August 17, 2019

In the famous court trial of the year, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar summed up his case and claimed the slowest margin of victory anyone could have expected. The press is awash with the story, with Punch Newspapers on the lead. As reported by Punch: "The petitioners [Atiku Abubakar and his party] stated through their lawyer, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), that a correct computation of the results would give them a margin of lead of 222,332 votes over President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress. "They stated this in their response to Buhari’s final address, contending that the correct computation showed that they scored 9,426,082 votes against Buhari’s 9,203,750. "They claimed that reports tendered by a statistician, who was called as one of their witnesses pointing out faults in the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, was not challenged by the respondents to their petition." Almost every supporter of Atiku, who believed he won the presidential election of 2019, must have assumed it was by a very wide margin. Hence the interest in going to court. But with the figures that Atiku now claims, it is clear that Atiku and his supporters exaggerated their popularity and understated that of Buhari. Victory is victory, regardless of the margin. That's what Atiku will be saying. But the margin is so close that the best he can expect, if the court gives him what he wants, is the nullification of the election and re-contest. If a re-election is held between the two, Atiku's chances may be worse. The only hope for him is for him to win also on the certificate issue.

The El-Zakzaky case has become a most complicated case for Nigeria. The Nigerian press is awash with stories of the dramatic repatriation of the Sheikh and his wife from India. The Sheikh accuses Nigerian, US and Indian governments of frustrating his court approved treatment in India. While the US dismissed the allegation of any American involvement as baseless, Nigerian government has, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, provided its own account of events, accusing El-Zakzaky of various acts of bad faith, including some undisclosed plan to seek asylum. Apparently, the Sheikh saw his medical trip to India as an opportunity to gain further International sympathy for his cause. But when hundreds of Indians picketed the Nigerian High Commission in India, demanding release of El-Zakzaky, it became a nightmare for both Nigeria and India. Hence, no surprise in his repatriation. The Sheikh arrived Nigeria by noon on Friday, August 16, 2018 and was immediately seized by men of the Department of State Services (DSS) and driven away to a place where they would detain him. The development has shocked every objective observer. It was a sigh of relief when the court granted leave for him to receive treatment overseas. That was seen as the dawn of a solution to the long standing impasse between the Nigerian Shiite Muslims and the government of Nigeria which has cost each side so much. The dramatic return of the Sheikh thwarts that hope. This is an opportunity for Nigerian government to show maturity and discipline which has eluded it so far in the handling of this case. The detention of El-Zakzaky has cost Nigeria a lot in security and International relations. Many are seriously wondering the benefit in his continued detention. To deny him bail while approving foreign medical trip was a disaster. It was because he was not on bail that necessitated the protest against Nigeria in India. Also, the fear of him getting asylum seems to be exaggerated. What is fueling the protests by his followers is his incarceration, not his freedom outside Nigeria. It would have been better to release him on bail, but closely monitor his activities within Nigeria. It is not a welcome home for the Sheik.

In its usual effort to keep its members informed, DPA offers a guide on how to overcome one major problem workers face in Nigeria. The write up below will be exciting to every person that works for someone else. HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT Many employers will not give you a written employment contract. They just ask you to start work and you keep receiving your salary. But you know that without written terms of employment, your job is not secure and your employer can fire you and deny you your last months salary and any benefits he promised you when you were hired. Unfortunately, it is Nigerian lawyers that tell the expatriates and foreigners not to bother giving employment contracts to Nigerian employees. One of the marks of being in an underdeveloped country is that no law requires your employer to give you a written employment contract. In other countries that are developing faster, employers are required to have a written employment contract with each employee. The purpose of such written employment contract is to protect the rights of the employee against a sudden change of the terms promised her at the beginning of the employment. When your employer refuses to give you a written employment contract, that means it is not clear when and why you can be fired or what will happen when you are fired. That means you are totally at the mercy of your employer. If he wants sex and you refuse, you can be fired without pay. If he suspects that his wife likes you, you will be fired. If he likes your daughter and you don't encourage her to be nice to him, you will be fired. And if fired, there is nothing you can do because there is nowhere it was written down that you were even his employee. He can say that all the money he has been paying you was just to help you out on charity. He can claim that you were a volunteer worker in his company, etc. You can't do anything because you have no written employment contract. The above is a big concern to our members. While we cannot change the situation overnight, we can provide the following useful guide to protect your interest. (1) The first thing to do is to make sure you keep a record of the job advertisement that you responded to and got the job. Nobody advertising for workers will say he will not pay you and treat you well. Rather, they will describe themselves as successful business that offer competitive employment opportunities. They will say they are looking for well-qualified workers. Keep a copy of this. It will help you if and when your employer tries to say you were just a volunteer that he wanted to help or that you were just an apprentice he offered to train. (2) During the time you were being interviewed for the job, you would have received several emails and text messages talking about the job. Save all such communications. (3) During the time you were working for the employer, he would have sent you to third parties or he would have described you in memos and letters to customers and suppliers. Keep copies of such memos for when your employer tries to deny you. (4) From time to time, find an opportunity to send an email or text message to your immediate manager describing your work and any particular target you met. Keep such messages and his replies in case. (5) If your employer has a staff manual when you were employed, make sure you keep a copy at home. The courts have held that those staff manuals are contractual in nature and that they contain part of the things the employer and employee agreed as part of the terms of employment. (6) Keep in safe place every letter of commendation or promotion you received while on the job. (7) Also keep copies of every query or disciplinary correspondence you received while on the job. When things go bad, the employer will magnify your sins. But having a copy of what it was, when committed will save you from subsequent harmful exaggerations thereof. (8)  If you receive any unusual payments from your employer, find a nice harmless way to obtain a written explanation what the payment was about. The worst thing to happen to you is where your employer suddenly treats your salaries as commission. Keep all these things in a safe place outside your place of work. Remember that the day you are fired, they may not allow you to return to your desk. Most likely, you will be escorted out to the gate right from your last meeting with the human resources manager. Anything you kept in your desk drawers then belongs to your employer. If you have 1 to 8 listed above, they will help the court put together the terms of your employment, even if your employer did not give you an employment contract.