success after exams find failure as an

inevitable companion while those who kept praying in frightened

silence are awe-stricken with A's..

* Those with the nicest,mildest,gentlest and most caring of hearts

suffer the most pungent of emotional discombobulations leaving scars

in their hearts.

*Those who are the true men of God spend decades in "huts" moralizing

members of their nuclear families while those who pray day and night

exalting materialism and edifying their pockets enjoy the pleasure of

an avalanche of members in virtuous edifices.

* Those considered "churchy" end up being called mummies in their

teens while the supposed workers of the old profession(freegivers) are

solemnized in "holy" matrimonies..

*Those deemed to be extremely beautiful ripen,fade off and begin to

beg for husbands by hook or crook while those who have physical

problems with beauty are blessed with a dozen fruits of the

womb,almost practising polyandry.

*Legal practitioners,law enforcement agents meant to fight injustice

and corruption have their hearts schooled in injustice..

ARE THESE ALL NOT IRONICAL? How pitiable!! This actually is life!! Certain things happen we can't explain how incongruous they are. Sometimes ironies are a date with destinies-a product of one's fate.

Other times,a repercussion. Those who live in virtuous edifices must refrain from catapulting perilous projectiles because as provided in GAL 6:7,it will definitely boomerang..

Only GOD  solves the riddles of life..do good,live ur life to the fullest of its potentials and fight for your dreams..

                                                                                         Written By DESTINY OSAYI aka Mr. Possible

SELF HARM

The principle of violenti non fit injuria is a Common Law maxim which is used to describe a situation where someone befalls a harm upon himself by inviting and opening himself to such risk. Hence, where a person opens himself to risk by willingly inviting such ill fortune upon himself, he is not ordinarily expected to recover protection from the law. The law would deem him to have consented to the injurious act. This principle forms one of the basis of tortious liability, and it is a very good defence which can completely exonerate a defendant if pleaded successfully.

In Nigeria, we are fond of exposing ourselves to risks and harm which would make it very difficult for us to seek redress under the law. Imagine the carpenter who has no visible means of procuring a good life for himself who goes ahead to marry a wife and start a family. He doesn't just stop there. He also goes ahead to have at least seven children with his wife, and does so with such impunity suggestive of the fact that he has a divine mandate to replenish the earth. He thus confines his multifarious family to the assorted pleasures of poverty in a tiny one room apartment, where they are subject to all forms of malodorous sufferings. Many at times, he doesn't just stop there: he goes further to marry a second wife, and introduces the new wife and her children to a habitat of misery

Or imagine the undergraduate who walks the street of an off campus around 10 p.m at night, pinging nonchalantly with an iPad in his hands and Beats by Dre Headphones hanging from his shoulders. If and when he eventually gets assaulted and robbed by cultists patrolling the area, one can safely conclude that he invited or even hastened the calamity upon himself.

Then the classical case of the girl that is always forming classy chic also comes to mind. With her bump shorts (did I get the spelling correctly?) and skimpy pants that can barely cover the subject matter of what clothes are meant for. The girl that always exposes hideous portions of her mammary glands and displays her ailing merchandise to the world. Yet, she takes her time to refuse advances from the opposite sex. She refuses to give the cookie to men legitimately, and guess what? They will take it by force! Even the Holy Book enjoins us to use violence when we encounter resistance (no be me talk am oo).

In such circumstances, the principal characters act outside the protection of the law from the moment they begin to display behaviours of brash recklessness and uncouth impetuousness. It would be very farcical for such person to expect the aggressor to act in a different manner, and it wouldn’t be unfathomable for a by-stander to refuse to interfere or come to his/her aid.

A girl recently updated her Facebook status to read:

                Virginity isn't dignity, it is just lack of opportunity.

A detailed analysis of that statement would reveal that the girl is sending across two messages:

1.       There is no pride in being a virgin.

2.       She (the Facebook updater) would seize or effectively utilise any available opportunity to have sex.

Now, assuming a rational man or guy who has being trying repeatedly in the past to clinch an affair with this girl in the past, but has been constantly refused, he would no doubt rely on the strength of this statement to get what he wants by all means (including divine violence). One cannot blame the aggressor in this circumstance for acting upon such information in furtherance of his unholy purpose.

Many girls (and women) are in the habit of remarking that (all) men are dogs, but they forget that they were the handlers who held out the bone to them by their Jezebelistic acts of inducing the opposite sex into forming mental images about them through their skimpy apparel.

Another “Nigerian” aphorism seems to be gaining grounds on the Social Media. This is the saying that Clothes are expensive nowadays. Many persons, male and females alike, use it as an impetus to dress half naked before leaving their houses. They cannot of course afford longer garments which are more expensive. They would make one believe that the cost (in terms of yards of material used) of producing a G-String panty is infinitesimal in comparison to the cost of production of a pair of Grandma Panties (you know what I mean). We can also infer that Deeper Life Gowns (which are not unlike the robes worn by students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter Series) are more expensive than skimpy jeans, bump shorts, armless tops and the other devices of temptation which youths of contemporary society prefer.

Everything that goes around comes around. One cannot sow mango seeds and expect to harvest oranges. You cannot roam the streets of a ‘danger-zone’ at night with your tush mobile devices in hand and expect not to get assaulted. Neither can one without substantive means of catering for himself decide to start a large family and expect manna to fall from heaven daily like the bags of rice shared by politicians during electoral campaigns. In the same vein, a girl cannot be sending out mixed messages through her dressing and SNS statuses and expect men (or boys like me) to treat her like a queen. Hian!!

                                                                                                                            

I am Oluwanonso_Esq on Twitter.

WHILST THE GREEN WILTS.

   
That man should name the animals and vegetation, having charge over them was a foremost dictum that has now unfurled itself into modern day trade: the business called Agriculture. One of the primeval assignment saddled man by the Omnipotent, no doubt is being enshrouded by the Devil's excreta veil: the faeces called oil. The post-civil war era that witnessed the debouch of poultry, livestock and other agricultural enterprise; that also scale-preferenced top budgetary demands is almost eclipsing with Nigeria’s monomania-dependence on oil. As it seems to be, our excessive reliance on what probably is our most lucrative natural resource, has now become a thorn in the flesh of the Federal Government. Being the Giant of Africa and ironically overtaking South Africa to become the fastest growing economy, Nigeria has continued to consolidate on her past glory and update her present status as one of the leading importers of agricultural products, whilst her green field desiccates unabatedly.    
         
As the tide surges further, the importation of agricultural products like fish and other non-agricultural products into the country barometers the federal government's lopsided attention given to agriculture under and below the oil and gas sector. Agriculture, being in the concurrent legislative list, in the Second Schedule, Part 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999), shared by both the Federal and State Government, one would have expected, that aside federal allocations, states generating revenue internally make agriculture a top most priority . Rather, the issue of education that has kept on hamstringing some graduates to speak in public or even draft a simple letter, takes, amongst security and defence, the ace in top budgetary allocations. When ebullient men and women who need not be taught the barebones of farming are still left in the lurch for the receipt of finance to cultivate their produce. I have not taken a stand that education or even security be not given paramount treatment, but that human capital will amount to nought if the creation of opportunities like investment in agriculture takes a posterior angle.    
          
Nigeria's investment in agriculture is alarming. Within seven (7) years (2007-2013), the Nigerian Federal Government has allocated an average of just 6.5% of the national budget to agriculture, risking even greater hunger across the country. If Ghana could peg about 9-10% budget for the agricultural sector, Rwanda 10% and Burundi 10.9%, being the only countries to have complied with the 2003 Maputo Declaration that pegged 10% of the country's budget to agriculture for the continent, one cannot but phantom the criteria that makes the gigantism out of Nigeria, where states therein still flaunt slogans like: Farming is our Pride, when in reality it has lost its salt; Food basket of the Nation, when she still remains one of those countries importing agricultural products and the Nature's gift of the Nation, when her rich minerals are yet to be tapped. I will not contradict myself if I fortune-tell the already dormant but living auxins of hope, the green-white-green Nigerian flag that depicts Nigeria’s green field; vegetation and variance, will soon evanescent its figurative expression to whatever can be imagined should the place of agric in decades to come downgrade further it's present position.                      

Since the implementation of policies has always been a hard nut to crack by the Federal Government, farmers and other small and medium scale enterprisers may not expect much this 2014 from the government as they have customarily promised, to provide subsidies to five (5) million farmers nationwide using the e-wallet system. The recently launched self-employed initiative under the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), called the Nagropreneur programme, will develop over 750,000 youth-commercial farmers by 2015. Establish new agro-industrial clusters to complement the staple crop processing zones being developed across the country. In partnership with the private sector, the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FIFIN), a private equity fund to invest in agro-business across the country will be launched.
The Federal Ministry of Finance, budget 2014, themed, 'A Budget for Jobs and Inclusive Growth' and other laid down objectives for the agricultural sector, if at least a quart can be executed, and the effect probably felt by those farmers in the rural areas,..


DAVIDSON OBABUEKI.

OFFERING VS THE WORD

This post is the musings of a guest writer who calls himself an Esquire even when he is infact, not one. It is an attempt to harangue on the mentality which beffudles many a churchgoer when paying his' offerings and tithes dutifully. The story is written by Cosmos Harmony Nayaba.
Enjoy!

OFFERING VS THE WORD

Well,

There are a lot of things I'd love to correct opprobrious impressions on. One of which is the issue of church funds – tithes, vows, offering and the likes.

Personally, I believe this is how things are done (and I might be wrong). Church offerings, vows and tithes made IN and TO the church are meant to be used primarily for the furtherance of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and this includes construction of church buildings, acquisition of means of transportation (for evangelical purposes) and the payment of the salaries of pastors (for those that get paid - I really do not know much about this).

Now, some of us are of the notion that Pastors (sadly a vast majority of the wealthy ones) have made their fortune out of the offerings and donations. I'm not here to plead their case, no. But; I like to believe that this accumulated riches comes from members who out of their discretion have deemed it fit to sow "seeds" into the life their spiritual fathers (I choose to believe the concept of "seeds" is well understood).

I'm not exactly surprised that people could actually think up such. The trending "Rich Pastor - Poor Congregation" is to blame. And then, we’re all humans and we know how we act and react when it comes down to money issues. But I do however believe that is why we have church council comprising of Elders, Church Secretaries and the likes. I imagine a situation where such is absent. Folks would go "Na so we see am o. Only him na pastor, na secretary. How e nor go spend our money as e like?” Well, we have a church council. Unless of course, the accusations rubs on the council too.

Now, there’s a part of this issue I would like to just mention but not talk about. And that is the establishment of church universities (some would say built with church offering) that a vast majority of the members who contributed offerings and vows to this end cannot afford the fees of these universities when established.
Conclusively, your offering is not your tax that you do a "follow up" on. And of the many things that are certain, it is neither in your place nor mine to judge these pastors or anyone at that. If you are so knowledgeable to know the way our churches are being run in our day is not in accordance with what the bible says, you should also know that you were never made a judge. On that Day of Judgment, I'm quite sure God will not call you and ask for your opinion on how you think the Pastor ran the affairs of the church. "To Each Mallam, His Kettle".
Other than bothering yourself with such issues, you should rather focus on what is important and that is making heaven on that final day.

I pray the Lord help us all in our daily lives.
And that we may never lose sight of what is right.
Stay Strong in the Faith.
God Bless.

@Harmeet_Esq

INTELLECTUAL PREJUDICE

Hello friends and family. I am sure we were missed. Well, the administrators of this blog have all been busy writing semester examinations at the University of Benin, and we are glad to announce that we are done now and ready to fire with back to back articles.
We shall be making some structural changes to the blog as we have signed some new top-notch writers. We assure you that the Legal Watchmen is up and ready to watch us legally till we transist to the new year.

Today's article was written by a guest writer who happens to be a Final Year student of the Faculty of Law of the University of Benin. It hampers on the foremost subject which is on every students' mind during examinations.
Enjoy!

INTELLECTUAL PREJUDICE

What if I told you that examinations are a violation of your human rights? What if I told you that every time you wrote an examination you trampled on your right to freedom of expression, intellectual expression? Why should individuals who are on diverse intellectual wavelengths express themselves via a sole means: written exams. And where it so happens that they fall short, they are viewed as failures. Why call a fellow dull when the system is not tailored for him or her, when all that he/she is amounts to is a misfit, a maverick? Isn't that a novel form of discrimination-cerebral profiling? Einstein once said:  “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole live believing it is silly.”
I once wrote an examination that was definitely brewed in the vilest, dankest parts of the underworld: Psychology. The examination arrived in the infamous German objective format. I felt this cauldron of anger bubbling merrily in my stomach after I wrote that exam. I have never departed from any examination hall fuming before that day. I was well and truly enraged and for good reason too. Why? It made no sense to me. How? A certain question went thus:
 ______ is the willingness to help?
The first thing that came to my mind was empathy and I put it down without a second thought. Now, it so turned out that I was wrong. How? The answer to that question according to the lecturer's textbook is 'commitment'. Now, I'm going to flunk that question because my answer ran afoul of the system. I was grammatically right but systematically wrong.
I do not see the reason why it should be dubbed a learning process if all I'm going to do is gulp down the contents of a textbook for the sole purpose of regurgitating the exact same contents (verbatim) in the exam hall like I'm some ruminant animal with a digestive problem. It makes no sense for me to plonk stuff down my academic gullet for the sole purpose of passing an exam and getting a certain grade.
Why is it called school, when all it does is flood my mind with stuff I’ll never need in the real world? Why is it called a learning process if all it does is make me a certificate toting, unlearned contraption who spent the last four to five years guzzling enormous helpings of data he forgets with every hour that passes after he drops his pen and turns my exam sheet in? Why should I be called an educated man when I possess a malformed mind that has been beaten out of shape by an arcane system and neutered of the ability to think? Why should I be referred to as a leader of tomorrow when I get tested today by a system that belongs to yesterday? Why should that lad or damsel who's at the zenith of the class dubbed a genius when all that he/she is good at is downing insane amounts of data like they are tequila shots? Why not just refer to him or her as an oxygen breathing human computer?
Heck, referring to that 'genius' as a computer is a snide jab at computers- computers process data into information, all our acclaimed 'geniuses' are apt at is engorging their minds with data
From textbooks and regurgitating this same data like malfunctioning computers. Sour grapes? I think not. Why should it be called an educational system if all it turns is mass produce and churn out academic jalopies, graduates who are clones of themselves? In my opinion, it should be dubbed a mental institution for mentally deformed zombified conformists -folks who can't reason outside the academic box if their lives depended on it.
So many questions....
That's the end of my babble.



Written by Aloaye Daniel Igiekhumhe. He can be contacted via email at daniel007ace@ovi.com.