FACT-CHECK: Can UN Take Power From Tinubu If Protest Is Sustained For 15 Days?
A social media post has claimed that the United Nations (UN) will take away power from Tinubu if the current #EndBadGovernace protest is sustained for at least 15 days.
The post said it used to be within 30 days but was reduced by the UN on “promo” grounds.
The post shared by @DefendLagos, an X account, has garnered over 3.2k likes, 1k comments, and 812k retweets.
Though the post appears to be sarcastic, it has been shared across different social media platforms including Facebook.
A similar claim circulated during the #EndSARS protests in 2020.
THE #ENDBADGOVERNACE PROTEST
On Thursday, a nationwide protest began across the country against soaring food prices.
The federal government and other relevant stakeholders had appealed to organisers of the protest to shelve the planned demonstrations and urged them to be patient.
The police also asked the protesters to identify themselves to prevent a possible hijack of the planned action.
However, the protesters remained adamant and took to the streets to demand a reduction in food and petrol prices, high governance costs, and an end to insecurity, among other issues.
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The protest turned violent in certain states amid a looting spree, while police officers unleashed teargas canisters on protesters in Lagos, Abuja, Gombe, Yobe, Kaduna, and Kano.
At least, 14 persons have reportedly been killed during the protest.
CAN UN STRIP POWER FROM A SITTING PRESIDENT?
The UN is a political and diplomatic inter-governmental organisation, saddled with the responsibility of maintaining international peace, security, and friendly relations among member countries.
With 193 countries as member states, the UN has mediated several issues globally, including the violent Bakkasi Pennisula border dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon in September 2004, with Nigeria transferring its final authority of the land to Cameroon.
Although Article 11 of the UN charter gives the assembly the power to call the attention of its security council to issues that could “endanger internal peace”, the body does not have the legal jurisdiction to interfere in matters of local prominence.
Article 2, subsection 7 of the UN charter gives credence to that.
“Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter Vll,” the charter reads.
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When contacted, Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate of Nigeria, to further shed light on the extent of the powers of the UN regarding the issue.
Ozekhome explained that Nigeria is a sovereign country, and as such, the UN charter prohibits the interference in internal affairs of member states.
He added that the UN can only intervene when authorised by the UN security council or its general assembly.
“Nigeria is a sovereign country and the UN Charter explicitly prohibits interference in the internal affairs of member States – unless, of course such course, if that course of action is authorized by the UN Security Council or its General Assembly,” Ozekhome said.
“It may be pointed out that countries going through worse upheaval such as Haiti and Sudan have not attracted such interest – except the former, admittedly, but even then, the force proposed for that purpose (to be led by Kenya of all countries!), is yet to deploy. Suffice it to say that Nigeria is neither Haiti nor Sudan.
VERDICT
The claim that the UN can take over power from Tinubu if a protest is sustained for 15 days is FALSE.
The United Nations does not have the power to interfere in local matters.
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