By Oliver Azi
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Tonto Dikeh needs no introduction; perhaps, we thought so. However, her new identity needs an introduction. The Nollywood actress found Christ—she has become born again. In fact, the zealous fervency of her new faith led her to enroll in the Discipleship Class of Streams of Joy International, the church led by Pastor Jerry Eze. What she conducted as her first deliverance service, might in turn, have made King Tonto, now Evangelist Tonto, be a culprit to legal liability.
Trending the Nigerian media space, second to the disgraceful outing of Nigeria Presidential Spokesman, Daniel Bwala, debate with Aljazeera, Hassan Mehdi, is Tonto Dikeh. In a video where she and others, were passionately overpowering a child, with hands, tightly holding the body of the child, who was lying down whilst struggling to be freed on bare grounds, while the exorcism styled deliverance session, common with the Nigerian Pentecostal Churches, was been conducted on the child.
Whilst these was going on, the cheerful glee of camera carefully curated the event. That child, or any child in Nigeria, is constitutionally blessed with the right to privacy. The provision of section 37 of the 1999 Constitution provides for the right to privacy. Whilst privacy under that section is lofty and generalized, the provision of section 8 (2) of the Child Right Act 2003 provides that, under no circumstances can a child privacy be infringed on—inclusive of being recorded, digitally, without the consent of that child.
This principle of law found expression in INCORPORATED TRUSTEES OF DIGITAL RIGHTS LAWYERS INITIATIVES & ORS v NATIONAL IDENTITY MANAGEMENT COMMISSION (2021) LPELR—55623 where the court held that:
The trial court, had, in my view, rightly held that the right to privacy of citizens as guaranteed under the section includes the right to protection of personal information and personal data.
In a more generous approach, the courts held in NWALI v EBONYI STATE INDEPENDENT ELCTORAL COMMISSION (EBSIEC) & ORS (2014) LPELR—23682 that
The meaning of the term “privacy of citizens” is not directly obvious on its face—I interpret the phrase “privacy of citizen” generally, liberally, and expansively to include privacy of citizens body, life, person, thoughts, belief, conscience, feelings, views, decisions (including his plans and choices) desires, health, relationships, character, material possessions, family life, activities etc.
In the extant case, and construing it within the context of unauthorized video taking, the court had this to say which can be inferred that where a person makes a video of another in a public domain and circulates same, the maker of the video is in breach of the other person’s right to privacy as enshrined in the Constitution.:
“Where the Constitution states a word or phrase generally or without any limiting words, it is obvious that it intends that the word or phrase should have a general meaning and application, unless other provisions in the Constitution state or suggest the contrary. If there are no other provisions of the Constitution requiring or suggesting the contrary, the Court must apply the word or phrase generally, and will have no power to restrict its application to specific situations…”
Hence, in view of the above, assuming without conceding that the recording might seem harmlessly, the provision of section 11 of the Child Right Act 2003 provides for a right to dignity of the child. This right to dignity is inclusive of anything subjected to attacks the child’s honor or reputation—which in this case, is the likely consequence, of the recorded deliverance session. That recording, severally and jointly, hold a place of degrading the dignity of that child, both now and in the future. To justify this claim, research by Javier Garcia Oliva, published online by Cambridge University Press in 2022, asserts that children or individuals who are by virtue of their membership of a minority religious, cult groups of secrecy, or cultural community and their disempowered position as children ordinarily become doubly marginalized.
It must be further understood that according to Justice Louis Brandei in the United States of America case of OLMSTEAD v US 277 US. 438 he described the right to privacy as the right to be left alone. Whilst the deliverance session can be done privately, or in a secluded environment, a public display (and even on camera) of such act constitutes a breach in law. In conclusion, the blessings shared by the provision of section 1 of the Child Right Act 2003 remains sacrosanct and instructive for everyone, regardless of status or position:
In every action concerning a child, whether undertaken by an individual, public or private body, institution or service, court of law, or administrative or legislative authority, the best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration.
Hence, with freedom of conscience, thought and religion comes the responsibility to ensure that the best interest of the child remain the primary consideration for such or any actions done to the child.
Oliver Azi writes from Abuja, Nigeria
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