Nuisance- is with agreement of most law students I know perhaps the most “crowded popular place” in the legal parlance that must be visited in the journey for an LL.B. This is so from its antique nature to its wide scope, numerous cases and various academic piece and pieces just to fit in the nuisance puzzle. I vividly recollect how long tort law classes became when the topic was taught, of course not due to indolence or laziness but for the lengthy notes and the different questions coming from all corners of the class; even from the back seats. Even the domestic use of the word by lay-men is ambiguous. Let me indulge you; when the class is rowdy the comment is “you people are a nuisance”, when you don’t enter your halls of residence early also it is “you are just a nuisance to this great school”, when parents wake up to the noise of the kids … well you know what the comment is. Fortunately for me, I don’t intend to chart the waters of the entire gamut of nuisance. The recent actions of the Fulani herdsmen trying to make their cattle graze on just about every open place regardless of the occupiers of such land across the country has moved my thinking to the tort of nuisance but only in the purview of the cowardly, dastardly, cannibalistic, unlawful, grave acts of these animal-walking heartless beings. Basically, the acts of these Fulani men as cause of nuisance is the main view of this write up and the swift and commendable action of a famous governor- (well what is the beauty of literature without suspense).
Before digging deep into the matter at hand, it is important to give a quick definition of nuisance itself. Nuisance in the general sense (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus) “is something or someone that annoys you or causes trouble for you. It can also be defined as an obnoxious or annoying, person, thing, condition, practice”. In the legal parlance, it is defined by the Black’s Law Dictionary as “that class of wrongs that arise from the unreasonable, unwarrantable, or unlawful use by a person of his own property, either real or personal in a manner that substantially interferes with the enjoyment or use of another individual’s property”. Also it is defined as something offensive or annoying to individuals or to the community, especially in violation of their legal rights. Nuisance can be classed into private and public. The issue here is an aspect of private nuisance, this is because a public nuisance does not exactly affect an individual personally, but however the whole community whereas in private nuisance is an interference with a person’s enjoyment and use of his land. Examples of this include vibration or blasting that damages a house, pollution of soil and the obvious, destruction of crops. Clearly these Fulani herdsmen are guilty of these tort and while the humour part of me is saying “how can they possibly know what that means, they are Fulani herdsmen”, the white and black side of me is of the opinion that, “ignorantia legis neminem excusat” that is, ignorance of the law excuses no man. Even with the legalese aside, it is common sense, moral, right thinking, humanly to know that feeding the crops of another to your animals so they would not starve at the expense of the farmer is bad, I mean can they even spot the irony of that? Like it is not enough that the deadly horns of some these animals might cause harm and injuries to the farmers they carry guns(adding the offence of murder) along, ooh and not the beautiful guns of this age that kill you even before you fall to the ground (if the right target is acquired though), but old fashion kind of guns where after being shot, the victims have to stagger and writhe in pain of both the bullet wound and the sight of their farmlands getting served to the flock( the cattle and even the Fulani herdsmen). This has for a while been the fate of the residents of Enugu, Benue, Ekiti states etc. hundreds of people killed in cold blood, even more have been put in debts, a lot more battle starvation.
Reading the popular classicus on private nuisance case of St. Helen’s Smelting Co v Tripping (1965) 11 E.R 1483) where the trees and shrubs of the plaintiff were damaged by the fumes from the defendant’s industry I felt sorry because of course the plaintiff must have spent a great deal of time and money on the trees and shrubs but seeing and reading on the actions of these Fulani herdsmen I am devastated beyond expression for the loss of not just time and money but for lives, properties and food.
In the wake of these events various moves, talks, forums, conferences, bills and threats have been issued by the government and concerned stakeholders as well as the security operatives. While the weight of the response is not exactly adequate to answer the problem, it has been steady and almost commendable, after all a journey of a thousand miles starts with a step. Maybe in this situation not one step anyway but not so much too. However, as much as I would want to do more brain and literary engagement to pressurize the government, today, I would rather engage myself with commending the Ekiti State House of Assembly and of course one of my favorite Governors, Dr. Peter Ayodele Fayose popularly known as “osokomole” (I would leave the interpretation of that to the Ekiti people anyway) on the giant, promising step of signing the Ekiti State Open Grazing Prohibition Bill into law on Monday 29th August, 2016. Under this new legislation herdsmen are prohibited from grazing their cattle in areas that are not designated for grazing and forbidden from carrying arms. The law prescribes six months imprisonment without option of fine for any herdsman who violates the grazing prohibition while any herdsman found with arms will be charged with terrorism.
With the knowledge of this new legislation in one of the tagged “backward” states in Nigeria, i have been wearing a smile that is definitely bigger than any laughter of the Ekiti farmers. And rightly so because I was part of the Afe Babalola University (ABUAD) Law students who had a session with the Ekiti farmers and as a result I know what they have been through. I hope other state governors would learn from this giant stride Ekiti state has taken. While happy with these new law, I also share the same opinion with Mr. Femi-Fani Kayode, a man whose literary ability I admire that the six months imprisonment is small, as against his own opinion of a year I would say these herdsmen deserve more than that, yes! Dare call me wicked? The popular law phrase “sue the bastard” has never been so sweet, although in this case I would rightly say “charge the bastards”.
Olunlade E Oluwasegun.
*Segun also serves as the Speaker of the LSS Legislative House.
Brilliant piece!!!!
ReplyDeleteHmm....What an intelligent writeups. .
ReplyDelete