The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has commended the author of Constitutional and Migration Law’, Mr. Sebastine Hon (SAN), for the legal questions he raised in the new book which was presented in Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking as the ‘Distinguished Guest of Honour’ at the public presentation of the book, Osinbajo said like Hon’s earlier book, ‘Law of Evidence in Nigeria’, the new book was insightfully written and raised issues “that occupy the mind of judges and lawyers, not just here but all over the world.”

“He is very bold, he is very unequivocal about his point of view, insightful and forward-looking,” Osinbajo said.

The Vice-President, who is also a professor of Law, highlighted questions of law addressed in the book to include surrogate pregnancy.

He said, “For example, I have never seen a Nigerian author who talks about surrogate pregnancy and legality of assisted pregnancy. When a pregnancy is assisted or where it is a surrogate pregnancy, what are the legal questions that arise?

“Who is the father? Who is the mother? And all of these kind of issues. Can they have inheritance rights? These are topics that nobody that I know of in this country  has ever really taken on in any serious or scholarly way.”

Osinbajo also pointed out the questions relating to issues of assisting a suffering patient to die in the book.

He said, “Can a doctor, for example on the advice of the relations of children of a person who is suffering and is about to die, say that ‘in view of the fact that this person is suffering so much, let me help him to die?’ Can the doctor say so?  What are the legal questions that surround that?”

On the issue of a patient who is unable to pay his or her medical fees, Osinbajo said the ‘S.T. Hon’s Constitutional and Migration Law’, addressed questions on whether the doctor had the right to refuse to treat him.

The VP said, “These are some of the issues that were raised in this very interesting book. He also asked a question about a doctor who refuses to treat a patient. A patient comes to your hospital with some kind of emergency and cannot pay. A patient has been shot and you know the questions around that. You want to make an enquiry about whether or not the patient is an armed robber or not, etcetera.

“But what happens where a patient shows up in a hospital and the doctor says, ‘yes, since you can’t afford to pay, I can’t treat you’ and the patient dies. Are there legal questions? Are there legal issues? These are some of the very interesting subjects that the learned author takes on.”

According to Osinbajo, Hon’s new book also addressed the issue of privacy of public officer and the extent to which his or her family issues could be revealed in the public.

He noted, “On right to privacy, the learned author asks the question, for example, that you are a public figure, do you have a right to your privacy?

“In other words, can somebody take a picture of me somewhere, where I’m either supposed to be or not to be? And then displays the picture on the social media? Do they have the right to photograph my children, photograph the children of persons in public office? What is my right to privacy as a public figure? Can you reveal family matters, family secrets and those kinds of things? I think this is a book all of us really ought to read.”

Speaking at the event, a former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, said the judiciary and the legal profession had key roles to play in national development.

He said they had a lot to contribute in rescuing the country from the claws of social vices that had been hampering the development of the nation.

Obasanjo said, “With all the criticisms that have been said about the practitioners, I concur with the book reviewer that if our country must make progress, the judiciary and the law profession must have a lot to do.”

The reviewer of the 1,229-page book and Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Jos, Prof. Dakas Dakas, said, “We live at a time when we grapple with conflicting judgment of courts.

“Courts of coordinate jurisdiction acting as lord over others, high level of impunity and high cost of governance.”

In his response, the author said his book would help address future legal problems.

Culled from PUNCH.NG