Name change in Nigeria: review of PDP’s judgment of the Grand Court of DEGI-ERMINYO case.
Felicity, Nigeria
Legal Assistant
Osborne Law Firm
preface
A person’s first name is his identity. The first name usually starts from birth. However, specific names are not immutable. They may change due to specific events. For example, in Nigeria and most Commonwealth countries, it is customary for women to change their surname to their father-in-law’s when they marry, Yes. Sometimes the husband will change his name to his wife’s name.
Some people also change their names when they experience a change of faith. Some people change their names only by finding their father’s identity, divorce, marriage or adoption. In some cases, people change their names for no reason. In the Adesina lawsuit of NMCN, the appeal court held that the defendant changed his name according to his own will Confirm that you have the right to change um and make the following decisions:
“The appellant never suspected that the reason why she changed her name was that she became a Christian… According to the freedom granted by the Constitution and the right to change religion, the defendant became a Christian and changed her name accordingly… The name not only means identity. In Nigeria, there are many reasons for the birth of names, some of which are ethnic and religious The reason is son and birth environment. If the reason for name change is religion and marriage, the name will be intertwined with the basic rights of the religious belief she chooses without discrimination. Article 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution. ”
According to the above decision, the issue that Nigerians can change their names at will has been resolved without dispute. In addition, renaming is not a contemporary phenomenon. In Genesis 17:5, God changed the name of Abram to Abraham. Saul’s name was also changed to Paul(Romans 13:9) ▲ This situation shows that name change is not a recent phenomenon, but a convention since ancient times.
The name is like the air in life in terms of identity. The name is too important, and rearrangement can deprive a person of the right to profit. For example, the official order of my name is Okoro, If it is Tessimuna, rearrange my name as Tessimuna Okoro in another document, it will give other people’s hints in the mind of the recipient of that document. The Grand Court clarified the importance of the writing order of names in Esenovo’s Ukpong lawsuit, and made the following judgments.
The purposes of “J.E. Esenowo ” and “E.J. Esenwoo” to register their names in legally recognized professional registers are very different. No person shall randomly rearrange the initials or writing order of his name in order to register his name in a legally recognized professional register.
Therefore, in order to enable individuals to accurately claim that a name is their identity, they should not only be arranged according to the certificate of use of the name, but also according to the way recorded in the official documents assigned to them.
Name change: Nigeria’s current status
In view of the above background of Nigerian geographical names jurisprudence, it should be pointed out that the purpose of the report is to review the issues arising from the decision of the Grand Court in the Degi Elemienyo case, namely, the procedure and impact of the change of Nigerian geographical names.
In this case, the appellant claimed to the Federal High Court in accordance with Article 31(5) of the Electoral Law in 2010 that the information provided by the first defendant in the INEC format CF001 was false, and requested the court to cancel the qualification of the first defendant(accordingly, the second defendant) to run for governor of Bayersa. The appellants declared that their actions were based on the following facts. The first defendant attached several education certificates to the swearing INEC CF001, including other names besides his name. In order to coordinate the minor differences in the statements in several education certificates, the first defendant swore the “correction and confirmation statement”, “normative statement” and “addition statement”. However, the statements in the above-mentioned affidavits are inconsistent, which is insufficient to prove that the first defendant holds the education certificate he claims to have obtained from other educational institutions. It was precisely on the basis of the incompatibility between the education certificate and the statement of the first defendant and the statement on the affidavit that the appellant requested the court to invoke Article 31(5) of the Electoral Law to declare that the first defendant had provided false information to INEC. Because there are many statements.
In this judgment, the court of first instance held that the first defendant provided false information in CF001 in INEC format, so the first defendant was disqualified from participating in the election. The defendant appealed to the Court of Appeal. The appeal was allowed and the judgment of the court of first instance was annulled. The appellant was angry at the decision of the Court of Appeal and appealed to the Grand Court. In that judgment, the Grand Court confirmed the judgment of the trial court and recognized the following.
The court of first instance also correctly explained the normative and corrective procedures. The statements on pages 575 and 576 state that: “Affidavits for changing, correcting and confirming names should not only be passed through testimony, but should be voted through testimony documents.”
In addition, the Supreme Court rendered the following judgement:
“In this case, the court of first instance was correct. The name of the official certificate can only be changed by voting on the certificate, not just by the certificate. In addition, this procedure will inevitably affect the official records and documents of the country. Therefore, only after the certificate vote can the deponent contact the Nigerian Civil Registry and change it to A formal announcement of the change. ”
Before the Grand Court makes a decision on the case, anyone who wants to change his name should simply swear in front of the designated authority, and then publish an advertisement about the change of name in a national newspaper. In this case, if the affidavit of declaration change is correctly sworn, the submission of the above affidavit(hereinafter referred to as “affidavit”) is sufficient to prove the declaration change. However, the recent judgment of the Grand Court on the case provided for an acceptable legal name change procedure in Nigeria.
Therefore, according to the decision of the Supreme Court in the above-mentioned case, and based on the certificate voting, the recognized procedures for name change, correction and confirmation in Niger are properly implemented by the parties. Thereafter, the party will submit the supporting documents to the Nigerian Civil Registry, a department of the National Population Commission(about), and open its name in the official gazette.
According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, “contract public opinion survey” is a legal document formulated and implemented by only one party. Strictly speaking, evidence voting is not a contract. Because it only binds one party and expresses intention rather than commitment. Therefore, renaming credential votes is a legal document, and you want to discard the old name and use the new name for all purposes. The name change contract shall be binding upon its party after voting and signing.
In the reference case, the decision of the Grand Court was that Nigeria’s name change affidavit was no longer recognized as a name change document. For this reason, the judge who has changed his name by affidavit so far proposed to execute the voucher voting according to the decision of the court, and then submit it to the Nigerian Civil Registry and publish it in the official gazette. This is to regulate and prevent the occurrence of the so-called name change and deprive a person of the rights he enjoys in his name.
The Grand Court cited the reason that it was reasonable that the signed name change contract should be submitted to the Nigerian Civil Registry for publication and record. The names of Nigerian nationals are kept as part of Nigeria’s official records. If the registered names are changed, the Nigerian Civil Registry must be informed of these changes in order to correct the records. In Nigeria, according to Article 7 of the Birth, Death, etc.(Compulsory Registration) Act 1992, parents and/or guardians have the right to register the birth of all children born in Nigeria at the Birth and Death Registry. The method is to register such details of births as may be specified in the register of the district… Article 9 of the regulations made in 1992 under the Births, Deaths, Marriages, etc.(Compulsory Registration) Act sets out the details required for such birth registration. The regulations provide that:
(1) Legally, a person who registers a birth should provide the following information about the birth of a child:
(a) About children
(i) Name(if any);(ii) Date of birth;(iii) place of birth;(4) Birth type;
According to the provisions of the sections of the Act referred to in the preceding paragraph, the official names of Nigerian citizens are accurately registered in the birth register of the National Population Commission and included in the birth certificate issued by the Commission.
According to the above provisions, if the name that the applicant requests to change has already constituted the data of the Nigerian Civil Registry, he/she must register with the authorities and vote to correct the database. In addition, if the old name is part of any public record in Nigeria, the new name should be published in the official gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
UK Practice
In England and Wales, any adult can legally change his or her name through simple assumptions and use. If your intention to do so is not deceptive. Making changes based on usage and judgment is the only way to change the name. There are no legal requirements or procedures to be adopted except for children. The name change through contract voting and other recognized methods is only a way to prove and publicize the change. If a child’s name is to be changed by a document vote, the form may vary depending on whether the child is under or over the age of 16. If the child is under the age of 16, the parents agree, or one of them dies or cannot be found, the change of the child’s name can be proved by means of adult executive document voting. However, the contract is signed by the parents on behalf of the children. If the child is over 16 years old, with the consent of the child’s parents, the child may sign a contract on his or her behalf. Alternatively, the contract may be signed by parents on behalf of the child, but only with the consent of the child.
In the UK, there is no law to register vouchers to vote for a change of name. The application is entirely discretionary. The registration certificate voting has no more legal effect than the execution of the certificate itself. The purpose and advantage of registering contracts is to provide certainty and safe custody. If necessary, publish a copy to the London Gazette and provide the name. The name of voucher voting certificate can be changed again through other vouchers. In addition, registered certificates may be revoked.
My Debate
I commend the Grand Court for enumerating the proper procedures for the renaming, correction and regularization of Nigeria, but the ruling of the Grand Court of the P.D.P. Degi Elemienyo Incident(see above) was not based on any law known to Nigeria. In the judgment, the Court failed to provide the existing law, stipulating that the change or correction of names must be carried out through bill voting. The court also did not refer to the authorization law authorizing the Nigerian Civil Registry to regulate the declaration change and correction of fear in Nigeria. Please forgive me for being frank. In this case, the decision of the Grand Court can be said to be negligible.
After considering the decision, I frankly believe that the court’s decision here is unreasonable according to Nigeria’s known practice.
Think again, did the court introduce procedures applicable to England and other common law countries in the judgment? As mentioned above, evidence voting is the most common method of renaming in the UK. In Re Parrott and Cox vs. Parrott events, the use of Seed Poll(Rename Protocol) as a tool to change names began in the United Kingdom.
Applicable laws and “court rules” authorize Nigerian courts to introduce rules and/or procedures applicable to England and other common law countries and regions, which have loopholes. English law is a part of the Nigerian legal system. It is speculated that the Grand Court has prepared English procedures applicable to the case and tried to introduce them. Although the Grand Court did not specify this, the case may have been conducted in accordance with the procedures applicable in the United Kingdom.
In general, I believe that the Supreme Court, as the supreme court of land, should clarify the land it owns and include all the reasons in its ruling, so as not to leave room for confusion and speculation for the public.
