Okoi Obono-Obla|27 January 2016|8:23am
It is well established that Cross River State of Nigeria is one of the 36 States of the Federation of Nigeria. Under the Constitution of the Federation of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) International Relations is an item under the exclusive legislative list. In other words, international relations (external affairs) is a matter under the jurisdictional competence of the Federal Government of Nigeria because only the National Assembly of Nigeria can legislate on any of the items enumerated under the exclusive legislative list in the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is therefore well settled that external affairs is enumerated under Item 25 of Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am therefore flummoxed that the Governor of Cross River State of Nigeria, Senator Ben Ayade recently appointed Honourable Emmanuel Ibeshi as Cross River State envoy to the African Development Bank.
According to Wikipedia an “envoy” is thus: a representative of a government who is sent on a special diplomatic mission, a minister plenipotentiary assigned to a foreign embassy, ranking next below the ambassador, an accredited messenger; an agent. The African Development Bank (AFDB) is a multilateral development finance institution established to the economic development and social progress of African countries on the 4th August 1964.
The word “multilateral” connote participation in something by more than two nations, parties etc. The point are labouring to drive home is that the African Development Bank is a multilateral institution established by a multilateral agreement between several African countries. In international relations, multilateralism is multiple countries working in concert on a given issue. Robert Keohane defines “multilateralism” as “the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states”.
It is well established that Cross River State of Nigeria is not a country under any stretch of imagination. It is a State within the Federal Republic of Nigeria that cannot engage in international relations with any other country or a multilateral institution such as the African Development Bank.
In the celebrated case of Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha vs. The Crown Prosecution Service (2005) EWHC 2704, the High Court of England in a case instituted by the former Governor of Bayelsa State of Nigeria, Diepreye Solomon Alamieyesigha challenging his arrest and prosecution for money laundering by the Crown Prosecution Service on the grounds that he is entitled to sovereign immunity in his capacity as Governor and Chief Executive of Bayelsa State, which is a constituent part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The issue to be resolved was whether a Governor and Chief Executive of a state, which is a constituent part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was entitled to immunity in criminal proceedings brought in the United Kingdom. The Court answered the issue in the negative and held that in view of the fact that by Item 25, Part 1 of the Second Schedule of the .Nigerian Constitution contains a list of matters over which the Federal Government has exclusive jurisdiction to the exclusion of the federal states, such as Bayelsa State; Bayelsa state has no legal powers to conduct foreign relations for and on behalf of itself because "external affairs" are exclusively reserved to the Federal Government.
The Court concluded that since Bayelsa State is not be regarded as a state for the purposes of immunity, Diepreye Solomon Alamieyesigha was not entitled to immunity from arrest and prosecution.
I therefore urge Governor Ben Ayade to immediately set aside the purported appointment of Honourable Emmanuel Ibeshi as the Cross Rive State Envoy to the African Development Bank as it is illegal and unconstitutional.
Okoi Obono-Obla
Is a Legal Practitioner & Right Activist
