Senator Abbah Ibrahim’s threesome sex tape, morally or legally wrong?

Former governor of Yobe State and serving senator, Bukar Abbah Ibrahim, who was caught in sex scandal during the week admitted that he was actually the person that appeared in the sex tape that went viral where he was alleged to have had a threesome. He claimed that he was entitled to his private sex life but Nigerians quickly recalled that as governor, he propagated the strict Sharia law in his state which classifies adultery as a grave offence. Apart from being a member of the National Assembly, his wife is also a serving minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. TUNDE AJAJA sought the opinions of legal practitioners to determine the legality or morality of his action

He ought to be sanctioned under the law

Jiti Ogunye, Lawyer and human rights activist

In discussing this rather sad matter, which clearly underscores the debauchery and immorality of many of those who run our public affairs in this country, it is important that we do not legitimise what I regard as unconstitutional. I’ve never accepted the legality, validity, morality and the constitutionality of Sharia Law in any of the states. Nigeria is a secular state. However, he has publicly acknowledged and accepted and even tried to justify engaging in threesome, saying it’s his private affair. Former governor of Zamfara State (Sani Yerima) who also was one of the chief proponents of the law married a toddler and said it was his own personal affair. It is a subset of the culture of impunity. It is not his personal life because morality is required in government. Looking at the legality under the penal code that operates in Northern Nigeria, adultery is a criminal offence. What he had committed was brazen and irresponsible adultery, which he had admitted openly, and for which he ought to be sanctioned under the law.

One of the cardinal principles of the rule of law is the equality of all before the law. If it were to be an ordinary citizen, they would punish the person. But now, here is a former governor and senator being boastful about it. Yes, I did it, it’s my personal life. They even wanted to blackmail me. This is totally unacceptable. Now that he has admitted, more or less made a confessional statement, I think he should just be arrested by the police. Anywhere he did it, the court there would have jurisdiction and then he would be arraigned. They can get the certified true copy of his statement. Circumstantial evidence, like the interview, the video footage, would be sufficient. The case is cut and dry. I think the government has the responsibility to do that, because it is not when people are padding the budget or stealing money that they corrupt public morality. When they also do something like this and they brag about it, they also pollute our collective morality. This is because young people look up to senators. So, we don’t want this kind of aberrant behaviour to be celebrated as standard behavioural practice. The government has a responsibility to deal with this in the same manner it would deal with corrupt practice, because this is one of such.

He should voluntarily resign

Wahab Shittu, lawyer and lecturer of Jurisprudence and International Law

Generally, anybody who aspires to or is entrusted with public office must be a fit and proper person. A public office is a public trust of great responsibilities. Four key components are required of such a public officer; integrity, competence, character and capacity. Where a public office holder is found wanting in respect of any of those fundamentals, it questions, not only the person’s legal authority, more fundamentally, the person’s moral authority. He has cited his right to privacy as a defence, but no fundamental right is absolute. If he wanted to guarantee his right to privacy, he should have taken steps to ensure that what he was doing in the privacy of his room or anywhere he did it, did not come into the open to assault the sensibility of the people. So, your right to smoke, for instance, ends where my nose begins, to the extent that his action found entrance into public consciousness. It offends and runs counter to the exalted public office he occupies. My submission is that if proved that the incident actually took place and the video is not doctored and he has admitted that the event took place, I think he should voluntarily resign, because he has violated the moral code which should be his guiding philosophy as a public official. Of course, such an action is not permissible under the Sharia law or any of the holy books. If you begin to have illegal affairs with people other than people to whom you were married, that is adultery. And so it offends the rule of Sharia. If the Sharia Law is applicable in his state, then he’s bound by all the laws in his state, including the Sharia law. It’s more damnable that he was the governor that professed the Sharia.

His family should be left to handle it

Chief Onueze Okocha, SAN

As far as I’m concerned, being a Christian, Nigerian and humanist, it appears to me to be an issue that borders on the moral uprightness of a senator and former governor. It’s a matter that, truly speaking, is private, and concerns him and his family, even though we want people to live morally and dignify the positions they hold. If the allegations are true, a senator and former governor should not be caught in such a situation that we call in pari delicto. But I so advise the general public not to make any hullabaloo about it. He’s a human being and we have our moral failings here and there. But if anybody feels that the senator has committed any offence, whether under English Law or Sharia Law, the necessary prosecutorial process should be adopted before anybody can say the law is not applied to him because he is a big man. I’m a firm believer of the fact that the law should be universal in its application, whether it is English or Sharia Law, it should be indiscriminating in its application without any sentiment. Every criminal offence has to go through a process, which we in the legal profession recognise as prosecution and conviction. Due process must be followed at all times. But as I said, moral issues should be left in that domain while legal issues should be dealt with in accordance with the law.

It’s a society of impunity

Prof. Fidelis Oditah, a Queen’s Counsel and Senior Advocate of Nigeria

I think we are entitled to expect a very high standard from those who occupy public position. It doesn’t matter whether this man is a former governor, but if he’s a serving senator and his wife is the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, you can’t be more public. Therefore, you must set a standard which is high. Of course, it’s your private life to an extent, but from people in whom public trust is reposed, you expect a minimum standard of behaviour. As far as I know, paying for or soliciting for sex is an offence but the sex itself does not appear to be a criminal offence, unless there is no consent or the person in under-aged. If a married man, whose personal law allows plurality of relationship, then if he has committed an offence, that is a matter for the law enforcement authorities to handle. We have all been bemoaning the complete collapse in morals in the fact that people pay very little attention to their marital vows, and ditto other vows. It’s a society of impunity, so if people act with impunity in relation to public resources, it’s a little surprising that we expect them not to act with impunity in relation to their marital affairs.

 

Different laws for different set of people in Nigeria

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, lawyer and human rights activist

Whether it is illegal or not depends on where the event happened, because different states have different laws, but if it happened in Abuja, we apply federal laws. Criminal jurisdiction is based on the location of the commission of the offence. However, it is a reflection of the poverty of leadership that we have in the country presently and the fact that the constitution has imposed more or less illiterates on us as leaders by putting the minimum requirement of SSCE or its equivalent as the qualification to be a governor, a senator or even a president. That has to be amended because it’s affecting the quality of debate even in the National Assembly. Also, there is too much money in the hands of our leaders, which fuels things like this. If this is happening to a senator, imagine other colleagues like that and some governors. This is what they do in some government houses. So, there is too much free fund in the hands of our leaders. Finally, it is the hypocrisy of governance. For those who steal goats, they cut off their hands, for those who steal yam, they burn them, whereas, people who commit serious crime of a worst dimension go scot-free and claim it’s their private life. If this had happened to ordinary people, they would have been caught by the law or the police would have been after them by now but, because we have someone who is in power and is untouchable. So, different laws for different set of people in Nigeria.

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Senator Abbah Ibrahim’s threesome sex tape, morally or legally wrong?

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