CHAPTER XX. UNLAWFUL SOCIETIES. (P. No. 16-1905.) 1. This Ordinance may be cited as "The Unlawful Societies Title. Ordinance." Definitions. Society." 2. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires : Society" includes combination of ten or more persons, any whether the same be known by any name or not; "Official" includes any person or body of persons deriving "Official." authority from the Governor; 3. A Society shall be an unlawful Society, (1) If formed for any of the following purposes: (a) Levying war or encouraging or assisting any persons to (b) Killing or injuring or encouraging the killing or injuring (d) Subverting or promoting the subversion of the authority of (e) Committing or inciting to acts of violence or intimidation; or (f) Interfering with, or resisting, or encouraging interference (2) Or, if declared by the Governor in Council by Order to be a Society dangerous to the good government of the Colony. S.N.-VOL. I. A A "Colony." Unlawful Societies. Commencement of order. Penalties on 4.-(i) Every Order made under Section 3 shall come into operation on the date prescribed by the Order, or if there be no such date, upon publication in the Gazette. (ii) If possible, a copy of every Order aforesaid shall be affixed to a conspicuous part of any house or building or to a conspicuous object in any place used by the Society for its meetings. 5. Any person managing or assisting in the management of an managers or unlawful Society shall be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a period not exceeding three years. assistant managers. Penalties on members or persons attending meetings of an unlawful Society. Penalties on persons allowing meeting of unlawful Society on their premises. Prosecutions. Power to enter house, &c., where meeting of 6. Any person being or acting as a member of an unlawful Society or attending a meeting of an unlawful Society shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a period not exceeding one year, or to both. 7. Any person knowingly allowing a meeting of an unlawful Society or of members of an unlawful Society to be held in any house, building or place belonging to or occupied by him or over which he has control shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a period not exceeding one year, or to both. 8.-(1) No prosecution shall be instituted under this Ordinance without the previous sanction of His Majesty's Attorney-General for the Colony. (2) In any prosecution under this Ordinance it shall not be necessary to prove that the Society consisted of ten or more. members, but it shall be sufficient to prove the existence of a combination of persons; and the onus shall then rest with the accused to prove that the number of members of such combination did not amount to ten. (3) Any person who attends a meeting of an unlawful Society shall be presumed, until and unless the contrary is proved, to be a member of the Society. (4) Any person who has in his possession or custody or under his control any of the insignia, banners, arms, books, papers, documents or other property belonging to an unlawful Society, or wears any of the insignia or is marked with any mark of the Society, shall be presumed, until and unless the contrary is proved, to be a member of the Society. 9. It shall be lawful for any District Commissioner to enter with or without assistance or to order any Police Officer or other person in his presence to enter with or without assistance, using and to arrest force in either case, if necessary, into any house or building or unlawful into any place in which he has reasonable ground to believe that a Society held meeting of an unlawful Society or of persons who are members of and seize an unlawful Society is being held and to arrest or cause to be persons and arrested all persons found therein and to search such house, property. building or place and seize or cause to be seized all insignia, banners, arms, books, papers, documents, and other property which he may have reasonable cause to believe to belong to any unlawful Society or to be in any way connected with the purposes of the meeting. 10. All persons arrested and all property seized under Section 9 may be detained in custody till they can conveniently be brought before a District Commissioner, when they shall be dealt with according to law. Persons and property so taken before seized to be a Commissioner. 11. A person charged with an offence against this Ordinance Right of may, if he thinks fit, tender himself to be examined on his own accused to behalf and thereupon may give evidence in the manner and with give evidence. the like effect and consequences as any other witness. 12. (1) Where a Society is declared an unlawful Society under Disposition of Section 3, sub-section (2), the following consequences shall ensue : (a) The property of the Society within the Colony shall forth- (c) Such scheme when submitted for approval may be amended (d) The approval of the Governor to such scheme shall be denoted by the endorsement thereon of a memorandum of such approval signed by the Governor, and upon this being done the surplus assets, the subject of such scheme, shall be held by such officer upon the terms and to the purposes thereby prescribed. (e) For the purpose of the winding-up the officer appointed by the Governor shall have all the powers vested in a District Commissioner for the purpose of the discovery of the property of a debtor and the realisation thereof. (2) The Governor may, for the purpose of enabling a Society to wind-up its own affairs, suspend the operation of this Section for such period as to him shall seem expedient. property of Forfeitures. (3) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall not apply to any property which is seized at any time under Section 9. 13.-(1) Subject to Section 12, the insignia, banners, arms, books, papers, documents, and other property belonging to an unlawful Society and the insignia of an unlawful Society belonging to any member thereof shall be forfeited to His Majesty and shall be destroyed, sold, or otherwise disposed of as the Governor may direct. (2) The proceeds of every sale under sub-section (1) shall be paid into the Treasury and form part of the general revenue of the Colony. CHAPTER XXI. FOREIGN TRIAL OF CRIMINALS (EXPENSES). (No. 10-1889.) diction Acts 1. Whenever a person who is a native of, or ordinarily resident The expenses in, the Colony is tried for an offence by a foreign Court lawfully of the removal exercising jurisdiction under the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts, and is and detention of persons either convicted of such offence, or acquitted thereof on the ground tried abroad of insanity, the Governor may issue a warrant in writing to the under the Treasurer for payment, out of the revenue of the Colony, of the Foreign Juris expenses of the removal of such person to the place in which he is to be payable sentenced to undergo his punishment or ordered to be confined as a in certain criminal lunatic and of his maintenance during his imprisonment Colonial or confinement and all other expenses incidental to his conviction Government. or his acquittal on the ground of insanity, so far as the same cannot be met out of his effects under an order of the Court before which he was convicted or acquitted on the ground of insanity; and it shall thereupon be the duty of the Treasurer to make payment of such expenses, in accordance with the terms of such warrant, out of the revenue of the Colony. cases by the 2. In this Ordinance the term "foreign Court" means British InterpretaCourt not being a Court of the Colony of Southern Nigeria. tion. "Colony" includes Protectorate. 3. This Ordinance may be cited for all purposes as "The Foreign Short title. Trials of Criminals (Expenses) Ordinance." |