LEGAL OPINION

[3/24, 6:46 PM]  *Attention : VIO/FRSC/Nigeria Police*

[3/24, 6:48 PM]  : Our so called agencies do not obey court order.

[3/24, 6:52 PM] Alaba Babalola: But, in my opinion,  this is not a good law, and we shouldn't celebrate the ruling that upholds it.

[3/24, 6:57 PM] : May i ask why you think it  is not good law🧐

[3/24, 6:57 PM] : It is not a pronouncement of legislative so you can’t categorize it as a law. It is the judgment of court. Until you read the whole judgment including the evidence and arguments that lead to the judgment, you cannot have a good understanding why the court arrived at its decision.

[3/24, 6:58 PM] : My exact thoughts! Muda, thanks for weighing in on this.

[3/24, 6:59 PM] : I decided to step in because of Alaba’s personality and ability to go deeper than the surface.

[3/24, 6:59 PM] Alaba Babalola: I will post my earlier comment on the issue, so you can see where I'm coming from, and where I'm going.

[3/24, 7:00 PM] : Alaba, you will be surprised that another verdict can be reached on the same subject matter based on the facts and arguments presented before the court

[3/24, 7:02 PM] : Until the Supreme Court makes a pronouncement, let’s enjoy what we have. The Supreme Court could still overturn the decision and that makes it final.

[3/24, 7:02 PM] Alaba Babalola: I am basically concerned about the effect of that law on society.

The judgment in the relevant case consolidates the provisions of the law in respect of the issue.

[3/24, 7:06 PM] Alaba Babalola: I know this, but it may not happen for a long time. In certain situation, we should not depend on precedence to set the law. I am saying this because of how complacent our justice system is.

[3/24, 7:18 PM] I am highly impressed with your submission. Going further, like you rightly stated, the lacuna as it is, can only be addressed by the drafters of the law. I am positive that the law was drafted to address the problems as at the time it was passed and present day requirements might have overtaken what obtained then.

[3/24, 7:22 PM] : The courts can only make pronouncements based on the law as it is.

[3/24, 7:30 PM] Alaba Babalola: All road vehicles should have certificates of road worthiness. I believe the essence of that is to ensure that they are worth being on our roads. If they are not, they represent great risk of killing people who are operating them as well as other people who use the roads. Therefore the law should not make a definitive distinction in this respect. And I say we should not celebrate  the existence of that law because it tends to set us on the wrong trajectory. The appellant counsel may be happy he won the case for his client, but in the context of society, the underlying law may need to be changed by way of legislative reform. 

There may be other issues which led to the judgment in the case we are considering. I would be glad to know their details, but I'm convinced that the law itself is bad for us. Obviously many motorists / private vehicle owners would be happy with this situation, but it is not necessarily the best thing for us.

[3/24, 7:35 PM] Alaba Babalola: Thanks.

I agree with you. 

The law should be reformed. The process for reformation of laws is quite straightforward in our legal system. The people concerned  are just too complacent and won't do it until things take a painful natural cause. I think we're just used to things growing wild here😀

[3/24, 7:38 PM] Alaba Babalola: I get it. Thanks for the expert advice.

[3/24, 8:06 PM] : I see your point. It is generally acknowledged that private motor vehicle owners for obvious reasons take very good care of their vehicles. Commercial vehicles are not that well taken care of. The Legislator looks out for such details in making law. As Muda rightly noted all the Judges do is to decide cases in line with what the law is.

[3/24, 8:34 PM] Alaba Babalola: Such generalized assumption can be out of place and risky, because it is also true that many private vehicle owners cut corners and don't maintain their cars. The evidence is in obvious breakdowns of privately owned vehicles in public and crude emission of dangerous fumes from car exhausts. It is safer to ensure all road vehicle are road worthy. When passing those laws, legislators should be mindful of the statutory responsibility of all citizens to forge a safe environment for everyone.

[3/24, 8:59 PM] Alaba Babalola: Thanks.

[3/24, 10:06 PM] : No law book can contain all the laws necessary to regulate human beings, at any one time,  because it is impossible to predict the behaviour of all the people all the time. 

But the elephant in the room in this discourse is this: who will certify the roads of Nigeria annually. You keep sidestepping that issue. 

Nigeria fakery? Na question oo

[3/24, 10:07 PM] : An interesting viewpoint there I must say.

[3/25, 12:01 AM] : May I ask you all to digress a little?

*ARE OUR ROADS VEHICLE WORTHY?*

[3/25, 12:04 AM] : Let me weigh in on this.

The commercial vehicle operator holds his services out to unsuspecting third parties hence the need for the law to ensure that the vehicle is road worthy.

In like manner, his insurance costs are higher

[3/25, 12:15 AM] Alaba Babalola: I object to this. Such digression will confuse the discourse. The argument is subjective and specific on what is required of operators of road vehicles. But we can of course talk about whether our roads are vehicle worthy or not in a separate discussion. Tunji Ayoade will be happy about that because he will have a thoroughfare leeway to blame Tinubu's government for all our bad roads😀😀😀

[3/25, 12:37 AM] Alaba Babalola: That's true, but it begs the question as to why private vehicles are not required to have certificate of road worthiness. Ensuring that all vehicles are road worthy is the first precaution to make sure that our roads are safe. The certificate is to serve as an evidence that the necessary adjustments and maintenance of vehicles are done , so that the vehicle operator and other road users are safe. It is very likely that the number of private vehicles are far far more than commercial vehicles. So, if private vehicles are exempted from taking the necessary precautions, it is certain that we are more unsafe than we think. You can imagine if a privately owned car does not have good brakes in it. If the operator of such a vehicle is asked to show his certificate of road worthiness, he can go to court and have himself excused by reason of the relevant law. But the risk that he can kill himself and other people on the road remains. What's the value of a law that jeopardizes the safety of the people in this way?

3/20, 7:20 AM]  : Private vehicle does not require roadworthiness certificate’

know Your Right. 

https://thenationonlineng.net/private-vehicle-does-not-require-roadworthiness-certificate/

[3/20, 9:05 AM] Alaba Babalola: "I agree with the learned trial Judge. The provisions for particulars of motor vehicles are to be found in the RTR which as I have already demonstrated do not require a private motor vehicle to have a Certificate of Road Worthiness"

This ☝️ is one of the concluding and definitive comments made by the trial judge in this case.

While the judges rightly adhere to the provisions of the relevant law and interprets it as they should, the judgment highlights the common circumstance where justice is automatically subverted, even in the light of truth dictated by common sense. 

It also shows the lacuna and the inadequacy of the consideration of justice within the English law traditions. 

This ruling in this case would lead us to maintain the lie that private vehicles don't need to be road worthy, even though common sense suggests otherwise. Should we wait for reality to set the tone in another case or reform the law to make it appropriate for good order in society?

Putting the laws aside  for the moment, it begs the question as to what the purpose of a  vehicle related government issued certificate of road worthiness is for! Why should it only apply to commercial vehicles - according to the relevant law? Is it deliberate, or is it an oversight on the part of its drafters?. 

In my opinion, the certificate of road worthiness should apply to all road vehicles - private or commercial. The reason is that private vehicles that are not worthy of being on the road, but allowed to be so, constitute great risk to the public. That should go without saying.

For me, the crux of the matter is, everyone on both sides - the appellant, the respondents, both counsel, the arbiters - the judges, know the truth, but will not pursue it or attempt to  follow a path in jurisprudence that can redress the existing legal lacuna.

Unless the purpose of law is seen, apart from instituting order, as a way to further, at all times, create a more civil, safe and decent society, we can not make significant progress.

What I always say is, you can't have true justice without the truth as its basis. And you can't have peace anywhere without justice.

We have copied a foreign legal system. We scan build on it and make it work for us in the context of who we are. Our perennial sense of complacency will never help us.